More than 50 million people are victims of what the UN considers 'modern slavery', i.e. invisible chains associated with forced labour or unwanted marriages that are widespread not only in poor countries.

The Modern Slavery Report, prepared by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), estimates that 28 million people live as labour slaves and some 22 million suffer forced marriages.

In 2016, the global estimate was just ten million, evidence of the extent to which exploitation has become widespread. Experts have stressed that women and children are particularly vulnerable.

Modern slavery, however, does not understand macroeconomic data, as more than half of forced labour and a quarter of marriages are in countries that are at least middle-income. 

In the case of forced labour, the vast majority, 86 percent, is in the private sector, while sexual exploitation alone accounts for 23 percent of the total. Among the victims are 3.3 million minors, mainly girls.

Women are also the main victims of forced marriages, a scourge that the UN itself admits is unmanageable in terms of data, since the 22 million reported in the latest report do not include all cases of child marriages.

More than 85 percent of the cases stem from family pressure and almost two-thirds are confined to the Asia-Pacific region. In Arab countries, the prevalence of forced marriages is around 4.8 per thousand.

The Director General of the IOM, António Vitorino, has appealed to the "urgency" of ensuring, for example, that migration is "safe, orderly and regular". It is not in vain that migrants are three times more likely to suffer this modern form of slavery.

For the director of the ILO, Guy Rider, it is "shocking" that the situation is not improving, despite the theoretical global awareness. For this reason, he called for "effective national policies and regulations", but also pointed out that "governments cannot do this alone" and require the cooperation of all parties, including trade unions and employers. By Daniel Stewart, 360 News