International News
5 INDIANS MANIPULATE THE LIFE OF 50 STUDENTS BY INDULGING IN MODERN ACTS OF SLAVERY!
Karma Management has now become Karma Global which was incorporated in the year 2004, having now completed almost 18 years of its existence.
As late as April 2021, Karma Management took a very bold step of venturing into foreign shores in terms of shoving up its business prospects in countries like the US, UK, UAE, Canada, the Philippines, and South East Asia.
It has already made its mark in terms of providing excellent services in the areas of payroll, outsourcing, recruitment, and talent acquisition, facility management services, and regulatory compliances including immigration, negotiations, and employment contracts in these foreign countries as well.
In fact, the CVO and MD, Pratik Vaidya of Karma Global were selected by SME Forum last year to lead a Select US Summit where he took along a delegation of hundreds of SME Members for business discussions with the authorities in the States as well as with the entrepreneurs and Innovators of many countries who were present in this forum.
Soon thereafter, Pratik Vaidya, CVO & MD of Karma Global went on a Europe tour, participating along with Advantage Austria and brainstorming on the ecosystem of Start-ups in Salzburg, Austria
Karma Global thus entails the compliance of international clients in keeping with the global scenario, thereby undertaking a noteworthy mission of guiding clients through a spider’s web of legislation so that clients are able to stay on the right side of the ever-changing laws especially so, it keeps an update on what is happening around the world as far as people, wages, work, benefits, employment contracts, negotiation, and unions are concerned.
Karma Global’s decades of experience in making sure that clients are compliant with all types of changing legislation offers unique support to mitigate risk and grasp technological solutions with a combination of expertise.
GLOBAL ESTIMATES OF MODERN SLAVERY!
50 million people worldwide in modern slavery
Fifty million people were living in modern slavery in 2021, according to the latest Global Estimates of Modern Slavery. Of these people, 28 million were in forced labour and 22 million were trapped in forced marriage.
The number of people in modern slavery has risen significantly in the last five years. 10 million more people were in modern slavery in 2021 compared to 2016 global estimates. Women and children remain disproportionately vulnerable.
Modern slavery occurs in almost every country in the world and cuts across ethnic, cultural, and religious lines. More than half (52 percent) of all forced labor and a quarter of all forced marriages can be found in upper-middle-income or high-income countries.
Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2020
The report draws on data from 148 countries and explores issues of particular relevance in the current crisis, including the impact of socio-economic factors, drivers of child trafficking and trafficking for forced labour, and traffickers’ use of the internet.
Although found in every country and every region, trafficking in persons remains a hidden crime, with perpetrators operating in the dark corners of the internet and the underbelly of the global economy to entrap victims for sexual exploitation, forced labour, domestic servitude, and other forms of exploitation.
For every 10 victims detected globally, five are adult women and two are girls. Migrants account for a significant share of the detected victims in most regions. Traffickers prey upon the marginalized and impoverished. Cases examined by UNODC found that at least half involved victims who were targeted because of economic need.
Indian mission reaches out to students after modern slavery fears in UK
The Indian High Commission here on Friday appealed for students to contact the mission for help and counseling amid fears that over 50 of them may have become victims of modern slavery while working at care homes in North Wales.
LET US NOW UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS SLAVERY IS ALL ABOUT?
According to British police, modern slavery includes human trafficking when victims are taken between countries or around a country so they can be exploited.
A UK government investigative agency for labour exploitation has said that it has succeeded in getting a court order against five people from Kerala for suspected labour abuse of more than 50 Indian students.
Investigators from the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) were granted a Slavery and Trafficking Risk Order (STRO) indefinitely against the defendants at Mold Magistrates’ Court last week.
The GLAA said in a release that its probe identified “more than 50 Indian students as being potential victims of modern slavery and labour abuse over the last 14 months” while working at care homes in North Wales.
The five, between the age groups of 25 to 47, have been identified as Mathew Issac and Jinu Cherian from Abergele, Eldhose Cherian, Eldhose Kuriachan and Jacob Liju from Pwllheli, a statement released by the AGLAA said.
They were arrested by the GLAA between December 2021 and May 2022. Investigations are ongoing but there have been no criminal charges at this stage.
GLAA said Issac and his wife Jinu Cherian also supplied workers through Alexa Care Solutions, a recruitment agency registered in May 2021.
Reports to the Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline three months later claimed that Indian workers employed by Alexa Care were not being paid correctly or were having their wages withheld.
Significant concerns were raised at the same time about the workers’ appearance and that they always appeared to be hungry, the agency revealed.
The STRO orders all five to inform the GLAA of any change of name or address within seven days, and allow GLAA access, at any reasonable time, to where they are living to establish and confirm that the STRO is being complied with.
Breaching the order is a criminal offence carrying a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
“We are all aware that staffing levels have been a cause of concern in the care sector for some time, and have not been helped by the Covid pandemic,” GLAA Senior Investigating Officer Martin Plimmer said.
“Unfortunately, where labour shortages exist, there is an increased risk of opportunists using the situation for their own financial gain, usually at the expense of workers that they are exploiting.
“Tackling the exploitation of workers in care homes is one of the GLAA’s top priorities, and this order is crucial in restricting the activities of those we suspect would otherwise commit slavery or trafficking offenses,” Plimmer said in a GLAA statement.
In the UK, the number of people identified as victims of modern slavery has been rising year after year, with over 12,000 people referred to the authorities in 2021, according to rights body Anti-Slavery International.
The real number of people trapped in slavery is estimated to be much higher — more than 130,000 people — and is estimated to cost the UK 33 billion pounds per year, it said.
CONCLUSION: GLOBAL SLAVERY INDEX:
The 2016 Global Slavery Index reported that there were 18.3 million people in modern slavery in India.
The 2018 GSI also reflects the addition of forced sexual exploitation and children in modern slavery but does not include figures on organ trafficking or the use of children in armed conflict.
FORCED LABOUR
While the bonded labour system is formally abolished and criminalized, recent research indicates that bonded labour is still prevalent in India.
A report found that in southern States where there is employment in spinning mills, parents were forced to send their daughters to spinning mills with promises of good working conditions and the payment of a lump sum at the end of their three-year contracts that might help contribute to dowry costs.
Similarly, in granite quarries, wage advances and loans with an interest ranging from 24 percent to 36 percent are used to bond workers to the quarry.
According to a study on bonded labour practices in sandstone quarries in Rajasthan, workers become caught in lifelong debt bondage as they owe large sums of money to their employers or contractors and have to work for little or no pay until this is repaid.
The lack of employment opportunities in a prominent eastern State and the need to seek alternative sources of income force people to migrate to other states within India in search of work. Seeking work in brick kilns across the country has become a common phenomenon for people from this eastern state. This often involves labour agents who use a system of advance payment where workers are paid a lump sum upfront which they then need to pay off through the bricks they make, consequently trapping them in bonded labour until they have paid off their debt.
A study in the upper Northern State shows that 94 percent of those interviewed take an advance and this advance system makes it obligatory for the worker to remain in the kiln, and with advances and payments reportedly made via a contractor, there is little scope for workers to seek out other employment opportunities.
FORCED SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF ADULTS AND CHILDREN
There is evidence pointing to an emerging trend in northeast India where organized trafficking syndicates operate undetected along the open and unmanned international borders, duping or coercing young, educated girls seeking employment outside their local area into forced sexual exploitation.
FORCED MARRIAGE
Female foeticide is a widespread phenomenon in India and has contributed to a shortage of women, in some states. The skewed sex ratio in some regions in India is fuelling the trafficking and selling of brides within India. Women are reportedly sold off into marriage by their families, sometimes at a young age, and end up enduring severe abuse, rape, and exploitation by their husbands.
ORGAN TRAFFICKING
Human trafficking for organ removal continues throughout India where growth rates of kidney and liver disease have added to the increasing gap between the demand and supply of organs. With the 2011 Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Act44 allowing only an immediate relative to be a living donor, there has been a growth in organ traffickers carrying out illegal procedures and forging documents to show donors and recipients as family.
In some parts of India, poor people use their kidneys as collateral for money lenders. Researchers have documented instances of kidneys sourced from the “kidney belt” region of southern India being sold to clients in Sri Lanka, the Gulf States, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Karma Global while dealing with all such issues and cases always takes the approach to act trust-worthily and comply with the laws of the land.
Karma Global always advises its clients to be on the right side of the law and to abide by the same. In this respect, it offers a plethora of excellent services in terms of documentation compliance and validity of licenses for running the business and also supports establishments and afflicted union workers to take a just stand on issues, in the company’s interest and not on trivial grounds just for the sake of it, to show the level of aggression.
Respect for all fundamental principles and rights at work (FPRW), including freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, is an essential foundation of the ILO and key to successful policy and decision-making. As the world of work is changing at an ever-increasing pace, strong, influential, and inclusive social dialogue is, and will be, a key vehicle to shape the world of work that we want.
Our deep, country-by-country knowledge, expressed through a 250-strong network of local offices, makes light work of the most intricate local and global reporting obligations.
Proprietary blog of Karma Management Global Tech Firm
This blog has been collated and compiled by the internal staff of Karma Management with the knowledge and expertise that they possess, besides adaptation, illustration, derivation, transformation, and collection from various sources, for its monthly newsletter Issue 09 of March 2023 and in case of specific or general information or compliance updates for that matter, kindly reach out to the marketing team – Kush@karmamgmt.com / yashika@karmamgmt.com