Feature by Robert P. Jackson, U.S. Ambassador to Ghana
Accra, Dec. 28, - Frederick
Douglass, the revered former slave turned abolitionist and orator, once wrote,
“It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.”
That quote has resonated with me
since the release of the disturbing video of slave auctions in Libya. I cannot
fathom the desperation that fuels these dangerous journeys. Those who return to
their home countries — whether they were held in detention camps or were
subjected to the degradation of being auctioned off for forced labour — will
undoubtedly need support and rehabilitation to overcome what they endured.
Growing up in America, we learn
that the British passed their Slavery Abolition Act in 1833.Abraham Lincoln’s
Emancipation Proclamation freed many of the slaves in America 30 years later. And
when the Thirteenth Amendment to our Constitution was ratified in 1865, slavery
was abolished. A disgraceful period in American history had come to an end. Most
importantly, Americans believed that never again would human beings be held
against their will in humiliating, harmful, crushing slave labor.
Unfortunately, that part was not
true. It is less true now than ever before: In sheer numbers, there are more
slaves in the world today than at any point in history — in the United States,
in Libya, in Ghana, in every country in the world. The evil of slavery
persists.
The video from Libya is
particularly horrifying because it brings to life the drawings we have seen in
museums and in our textbooks from years ago: Africans, far from home, put on
display, treated as nothing more than merchandise. It forces us to confront the
truth that slavery is alive and well around the world.
There is an even more
uncomfortable truth we must confront: Slavery is alive and well in our own
communities.
As we consider how to address the
migrant crisis, we must also remember the slaves who are quietly bought and
sold everyday, in every country. No gavel, no auctioneer, no crowd. Just a man
responding to an advertisement for a construction job — with a visa,
guaranteed. A girl moving to the city, looking for housekeeping or pottering
work. A child sent to live with an uncle, expecting to attend school. They are
right under our noses, if only we will see them.
Each one of these individuals
deserves the opportunity to live in dignity and follow their dreams, but it is
the enslaved children who haunt me most of all. In the United States, we know
children are enslaved in the commercial sex industry and in sectors such as
agriculture, food service, and health and beauty. Over the past two years, I’ve
seen firsthand the extent of the situation in Ghana. In the Volta Region, five
children can be purchased to work on fishing boats for the price of one
outboard motor. I have met children who were sold to work with fisherfolks for
100 cedis. In brothels, women and girls are forever scarred by the sexual abuse
they are forced to endure. Wealthy aunties and uncles take child relatives into
their homes, but deprive them of their right to education and force them to
work as domestic servants.All these situations are intolerable and
unacceptable.
I agree with Frederick Douglass
that if we do not dedicate ourselves to building strong children, we make them
vulnerable to abuse and indignities that will eventually require even greater
efforts to repair them: mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. Without
hope, without opportunity, we condemn them to a life of desperate choices. Or
even worse, the neglect and alienation leads them to become perpetrators
themselves, continuing the cycle of abuse and hopelessness for generations.
Whether driven by desperation or
depravity, failure to protect, educate and nurture children deprives all of us
of their talents and contributions. It is a worldwide problem with worldwide
ramifications. We need an educated global populace to tackle complex, shared
problems. We need a healthy populace to produce the goods and services for our
everyday lives. We need a hopeful populace, one that sees possibilities and
creates opportunities, to counter the hateful narratives peddled by extremists.
January 1 will mark 155 years
since Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. As we enter
the New Year, my wish is for each of us to see — to really see - those around
us, and to recognize the warning signs of trafficking and enslavement. Notice
unusual behaviour. Ask questions about that child travelling unaccompanied on a
bus who looks scared and confused, serving dinner at an acquaintance’s home, or
working in a bar or a restaurant: Are they in school? Are they in loving homes?
Are they being given the chance to be children? Who is responsible for them? And
ask about the neighbour leaving the community — or the country — for that dream
job: Who is offering this opportunity? Does it sound too good to be true?
As I think back over the years —
through high school, college and throughout my adult life — I wonder how many
victims I unknowingly came in contact with before I understood the scale of the
problem. You can make a difference in their lives, and possibly be the
difference between freedom and slavery. In fact, Ghana’s Human Trafficking Act
actually requires that we all report information on human trafficking to the
authorities.
Harriet Tubman, the American hero
who escaped slavery herself and then led numerous missions to free others,
said, “I have heard their groans and sighs, and seen their tears, and I would
give every drop of blood in my veins to free them.”
We’ve seen the videos. We’ve
heard the stories. What will we do to free them?
Not all modern slaves are
auctioned off, but they are bought and sold, all the same — and it is each one
of us who pays the price.
GNA
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