ARMED conflicts and the climate emergency are helping to fuel the forced labour and involuntary marriage of more than 50 million people, according to a report released on Wednesday.

The report by the Walk Free Foundation, a rights group that focuses on modern slavery, said while India is estimated to account for more than 11m people who were either in forced labour or involuntary marriage, the problem was widespread across the globe.

The report said that even in those countries with supposed low prevalence of modern slavery, such as Switzerland, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands and Ireland, “thousands of people continue to be forced to work or marry, despite their high levels of economic development, gender equality, social welfare and political stability, as well as strong criminal justice systems.”

Last September, a report by the United Nations International Labour Organisation and International Organisation for Migration and Walk Free estimated that 50m people were living in modern slavery.

This showed that at the end of 2021 some 28m in forced labour and 22m in forced marriage.  

That was a 10m increase in just five years from the end of 2016.

Walk Free founding director Grace Forrest said: “Modern slavery permeates every aspect of our society.

“It is woven through our clothes, lights up our electronics and seasons our food” and it “is a mirror held to power, reflecting who in any given society has it and who does not.”

This is most evident in global supply chains, where G20 nations import $468m (£378.96m) worth of products annually considered “at risk” of being produced by forced labour including electronics, garments, palm oil, solar panels and textiles, the report said.

Australian-based Walk Free said that its 172-page report said the increase of nearly 10m people forced to work or marry reflects the impact of compounding crises.

The report said: “More complex armed conflicts, widespread environmental degradation, assaults on democracy in many countries, a global rollback of women’s rights and the economic and social impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

“Most G20 governments are still not doing enough to ensure that modern slavery is not involved in the production of goods imported into their countries and within the supply chains of companies they do business with,” it said.

Walk Free said: “We are calling on governments around the world to step up their efforts to end modern slavery on their shores and in their supply chains,” Ms Forrest said. “What we need now is political will.”