Abolitionist Kevin Bales discussed modern-day slavery during his presentation at the University of Central Florida on Thursday, Jan. 15. 

Bales, one of the world’s leading experts on slavery and human trafficking, spoke to a crowd of 350 students, faculty and community members at UCF’s Student Union. The president and co-founder of Free the Slaves, Bales has published two books, "Ending Slavery: How We Free Today's Slaves" and "Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy."

He began his talk by defining slavery as “being controlled by violence or threat, working without pay and being economically exploited.” Although there seem to be many forms of “packaging” for slavery, including racism, religion, sexism and economic motives, he argued that the foundation of the practice is the same.

Bales explained that many supporting factors, including population explosion, extreme poverty, vulnerability and government corruption, have led to the growth of slavery. Most situations related to slavery begin with one question: “Want a job?”

Unfortunately, those in such desperate circumstances who take the risk of saying “yes” can find themselves working in one of the various industries associated with slavery, including prostitution, agriculture and domestic work. However, one myth about slavery that Bales sought to dispel is that of parents selling their children or giving them up to slave traders voluntarily. He argued that in his many years of working in this field, he had never found a parent who was willing to sell his or her child. 

Another common myth that Bales disputed is that slavery exists only outside of the United States. He explained that about “40,000 to 50,000 people are currently in slavery in the United States.” Those include a case that Free the Slaves discovered in Manhattan involving a deaf city beggar and another with a group of Chinese acrobats in Las Vegas. He said Florida has a significantly high number of slaves compared to other states; for the most part, they are utilized in the agriculture industry.

Toward the end of his presentation, Bales focused on a positive note. He said he believes that the solution to this issue “can be found in our lifetimes.” Despite the challenges faced by the anti-slavery movement of “awareness, commitment, and resources,” the future is not so bleak. The “proportion of the world population to ever be in slavery and of the global economy to be part of slavery” is the lowest ever.

Bales said the total cost of stopping slavery is $10.8 billion, which he claimed was comparatively small, about the same amount that Americans spend on organic foods. Furthermore, he argued that freeing slaves and guaranteeing former slaves economic and psychological stability is economically beneficial. He cited that the return on investment of freeing slaves would be in the tens of billions of dollars.

Bales argued that the movement had already “won many key battles on morals, laws and money,” but that the rest of the work needed to come from everyone, including governments, companies to individuals. This work could finally drive slavery into extinction. He concluded his talk by raising a thought-provoking question, seemingly a driving force for his work; “If we choose not to end slavery, how can we say that we are really free ourselves?”

The forum was sponsored by the UCF Global Perspectives Office, UCF Student Government Association, Lawrence J. Chastang and the Chastang Foundation, UCF Political Science Department, UCF LIFE and the Global Connections Foundation.