Slavery

Hmm going out is probably not going to happen tonight. However I’ve moped around enough by now and decided to spend the day going on a summer-job hunt in Sweden. Originally I was hoping for a summer internship in the US at an organization called Free The Slaves but I haven’t heard back from them yet. Its an internship so I wouldn’t be making any money but the organization epitomizes everything I want to work with once I am done with my law degree.

I only realized this is what I wanted to use my law degree for quite recently after having watched a TedTalk on slavery given by Lisa Kristine. Modern day slavery is a topic which attracts far too little attention in the media. Did you know that there are 27 million people trapped in slavery? That’s double the amount of people who came out of Africa during the entire transatlantic slave trade. That’s 27 million people who are “forced to work without pay, under threat of violence and unable to leave.” I definitely recommend watching the TedTalk, here is the link: http://www.ted.com/talks/lisa_kristine_glimpses_of_modern_day_slavery.html 

Horrendous isn’t it? Do you know how much it would cost to free the average family in India from slavery and help them set up a sustainable life? About 150 dollars. Of course helping people out of slavery and into a stable lifestyle is more costly in countries such as the US (about 30 000 per individual) but the global average means that all 27 million modern-day slaves could be helped to freedom for about 10.8 billion dollars. In 2011 the US spent 11 billion on soft drinks.