View source for Debt bondage

{{Short description|Form of slavery}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{Slavery|Contemporary}}

'''Debt bondage''', also known as '''debt slavery''', '''bonded labour''', or '''[[peon]]age''', is the pledge of a person's services as security for the repayment for a debt or other obligation. Where the terms of the repayment are not clearly or reasonably stated, or where the debt is excessively large, the person who holds the debt has thus some control over the laborer, whose freedom depends on the undefined or excessive debt repayment.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://traffickingroundtable.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Issue-Paper-2-Slavery-Forced-Labor-Debt-Bondage-and-Human-Trafficking.pdf |title=SLAVERY, FORCED LABOR, DEBT BONDAGE, AND HUMAN TRAFFICKING: FROM CONCEPTIONAL CONFUSION TO TARGETED SOLUTIONS|last=Jordan |first= Ann|date=February 2011|website=Program on Human Trafficking and Forced Labor|publisher=Washington College of Law: Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law}}</ref> The services required to repay the debt may be undefined, and the services' duration may be undefined, thus allowing the person supposedly owed the debt to demand services indefinitely.<ref name=":0" /> Debt bondage can be passed on from generation to generation.<ref name=":0" />

In 2021, the [[International Labour Organization]] estimated that, of the 27.6 million people currently participating in forced labour, 20.9%, or about 5.8 million, were in debt bondage.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/wcmsp5/groups/public/%40ed_norm/%40ipec/documents/publication/wcms_854733.pdf|title=Global Report on Forced Labour in Asia: debt bondage, trafficking and state-imposed forced labour|date=2021|website=Advancing Social Justice, Promoting Decent Work |publisher=International Labour Organization}}</ref> Debt bondage has been described by the [[United Nations]] as a form of "[[Contemporary slavery|modern day slavery]]", and the [[Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery]] seeks to abolish the practice.<ref name=":0">Article 1(a) of the [[United Nations]]' 1956 [[Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery]] defines debt bondage as "the status or condition arising from a pledge by a debtor of his personal services or of those of a person under his control as security for a debt, if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied towards the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined".</ref><ref name="Bales2004">{{cite book|author=Kevin Bales|title=New slavery: a reference handbook|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Cw6EsO59aYC|access-date=11 March 2011|year=2004|publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-85109-815-6 |pages=15–18}}</ref><ref name=Gupta>{{cite web | last=Gupta | first=Shilpi | title=The Bondage of Debt: A Photo Essay | website=journalism.berkeley.edu | date=2002-02-13 | url=http://journalism.berkeley.edu/projects/asiaproject/Gupta.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052323/http://journalism.berkeley.edu/projects/asiaproject/Gupta.html | archive-date=2016-03-04 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

The practice is still prevalent primarily in [[South Asia]] and parts of [[West Africa|Western]] and [[Southern Africa]], although most countries in these regions are parties to the [[Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery]]. Lack of prosecution or insufficient punishment of this crime are the leading causes of the practice as it exists at this scale today.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":13" />
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== Overview ==
=== Definition ===
Though the [[Forced Labour Convention]] of 1930 by the [[International Labour Organization]], which included 187 parties, sought to bring organised attention to eradicating [[slavery]] through forms of [[forced labor]], formal opposition to debt bondage in particular came at the [[Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery]] in 1956.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> The convention in 1956<ref name=":0" /> defined debt bondage under Article 1, section (a):

<blockquote>Debt bondage, that is to say, the status or condition arising from a pledge by a debtor of his personal services or of those of a person under his control as security for a debt if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied towards the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined;<ref name=":0" /></blockquote>

When a pledge to provide services to pay off debt is made by an individual, the employer often illegally inflates interest rates at an unreasonable amount, making it impossible for the individual to leave bonded labour.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last1=von Lilienfeld-Toal|first1=Ulf|last2=Mookherjee|first2=Dilip|date=1 August 2010|title=The Political Economy of Debt Bondage|journal=American Economic Journal: Microeconomics|publisher=American Economic Association|volume=2|issue=3}}</ref> When the bonded labourer dies, debts are often passed on to children.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Androff|first=D.K.|title=The problem of contemporary slavery: An international human rights challenge for social work|journal=International Social Work|publisher=Social Sciences Index|volume=54|issue=2}}</ref>

=== Usage of term ===
{{See also|Human trafficking}}

Although debt bondage, [[forced labour]], and [[human trafficking]] are all defined as forms or variations of [[slavery]], each term is distinct.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/wrd0706webwcover.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/wrd0706webwcover.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Swept Under the Rug: Abuses against Domestic Workers around the World|date=2006|publisher=Human Rights Watch}}</ref><ref name=":14">{{Cite journal|last=Weitzer|first=Ronald|title=Human Trafficking and Contemporary Slavery|journal=Annual Review of Sociology|publisher=Business Source Complete|volume=41|issue=1}}</ref> Debt bondage differs from forced labour and human trafficking in that a person consciously pledges to work as a means of repayment of debt without being placed into labor against will.<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":3"/>

Debt bondage only applies to individuals who have no hopes of leaving the labor due to inability to ever pay debt back.<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":2"/> Those who offer their services to repay a debt and the employer reduces the debt accordingly at a rate commensurate with the value of labor performed are not in ''debt bondage''.<ref name=":1"/><ref name=":2"/>

==History==
=== Africa ===
Important to both East and West Africa, pawnship, defined by Wilks as "the use of people in transferring their rights for settlement of debt," was common during the 17th century.<ref name=":6">{{Cite journal|last=Wilks|first=I.|date=1988|title=Pawnship in Africa. Debt bondage in historical perspective|journal=African Economic History|volume=26}}</ref> The system of pawnship occurred simultaneously with the [[History of slavery|slave trade]] in Africa.<ref name=":5" /> Though the export of slaves from Africa to the Americas is often analyzed, slavery was rampant internally as well.<ref name=":6" /> Development of [[plantation]]s like those in [[Zanzibar]] in East Africa reflected the need for internal{{Clarification needed|date=March 2024}} slaves.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":6" /> Furthermore, many of the slaves that were exported were male as brutal and labor-intensive conditions favored the male body build.<ref name=":4" /> This created gender implications for individuals in the pawnship system as more women were pawned than men and often sexually exploited.<ref name=":4" />

After the abolition of slavery in many countries in the 19th century, Europeans still needed laborers.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last1=Brown|first1=Carolyn|last2=van der Linden|first2=Marcel|date=2010|title=Shifting Boundaries between Free and Unfree Labor: Introduction|journal=International Labor and Working-Class History|volume=78|issue=1|pages=4–11|doi=10.1017/S0147547910000086|s2cid=145707441}}</ref> Moreover, conditions for emancipated slaves were harsh.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> [[Discrimination]] was rampant within the labor market, making attainment of a sustainable income for former slaves tough.<ref name=":4" /> Because of these conditions, many freed slaves lived through slavery-like contracts with their masters in a manner parallel to debt bondage.<ref name=":5" />

===Americas===
{{Further|topic=indentured servitude in the American colonies|Indentured servant}}

During the [[colonial history of the United States]], persons bonded themselves to an owner who paid their passage to the New World. They worked until the debt of passage was paid off, often for years.<ref>Cheesman Herrick, White Servitude in Pennsylvania: Indentured and Redemption Labor in Colony and Commonwealth (New York: Negro University Press, 1969), 26.</ref> Debt peonage was practiced as "an illegal form of contemporary slavery... well into the 1950s" in "Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and other parts of the Deep South." Civil authorities would arrest "colored men off the street and in their homes if they were caught not working," charge them with [[vagrancy]], assess fines equal to several weeks of pickers' pay, and compel them "to pick fruit or cut sugarcane to work off the debt.... Those captured were hauled to remote plantations ..., held by force, and beaten or shot if they tried to escape."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wilkerson|first=Isabel|title=The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration|publisher=Vintage Books|year=2010|isbn=978-0-679-76388-8|location=New York|pages=152}}</ref>

In [[Peru]], a [[peon]]age system existed from the 16th century until [[land reform]] in the 1950s.  One estate in Peru that existed from the late 16th century until it ended had up to 1,700 people employed and had a prison.  They were expected to work for their landlord a minimum of three days a week and more if necessary to complete assigned work.  Workers were paid a symbolic two cents per year.  Workers were unable to travel outside their assigned lands without permission and were not allowed to organise any independent community activity. In the [[Peruvian Amazonia|Peruvian Amazon]], debt peonage is an important aspect of contemporary [[Urarina]] society.<ref>{{cite book | last=Dean | first=Bartholomew | title=Urarina Society, Cosmology, and History in Peruvian Amazonia | publisher=University Press of Florida | publication-place=Gainesville, Fla | date=2009 | isbn=978-0-8130-3378-5 }}</ref>

=== Asia ===
==== The ancient Near East ====
Severe personal debt was widespread in the [[ancient Near East]]. Debtors who did not pay up could become their creditors' chattel, as could other members of their families.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Westbrook |first=Raymond |date=1995|title=Slave and Master in Ancient Near Eastern Law |url=https://scholarship.kentlaw.iit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3004&context=cklawreview&httpsredir=1&referer=|journal=Chicago-Kent Law Review|volume=70 |issue=4 |pages=1631–1676}}, p. 1635.</ref> The problem of debt bondage, in conjunction with the state's ability to levy [[serf]]s for labour, led many to flee their homes.<ref name="Hudson">{{cite magazine |last=Hudson |first=Michael |date=15 November 2018 |title=How Bronze Age Rulers Simply Canceled Debts |url=https://evonomics.com/how-bronze-age-rulers-simply-canceled-debts/ |magazine=evonomics |access-date=2021-02-02}}</ref><ref name="van de Mieroop 2011">{{cite book |last=van de Mieroop|first=Mark|date=2011|title=A History of the Ancient Near East: Ca. 3000-323 BC |edition=2nd |location=Oxford|publisher=Wiley-Blackwell|isbn=978-1-444-32709-0}}</ref> Some of these fugitives formed bands of roving warriors called '''[[habiru]]''-men', especially in the Levant of the late second millennium.<ref name="van de Mieroop 2011" /> (Although not himself a fugitive from debt bondage, the story of [[Idrimi]] suggests that these groups could be a considerable threat.) The consequences of widespread debt bondage caused many kings to [[History of debt relief|annul debts]] on ascending to the throne.<ref name="Hudson"/><ref name="van de Mieroop 2011"/>

==== From the 19th century ====
In the 19th century, people in [[Asia]] were bonded to labor due to a variety of reasons ranging from farmers mortgaging harvests to drug [[addiction|addicts]] in need for opium in [[China]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=Bonded Labour and debt in the Indian Ocean World|last1=Campbell|first1=Gwyn|last2=Stanziani|first2=Alessandro|publisher=Pickering & Chatto|year=2013|isbn=9781848933781}}</ref> When a [[natural disaster]] occurred or food was scarce, people willingly chose debt bondage as a means to a secure life.<ref name=":4" /> In the early 20th century in Asia, most laborers tied to debt bondage had been born into it.<ref name=":4" /> In certain regions, such as in [[Burma]], debt bondage was far more common than slavery.<ref name=":4" /> Many went into bondage to pay off interest on a loan or to pay taxes,<ref name=":15">{{Cite journal|last=Kaarsholm|first=Preben|date=2016|title=Indian Ocean Networks and the Transmutations of Servitude: The Protector of Indian Immigrants and the Administration of Freed Slaves and Indentured Labourers in Durban in the 1870s|journal=Journal of Southern African Studies|publisher=Humanities Source|volume=42|issue=3|pages=443–461|doi=10.1080/03057070.2016.1173896|s2cid=148502882|url=https://forskning.ruc.dk/da/publications/350cfc3d-d367-468f-b63a-62b4c5a63b59}}</ref> and as they worked, often on farms, [[lodging]], meals, and clothing fees were added to the existing debt causing overall debt and interest to increase. These continued added loan values made leaving servitude unattainable.<ref name=":4"/>

Moreover, after the development of the [[international economy]], more workers were needed for the pre-industrial economies of Asia during the 19th century.<ref name=":4"/> A greater demand for labor was needed in Asia to power exports to growing industrial countries like the [[United States]] and [[Germany]].<ref name=":4"/> Cultivation of [[cash crop]]s like [[coffee]], cocoa, and [[sugar]] and exploitation of minerals like [[gold]] and [[tin]] led farm owners to search for individuals in need of loans for the sake of keeping laborers permanently.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Vink|first=Marcus|date=2014|title=Indian Ocean Debt Slavery|journal=Journal of African History|volume=55|issue=3}}</ref> In particular, the [[Indian indenture system]] was based on debt bondage by which an estimated two million Indians were transported to various colonies of European powers to provide labor for plantations.<ref name=":4"/> It started from the end of slavery in 1833 and continued until 1920.<ref name=":4"/>

Poor Uighur peasants gave their own women as collateral to [[Sindhi Hindus|Sindhi Hindu]] bankers from [[Shikarpur, Sindh|Shikarpur]] when taking out loans since they were too poor to pay in anything else. The Sindhi Hindus used the Uighur women as [[Concubinage|concubines]], this was accepted since Chinese officials in [[Xinjiang]] took Uighur Muslim women as concubines, unlike Russian officials in [[Russian Central Asia]], where the Sindhi Hindu merchants did not marry local women.<ref>{{cite book |last=Markovits |first=Claude |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M2vu7Odjz6kC&dq=was+that+the+women+kept+by+the+Shikarpuris+should+be+returned+to+their+original+owners.34&pg=PA268 |title=The Global World of Indian Merchants, 1750–1947: Traders of Sind from Bukhara to Panama |date=2000 |publisher=   Cambridge University Press |isbn=1139431277 |series=Cambridge Studies in Indian History and Society |volume=6 |location= |pages=265–8 |quote=}}</ref>

Chinese-Moro mestizo historian [[Samuel K. Tan|Samuel Kong Tan]] wrote that on his home island of [[Siasi]], the native [[Moro people|Moro]] Muslims and Chinese had good relations. The Chinese sold guns to the Moros in exchange for marine products like shark fins, shells and pearls. The native Moros also took out loans from the Chinese creditors and with the Moros putting their women and guns up as collateral for the debts.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bBFxAAAAMAAJ&q=Spanish+establishment+of+its+presence+in+the+island+.+A+1+.+French+naturalist+,+Alfred+Mar-+che+,+reported+in+1882+his+visit+to+the+small+Spanish+settle-+ment+in+Siasi+.+His+impression+of+the+village+was+one+of+peace+and+order+.+Relevant+to+the+issue+of+Chinese+integration+is+Marche%27s+note+that+there+were+already+Chinese+in+the+settle-+ment+exercising+a+good+control+of+internal+trade+and+com-+merce+.+These+were+marked+by+an+interdependent+economic+system+in+which+the+natives+happily+and+readily+exchanged+their+pearls+,+shells+,+shark+fins+,+and+marine+products+for+Chinese+and+/+or+European+items+,+including+guns+.+In+addition+,+the+Chinese+provided+a+convenient+credit+system+in+which+the+natives+mortgaged+their+guns+and+other+valuables+,+including+their+women+.+There+was+no+mention+of+Spanish+problems+with+the+system+.+There+was+an+obvious+mutuality+and+reciprocity+of+interest+in+the+practice+.+In+addition+to+the+Chinese+-+native+symbiosis |title=PDRC Currents: Bi-monthly Magazine of the PDRC., Volume 2 |date=1991 |publisher=Philippine-China Development Resource Center |isbn= |location= |page=6 |quote=Spanish establishment of its presence in the island . A 1 . French naturalist, Alfred Mar- che, reported in 1882 his visit to the small Spanish settle- ment in Siasi . His impression of the village was one of peace and order . Relevant to the issue of Chinese integration is Marche's note that there were already Chinese in the settle- ment exercising a good control of internal trade and com- merce . These were marked by an interdependent economic system in which the natives happily and readily exchanged their pearls, shells, shark fins, and marine products for Chinese and / or European items, including guns . In addition, the Chinese provided a convenient credit system in which the natives mortgaged their guns and other valuables, including their women . There was no mention of Spanish problems with the system . There was an obvious mutuality and reciprocity of interest in the practice . In addition to the Chinese - native symbiosis}}</ref>

Moro Muslim parents from [[Cotabato]] in mainland [[Mindanao]] sold their children and slaves to Chinese merchants so the Chinese could later sell them in the [[Sultanate of Sulu|Sulu Sultanate]] after Cotabato was hit by famine and smallpox in 1872. Jesuits stepped in by buying the children from the Chinese.<ref>{{cite book |last=McKenna |first=Thomas M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V68wDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22jesuit+missionaries+bought+for+redemption+children%22&pg=PA79 |title=Muslim Rulers and Rebels: Everyday Politics and Armed Separatism in the Southern Philippines |date=1998 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0520210166 |series=Comparative Studies on Muslim Societies |volume=26 |location= |page=79 |issn=1051-0354}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=McKenna |first=Thomas M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WunQEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22jesuit+missionaries+bought+for+redemption+children%22&pg=PA79 |title=Muslim Rulers and Rebels: Everyday Politics and Armed Separatism in the Southern Philippines |date=2023 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0520210165 |edition=reprint |series=Comparative Studies on Muslim Societies |volume=26 |location= |page=79 |issn=1051-0354}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=McKenna |first=Thomas M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jDr1aTxEeEC&q=%22jesuit+missionaries+bought+for+redemption+children%22 |title=Islam, Elite Competition, and Ethnic Mobilization: Forms of Domination and Dissent in Cotabato, Southern Philippines |date=1990 |publisher=University Microfilms |isbn= |location= |page=121 |quote=Jesuit missionaries bought for redemption children from Chinese middlemen who had purchased them from their Muslim owners or parents with the intention of reselling them (Bernad 1984) . An 1890 Jesuit report describes Chinese traders}}</ref><ref>{{cite book   |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YvgztJPwruIC&q=muslime+jesuits+ransomed+famine |title=Kinaadman: Wisdom, Volume 13 |date=1991 |publisher=Xavier University |isbn= |edition= |series= |volume= |location= |page=12 |quote=famine . Not able to feed so many mouths, or to obtain money to buy rice and other foodstuffs, some of the Muslim ... Jesuit superior, Father Jose Fernandez Cuevas, had made his voyage of reconnaissance in southern Mindanao, he had}}</ref><ref>{{cite book   |last=Salman |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MacwDwAAQBAJ&dq=muslime+jesuits+ransomed+famine&pg=PA66 |title=The Embarrassment of Slavery: Controversies Over Bondage and Nationalism in the American Colonial Philippines |date=2003 |publisher=Univ of California Press |isbn=0520240715 |edition=illustrated |series= |volume= |location= |page=66 |quote=... ransom young slaves in 1872, when a smallpox ... famine, causing the Magindanao to sell slaves for greatly reduced prices. Tamontaka became an agricultural colony, supported by donations and the church hierarchy in Manila. The Jesuits ...}}</ref><ref>{{cite book   |last=Bernad |first=Miguel Anselmo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GjRwAAAAMAAJ&q=muslime+jesuits+ransomed+famine |title=Tradition & Discontinuity: Essays on Philippine History & Culture |date=1983 |publisher=National Book Store |isbn=9710802607 |edition= |series= |volume= |location= |page=178 |quote=Jesuits could not raise, the plan had to be shelved for a decade . But in the famine of 1872, slaves and children were being sold cheap . The Jesuits raised funds in Manila and ransomed as many as they could . Many of the children}}</ref><ref>{{cite book   |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MmdMAQAAIAAJ&q=muslime+jesuits+ransomed+famine |title=Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture, Volumi 5-6 |date=2001 |publisher=Ateneo de Manila University |isbn= |edition= |series= |volume= |location= |page=184 |quote=Jesuits could not raise, the plan had to be shelved for a decade . But in the famine of 1872, slaves and children were being sold cheap . The Jesuits raised funds in Manila and ransomed as many as they could . Many of the children}}</ref>

The Cotabato-based Jesuit mission lasted from 1862 until Spanish rule in Cotabato ended and during famine and disease epidemics they bought children from Muslim parents themselves or from Chinese merchants who had bought the children from the Muslim parents and placed them into a "ransomed slave children" orphanage. The Muslim [[datu]]s sold their child slaves to the Jesuits during the famine in 1872. Thomas M. McKenna reported that he was told by Datu Adil that Moro Maguidanaons would send their slaves to schools instead of their own children in Cotabato when the Americans opened up schools so these slaves later became bureaucrats and teachers for the Magindanaons. In [[South Sulawesi]] in the [[Dutch East Indies]], elite [[Torajan people|Toraja]] would also not send their own children to school and instead send their slaves.<ref>{{cite book |last=McKenna |first=Thomas M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WunQEAAAQBAJ&dq=muslime+jesuits+ransomed+famine&pg=PA312 |title=Muslim Rulers and Rebels: Everyday Politics and Armed Separatism in the Southern Philippines |date=2023 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0520210165 |edition=reprint |series=Comparative Studies on Muslim Societies |volume=26 |location= |page=312 |issn=1051-0354}}</ref>

=== Europe ===
====Classical antiquity====
Debt bondage was "quite normal" in [[classical antiquity]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Kurt A. |last=Raaflaub |title=The Discovery of Freedom in Ancient Greece |page=47 | year=2004 |publisher=University of Chicago Press | isbn=978-0-226-70101-1}}</ref> The poor or those who had fallen irredeemably in debt might place themselves into bondage "voluntarily"—or more precisely, might be compelled by circumstances to choose debt bondage as a way to anticipate and avoid worse terms that their creditors might impose on them.<ref>{{harvnb|Raaflaub|2004|loc=pp. 32, 47 ''et passim.''}}</ref> In the [[Greco-Roman world]], debt bondage was a distinct legal category into which a free [[Person (law)|person]] might fall, in theory temporarily, distinguished from the pervasive practice of [[slavery in antiquity|slavery]], which included enslavement as a result of defaulting on debt. Many forms of debt bondage existed in both [[ancient Greece]] and [[ancient Rome]].<ref>{{cite book | last=de Ste. Croix | first=G.E.M. | title=The Class Struggle in the Ancient Greek World: From the Archaic Age to the Arab Conquests | publisher=Cornell University Press | year=1981 | isbn=978-0-8014-1442-8 |pages=136–137}}, noting that economic historian [[Moses Finley]] maintained "serf" was an incorrect term to apply to the social structures of classical antiquity.</ref>

====Ancient Greece====
Debt bondage was widespread in ancient Greece. The only [[polis|city-state]] known to have abolished it is [[ancient Athens|Athens]], as early as the [[Archaic Greece|Archaic period]] under the debt reform legislation of [[Solon]].<ref>{{harvnb|de Ste. Croix|1981|loc=pp. 137, 162}}</ref> Both enslavement for debt and debt bondage were practiced in [[Ptolemaic Egypt]].<ref name="Ste. Croix p. 165">{{harvnb|de Ste. Croix|1981|page=165}}</ref> By the [[Hellenistic period]], the limited evidence indicates that debt bondage had replaced outright enslavement for debt.<ref name="Ste. Croix p. 165"/>

The most onerous debt bondage was various forms of ''paramonē'', "[[indentured servitude|indentured labor]]." As a matter of law, a person subjected to ''paramonē'' was categorically free, and not a slave, but in practice his freedom was severely constrained by his servitude.<ref name="Ste. Croix p. 169">{{harvnb|de Ste. Croix|1981|page=169}}</ref> Solon's reforms occurred in the context of [[Athenian democracy|democratic politics at Athens]] that required clearer distinctions between "free" and "slave"; as a perverse consequence, [[chattel slavery]] increased.<ref>{{harvnb|Raaflaub|2004|p=49}}</ref>

The selling of one's own child into slavery is likely in most cases to have resulted from [[extreme poverty]] or debt, but strictly speaking is a form of chattel slavery, not debt bondage. The exact legal circumstances in Greece, however, are more poorly documented than in ancient Rome.<ref name="Ste. Croix p. 169"/>

====Ancient Rome====
{{Main|Nexum}}

''[[Nexum]]'' was a debt bondage contract in the early [[Roman Republic]]. Within the [[Roman law|Roman legal system]], it was a form of ''[[mancipatio]]''. Though the terms of the contract would vary, essentially a free man pledged himself as a bond slave (''nexus'') as surety for a loan. He might also hand over his son as collateral. Although the bondsman might be subjected to humiliation and abuse, as a [[Roman citizenship|legal citizen]] he was supposed to be exempt from [[corporal punishment]]. ''Nexum'' was abolished by the ''[[Lex Poetelia Papiria]]'' in 326 BC, in part to prevent abuses to the physical integrity of citizens who had fallen into debt bondage.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Slavery and economy in ancient Rome|last=McKrause|first=Stanford|publisher=Brainy Bookstore Mckrause}}</ref>

[[Roman historiography|Roman historians]] illuminated the abolition of ''nexum'' with a traditional story that varied in its particulars; basically, a ''nexus'' who was a handsome but upstanding youth suffered [[sexual harassment]] by the holder of the debt. In one version, the youth had gone into debt to pay for his father's funeral; in others, he had been handed over by his father. In all versions, he is presented as a model of virtue. Historical or not, the cautionary tale highlighted the incongruities of subjecting one free citizen to another's use, and the legal response was aimed at establishing the citizen's right to liberty ''(libertas)'', as distinguished from the [[Slavery in ancient Rome|slave]] or [[infamia|social outcast]].<ref name="Roman Republic 1971 pp. 56-57">{{cite book | last=Brunt | first=P.A. |author-link=Peter Brunt | title=Social Conflicts in the Roman Republic | publisher=Chatto and Windus | series=Ancient culture and society | year=1971 | isbn=978-0-7011-1630-9 | pages=56–57}}</ref>

[[Cicero]] considered the abolition of ''nexum'' primarily a political maneuver to appease the common people ''([[plebs]])'': the law was passed during the [[Conflict of the Orders]], when plebeians were struggling to establish their rights in relation to the hereditary privileges of the [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patricians]]. Although ''nexum'' was abolished as a way to secure a loan, debt bondage might still result after a debtor defaulted.<ref name="Roman Republic 1971 pp. 56-57"/>

====European Middle Ages====
While [[serfdom]] under [[feudalism]] was the predominant political and economic system in [[Europe]] in the [[High Middle Ages]], persisting in the [[Austrian Empire]] till 1848 and the [[Russian Empire]] until 1861 ([[Serfdom in Russia|details]]),<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| last=Wright | first=Thomas Edmund Farnsworth | title=Oxford Dictionary of World History | date=2015 | isbn=978-0-19-176572-8 | chapter=serf | publisher=Oxford University Press |chapter-url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199685691.001.0001/acref-9780199685691-e-3313?rskey=SbsmsH&result=3362}}</ref> debt bondage (and slavery) provided other forms of unfree labour.

====Russian Empire====
{{See also|Serfdom in Russia#Abolition|Emancipation Reform of 1861#Effects on the serfs}}

Throughout the reign of [[Alexander II of Russia|Tsar Alexander II]], Russia was [[Alexander II of Russia#Reign|dominated by reforms]]; Serfdom [[Emancipation Reform of 1861|was abolished]] in 1861 after decades of subjection, granting over 23 million serfs their freedom as well as obtaining citizenship, marriage without permission, property rights along with business ownership. This was well received amongst the peasantry, whom labelled Alexander "the Liberator". This act was the first and most paramount of [[Government reforms of Alexander II of Russia|major reforms enacted]] during his reign. However, serfs became obligated towards labouring on the land in order to gain private ownership, thus rendering them heavily indebted. Moreover, the [[Industrialization in the Russian Empire#Industrial development in the second half of the 19th century|outward urban migration]] of the population from rural areas only made this more difficult to achieve, with peasants enduring similar, albeit greatly reduced, hardship as a result.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The 1861 Emancipation of the Serfs |url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/the-1861-emancipation-of-the-serfs/ |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=www.courses.lumenlearning.com |language=en-GB}}</ref>

Despite that, peasants were enabled to purchase private property, and therefore begin soil cultivation for their own behalf, although this was also somewhat reduced by former tenants being forced to provide land redemption payments for the next several decades,<ref>{{Cite journal |title=The Economic Effects of the Abolition of Serfdom: Evidence from the Russian Empire |url=http://www.cefir.ru/papers/WP237.pdf |access-date=2024-08-22 |journal=American Economic Review | date=2018 | doi=10.1257/aer.20160144 |language=en-US | last1=Markevich | first1=Andrei | last2=Zhuravskaya | first2=Ekaterina | volume=108 | issue=4–5 | pages=1074–1117 }}</ref> whilst simultaneously being restricted to purchasing less fertile and profitable land without nobility interests. Furthermore, peasants were often overcharged for land beyond [[market value]],<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Freed Serfs without Free People: Manumission in Imperial Russia |url=https://academic.oup.com/ahr/article/118/4/1029/43573 |access-date=2024-08-22 |journal=The American Historical Review |date=2013 |doi=10.1093/ahr/118.4.1029 |language=en-GB |last1=Smith |first1=A. K. |volume=118 |issue=4 |pages=1029–1051 }}</ref> often varying from every location, with almost all the peasantry whom obtained greater land amounts being within the [[Congress Poland]], in order to weaken the dominant [[Szlachta|Polish nobility]] [[Nobility privileges in Poland|power structure]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=This land is my land |url=https://www.aeaweb.org/research/serfdom-abolition-russia-19th-century |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=www.aeaweb.org |language=en-US}}</ref> It has also been documented that many serfs remained heavily indebted, bound by their superior landlords, having acquired no significant liberty irrespective of the abolition reforms that were recently introduced. Nobility privileges were not affected, and, if anything, debatably strengthened.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=The Social and Economic Impact of the Emancipation of the Serfs in Russia |url=https://publications.essex.ac.uk/esj/article/id/193/ |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=www.publications.essex.ac.uk |date=2010 |doi=10.5526/esj139 |language=en-UK |last1=Hobart |first1=Louis |volume=2 |issue=2 }}</ref>

Regardless of the Tsar's intentions, some have argued that the emancipation enactment merely benefitted the landowners as an extension of [[Russian nobility|the nobility]], in that dedicated compensation secured for the aforementioned greatly overestimated market value of their property. They also determined what they would surrender, with partial remains distributed between the serfs. Extortionately priced land meant that peasants only bought narrow areas difficult to preserve with barely any food or revenue.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ending Feudalism: The 150th Anniversary of the Emancipation of the Serfs |url=https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2011/02/ending-feudalism-the-150th-anniversary-of-the-emancipation-of-the-serfs?lang=en&center=russia-eurasia |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=[[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]] |language=en-GB}}</ref> Landowners received additional financial compensation for land plots they yielded to serfs, contrary to the peasants having to pay for their own plots of land. This led to serfs having to borrow loans as well as mortgages off the [[State Bank of the Russian Empire|State Bank]] and their landlords, the vast majority of which originating from the former issuer. In order to alleviate the heavy burden, they were tied towards labouring until their debts repaid; [[Debt consolidation]] was entirely absent.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Emancipation of the Russian Serfs, 1861 |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/emancipation-russian-serfs-1861 |access-date=2024-08-22  |website=www.historytoday.com |language=en-GB}}</ref> Land inventories were seized with allotments and payments calculated, since it legally belonged to the landlord, as peasants with government loans were required to redeem allotments from landlords, although redemption payment durations were almost half a century. Within the first 20 years of emancipation, almost all of their peasants had received their land, leading to redemptions becoming mandatory, although allotments were adequate enough. Notwithstanding of this, the domestic population explosion that occurred for the remainder of the 19th century exposed peasants to increased economic difficulties.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Property Rights, Serfdom, and Institutional Divergence |url=https://broadstreet.blog/2022/04/25/property-rights-serfdom-and-institutional-divergence/ |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=www.broadstreet.blog |date=25 April 2022 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==Modern practice==
{{Missing information|this practice among Guatemalan migrant children in the United States|date=May 2024}}
Though the figures differ from those of the [[International Labour Organization]], researcher [[Siddharth Kara]] has calculated the number of slaves in the world by type, and determined that at the end of 2011 there were 18 to 20.5 million bonded laborers.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book|title=Bonded Labor: Tackling the System of Slavery in South Asia|last=Kara|first=Siddharth|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2012|isbn=9780231158480|location=New York}}</ref> Bonded laborers work in industries today that produce goods including but not limited to frozen shrimp, bricks, tea, coffee, diamonds, marble, and apparel.<ref name=":7" />

=== South Asia  ===
Although [[India]], [[Pakistan]], [[Kamaiya and kamlari|Nepal]] and [[Bangladesh]] all have laws prohibiting debt bondage, figures by the [[Human Rights Watch]] in 1999 are drastically higher estimating 40 million workers, composed mainly of children, are tied to labor through debt bondage in India alone.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2003/01/22/small-change/bonded-child-labor-indias-silk-industry|title=Small Change: Bonded Child Labor in India's Silk Industry|date=23 January 2003|website=Human Rights Watch}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.du.edu/korbel/hrhw/researchdigest/slavery/india.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.du.edu/korbel/hrhw/researchdigest/slavery/india.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Bonded Labor in India|last=Finn|first=Devin|publisher=HUMAN RIGHTS & HUMAN WELFARE}}</ref> It is estimated that 84 to 88% of the bonded laborers in the world are in South Asia.<ref name=":7" />

==== Brick kilns ====
[[File:Child Labour in Brick Kilns of Nepal.jpg|thumb|Child labor in brick kilns in South Asia]]

Research by Kara estimates there to be between 55,000 and 65,000 brick kiln workers in South Asia with 70% of them in India.<ref name=":7" /> Other research estimates 6,000 kilns in Pakistan alone.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal|last1=Ercelawn|first1=A|last2=Nauman|first2=M|date=2004|title=Unfree Labour in South Asia: Debt Bondage at Brick Kilns in Pakistan|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=39|issue=22}}</ref> Total revenue from brick kilns in South Asia is estimated by Kara to be $13.3 to $15.2 billion.<ref name=":7" /> Many of the brick kiln workers are migrants and travel between brick kiln locations every few months.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":8" /> Kiln workers often live in extreme poverty and many began work at kilns through repayment of a starting loan averaging $150 to $200.<ref name=":7" /> Kiln owners offer laborers "friendly loans" to avoid being criminalized in breaking bonded labor laws.<ref name=":8" /> Bonded brick kiln laborers, including children, work in harsh and unsafe conditions as the heat from the kiln may cause heat stroke and a number of other medical conditions.<ref name=":8" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Madheswaran|first1=S.|last2=Paik|first2=Saswati|date=2010|title=Labour Vulnerability and Debt Bondage in Contemporary India|journal=Journal of Social and Economic Development|publisher=Business Insights|volume=2}}</ref> Laborers are discouraged from defaulting on loans through fear of violence and death from brick kiln owners.<ref name=":8" />

==== Rice harvesting ====
[[File:Storing rice, India, 1956 (16795758519).jpg|thumb|Workers storing rice in India in 1952]]

An essential grain to the South Asian diet, rice is harvested throughout India and Nepal in particular.<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":4" /> In India, more than 20% of agricultural land is used to grow rice.<ref name=":4" /> Rice mill owners often employ workers who live in harsh conditions on farms.<ref name=":4" /> Workers receive such low wages that they must borrow money from their employers causing them to be tied to the rice mill through debt.<ref name=":4" /> For example, in India, the average pay rate per day was $0.55 American dollars as recorded in 2006.<ref name=":4" /> Though some workers may be able to survive minimally from their compensation, uncontrollable life events such as an illness require loans.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":16" /> Families, including children, work day and night to prepare the rice for export by boiling it, drying it in the sun, and sifting through it for purification.<ref name=":4" /> Furthermore, families who live on rice mill production sites are often excluded from access to hospitals and schools.<ref name=":4" />

=== Western and Southern Africa ===
Though there are not reliable estimates of bonded laborers in Western and Southern Africa to date from credible sources, the [[Global Slavery Index]] estimates the total number of those enslaved in this region is 6.25 million.<ref name=":9">{{Cite news|url=http://www.globalslaveryindex.org/region/sub-saharan-africa/#footnote-%5B22%5D|title=Sub- Saharan Africa - Global Slavery Index 2016|newspaper=Global Slavery Index|language=en-US|access-date=2016-10-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180425191002/https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/region/sub-saharan-africa/#footnote-%5B22%5D|archive-date=25 April 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref> In countries like [[Ghana]], it is estimated that 85% of people enslaved are tied to labor.<ref name=":9" /> Additionally, this region includes [[Mauritania]], the country with the highest proportion of slavery in the world as an estimated 20% of its population is enslaved through methods like debt bondage.<ref name=":9" />
[[File:Filleting the catch at Hout Bay Harbour.JPG|thumb|A worker preparing fish caught off the coast of South Africa]]

==== Fisheries ====
The [[Environmental Justice Foundation]] found human rights violations in the [[Fishery|fisheries]] on the coasts of South and West Africa including labor exploitation.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web|url=http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---declaration/documents/publication/wcms_214472.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---declaration/documents/publication/wcms_214472.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live|title=Forced labour and trafficking in fisheries|publisher=International Labour Organization}}</ref> Exporter fish companies drive smaller businesses and individuals to lower profits, causing bankruptcy.<ref name=":11" /> In many cases, recruitment to these companies occurs by luring small business owners and migrant workers through debt bondage.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theoutlawocean.com/irish-times-shackled-whipped-beheaded/|title=The Irish Times: Shackled, Whipped and Beheaded.|last=Urbina|first=Ian|newspaper=The Irish Times|access-date=2019-10-20|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":11" /> In recruiting individual fishers, fees are sometimes charged by a broker to use ports which opens the debt cycle.<ref name=":11" />

==== Domestic labour  ====
After countries began to formally abolish slavery, unemployment was rampant for black people in [[South Africa]] and [[Nigeria]] pushing black women to work as domestic workers, largely to other black people.<ref name=":15" /><ref name=":10">{{Cite journal|last1=Seedat-Khan|first1=Mariam|last2=Gunasekharan|first2=Dharmaraja|title=A New Form of Bonded Labour: A Comparative Study between Domestic Workers of South Africa and India|url=http://www.krepublishers.com/06-Special%20Volume-Journal/JSSA-00-Special%20Volume/JSSA-SV-04-14-Singh-Anand/JSSA-SV-04-057-031-14-Seedat/JSSA-SV-04-057-031-14-Seedat-Tx[5].pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220064508/http://www.krepublishers.com/06-Special%20Volume-Journal/JSSA-00-Special%20Volume/JSSA-SV-04-14-Singh-Anand/JSSA-SV-04-057-031-14-Seedat/JSSA-SV-04-057-031-14-Seedat-Tx%5b5%5d.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2016-12-20|journal=Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology|volume=6}}</ref> Currently, estimates from the [[International Labour Organization]] state that between 800,000 and 1.1 million domestic workers are in South Africa.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/domestic-workers/lang--en/index.htm|title=Domestic workers (Domestic workers)|website=www.ilo.org|language=en|access-date=2016-10-28}}</ref> Many of these domestic servants become bonded to labor in a process similar to other industries in Asia.<ref name=":10" /> The wages given to servants are often so poor that loans are taken when servants are in need of more money, making it impossible to escape.<ref name=":10" /> The hours of working for [[Domestic worker|domestic servants]] are unpredictable, and because many servants are women, their young children are often left under the care of older children or other family members.<ref name=":15" /><ref name=":10" /> Moreover, these women can work up to the age of 75 and their daughters are likely to be servants in the same households.<ref name=":10" />

=== Prostitution  ===
In the context of [[prostitution]], [[Smuggling|traffickers]] often [[Sexual slavery|exploit women]] by forcing them into sex work to pay off an unlawful debt. This debt is usually incurred through their transportation, recruitment, or even their crude "sale".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Debt Bondage |url=https://www.stopvaw.org/debt_bondage |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=www.stopvaw.org}}</ref>

The debt is often inflated with additional costs such as housing, food, and medical care, making it nearly impossible for the individuals to repay it. As a result, they remain trapped in a cycle of exploitation and abuse.<ref name="rachelwp">{{Cite web |last=rachelwp |date=2019-06-27 |title=Introduction to Debt Bondage |url=https://stopmoderndayslavery.org/2019/06/introduction-to-debt-bondage/ |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=Stop Modern Day Slavery |language=en-US}}</ref>

It is a severe violation of human rights and a significant issue in the fight against human trafficking and modern slavery.<ref name="rachelwp"/>

A 1994 report of Burmese prostitutes in [[Thailand]] reports compulsory indebtedness is common for girls in [[forced prostitution]], especially those transported across the border. They are forced to work off their debt, often with 100 percent interest, and to pay for their room, food and other items. In addition to debt bondage, the women and girls face a wide range of abuses, including illegal confinement; [[forced labor]]; [[rape]]; [[physical abuse]]; and more.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/1994/01/31/trafficking-burmese-women-and-girls-brothels-thailand|title=Trafficking of Burmese Women and Girls into Brothels in Thailand|date=31 January 1994}}</ref>

== Consequences ==
=== Revenue ===
The [[International Labour Organization]] (ILO) estimates that $51.2 billion is made annually in the exploitation of workers through debt bondage.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.ilo.org/newyork/voices-at-work/WCMS_244965/lang--en/index.htm|title=How profitable is the exploitation of people? Sadly, extraordinarily so.|date=28 May 2014|website=International Labour Organization}}</ref> Though the employers actively take part in accruing the debt of laborers, buyers of products and services in the country of manufacturing and abroad also contribute to the profitability of this practice.<ref name=":7" />
Global supply chains that deliver goods throughout the world are most likely tainted with [[slave labor]]. The reason for this includes convoluted [[supply chain management]] that crosses many international borders, ineffective labor laws, corporates claiming plausible deniability, global political-economic restructuring and well-intended consumers. This effort to eradicate modern day slavery resonates with well meaning individuals who purchase fair-trade items, hoping they are making a difference. The [[fair trade]] industry is estimated to exceed $1.2 billion annually (Davenport & Low 2012). Unfortunately, this is barely a dent into the global economy. International labor laws need to be created by various authorities such as the [[International Labour Organization|International Labor Organization]], [[World Trade Organization]], Interpol and the United Nations that have teeth to adequately punish the wrongdoers.

=== On-going cycle ===
In many of the industries in which debt bondage is common like brick kilns or fisheries, entire families are often involved in paying of the debt of one individual, including children.<ref name=":7" /><ref name=":16">{{Cite journal|last=Bagchi|first=Amiya Kumar|title=An Iron Law of Interconnectedness of Child Labour, Bonded Labour, and Human Trafficking|journal=Indian Journal of Labour Economics|volume=57|issue=1}}</ref> These children generally do not have access to education thus making it impossible to get out of poverty.<ref name=":12">{{Cite journal|last1=Basu|first1=Arnab|last2=Chau|first2=Nancy|date=2003|title=Targeting Child Labor in Debt Bondage: Evidence, Theory, and Policy Implications|journal=The World Bank Economic Review|volume=255}}</ref> Moreover, if a relative who still is in debt dies, the bondage is passed on to another family member, usually the children.<ref name=":12" /> At the International Labour Organization Convention, this cycle was labeled as the "Worst Forms of Child Labor."<ref name=":12" /> Researchers like Basu and Chau link the occurrence of [[child labor]] through debt bondage with factors like labor rights and the stage of development of an economy.<ref name=":12" /> Although minimum age labor laws are present in many regions with child debt bondage, the laws are not enforced especially with regard to the agrarian economy.<ref name=":12" />

== Policy initiatives ==
=== The United Nations ===
Debt bondage has been described by the United Nations as a form of "modern day slavery"<ref name="Gupta" /> and is prohibited by [[international law]].  It is specifically dealt with by article 1(a) of the United Nations 1956 [[Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery]]. It persists nonetheless especially in developing countries, which have few mechanisms for credit security or [[bankruptcy]], and where fewer people hold formal title to land or possessions. According to some economists, like [[Hernando de Soto (economist)|Hernando de Soto]], this is a major barrier to development in these countries. For example, [[entrepreneurs]] do not dare to take risks and cannot get credit because they hold no [[collateral (finance)|collateral]] and may burden families for generations to come.

=== South Asia ===
{{See also|Debt bondage in India}}

India was the first country to pass legislation directly prohibiting debt bondage through the [[Bonded Labor System (Abolition) Act, 1976]].<ref name=":7" /><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Belser|first=P.|date=2003|title=Forced labour nowadays|journal=Pensee|volume=336}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gopal|first=Meena|date=2012|title=Caste, sexuality and labour: The troubled connection|journal=Current Sociology|volume=2}}</ref> Less than two decades later, Pakistan also passed a similar act in 1992 and Nepal passed the [[Kamaiya]] Labour (Prohibition) Act in 2002.<ref name=":7" /> Despite the fact that these laws are in place, debt bondage in South Asia is still widespread.<ref name=":7" /> According to the Ministry of Labor and Employment of the Government of India, there are over 300,000 bonded laborers in India, with a majority of them in the states of [[Tamil Nadu]], [[Karnataka]], and [[Odisha]].<ref>{{Citation|last1=Acharya|first1=Arun Kumar|title=Practices of Bonded Labour in India: Forms of Exploitation and Human Rights Violations|date=2019|url=http://sk.sagepub.com/reference/the-sage-handbook-of-human-trafficking-and-modern-day-slavery/i1223.xml|work=The SAGE Handbook of Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery|pages=126–138|publisher=SAGE Publications Ltd|doi=10.4135/9781526436146.n6|access-date=2020-05-03|last2=Naranjo|first2=Diego López|isbn=9781473978553|s2cid=169418671|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

In [[India]], the rise of [[Dalit]] activism, government legislation starting as early as 1949,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hart |first=Christine |url=http://www.du.edu/korbel/hrhw/researchdigest/minority/Dalit.pdf |title=Untouchability Today: The Rise of Dalit Activism |journal=Human Rights & Human Welfare |year=2010 |publisher=United Nations |pages=51–62 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180422073416/https://www.du.edu/korbel/hrhw/researchdigest/minority/Dalit.pdf |archive-date=22 April 2018 |access-date=2 February 2012 |url-status=unfit}}</ref> as well as ongoing work by NGOs and government offices to enforce labour laws and rehabilitate those in debt, appears to have contributed to the reduction of bonded labour there. However, according to research papers presented by the International Labour Organization, there are still many obstacles to the eradication of bonded labour in India.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://idsn.org/key-issues/caste-based-slavery/,%20https://idsn.org/key-issues/caste-based-slavery/|title=Caste-based Slavery - International Dalit Solidarity Network|first=Damir|last=Pasic|date=14 November 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |first=Ravi S. |last=Srivastava |url=https://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/forcedlabor/18 |title=Bonded Labor in India: Its Incidence and Pattern |journal=InFocus Programme on Promoting the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work; and International Labour Office, (2005). Forced Labor |date=April 2005 |ref=Paper 18 |hdl=1813/99630}}</ref>

=== Sub-Saharan Africa ===
In many of the countries like [[South Africa]], [[Nigeria]], [[Mauritania]], and [[Ghana]] in which debt bondage is prevalent, there are not laws that either state direct prohibition or specify punishment.<ref name=":13">{{Cite news|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/countries/2013/215617.htm|title=South Africa|publisher=U.S. Department of State|access-date=2016-10-29}}</ref> In addition, though many of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have laws that vaguely prohibit debt bondage, prosecution of such crimes rarely occurs.<ref name=":13" />

==See also==
* [[Coolie]]
* [[Coolie trade]]
* [[Debtor's prison]]
* [[Indenture]]
* [[Involuntary servitude]]
* [[Predatory lending]]
* [[Serfdom]]
* [[Trafficking of children]]
* [[Usury]]
* [[Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention]]

; Contemporary
* [[Bonded Labour Liberation Front]], India
* [[Chukri System]]
* [[Debt bondage in India]]
* [[Debt-trap diplomacy]]
* [[Modern day slavery]]
* [[Restavek]], Haiti
* [[Siddharth Kara]], Author
* [[The State of Bonded Labor in Pakistan]]
* [[Syeda Ghulam Fatima]]
* [[United Nations 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
* Giri, B.R. (2012). [http://www.slideshare.net/nepaliworldnews/6-the-bonded-labor-system-in-nepal-13403748 "The Bonded Labour System in Nepal: Musahar and Tharu Communities' Assessments of the Haliya and Kamaiya Labour Contracts"], ''Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences'', 4(2): 518–551.
* Giri, B.R. (2010). [http://sar.sagepub.com/content/30/2/145.abstract "The Bonded Labour Practice in Nepal]: 'The Promise of Education' as a Magnet of Child Bondedness?" ''South Asia Research'', 30(2): 145-64
* Giri, B.R. (2010). The Haliya and Kamaiya Bonded Child Labourers in Nepal, in G. Craig (ed.), [https://web.archive.org/web/20121011020314/http://www.policypress.co.uk/display.asp?k=9781847426093 Child Slavery Now], pp. 227–241, Bristol (UK): Policy Press.
* Giri, B.R. (2009). "[http://jas.sagepub.com/content/44/6/599.abstract The Bonded Labour System in Nepal]: Perspectives of Haliya and Kamaiya Child Workers", ''Journal of Asian and African Studies'', 44(6): 599–623.
* Giri, B.R. (2007). "Modern Slavery", in: R. Ennals (ed.) ''[http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470028327.html From Slavery to Citizenship]'', West Sussex, UK: John Wiley and Sons, pp.&nbsp;257–261.

; Organisational Reports
* [http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/Informationresources/ILOPublications/lang--en/docName--WCMS_106268/index.htm The Cost of Coercion ILO 2009]
* International Labour Office. (2005). [http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/Informationresources/ILOPublications/lang--en/docName--WCMS_081882/index.htm A global alliance against forced labour]
* [http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/Informationresources/ILOPublications/lang--en/docName--WCMS_081913/index.htm ILO Minimum Estimate of Forced Labour in the World. (2005)]
* [http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/Informationresources/ILOPublications/lang--en/docName--WCMS_081991/index.htm Forced Labour: Definition, Indicators and Measurement 2004] - ILO
* [http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/Informationresources/ILOPublications/lang--en/docName--WCMS_088490/index.htm Stopping Forced Labour 2001]- ILO
* [http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/Informationresources/Factsheetsandbrochures/lang--en/docName--WCMS_105023/index.htm Operational Indicators of Trafficking in Human Beings 2009] ILO/SAP-FL
* [http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/Informationresources/Factsheetsandbrochures/lang--en/docName--WCMS_105884/index.htm Lists of Indicators of Trafficking in Human Beings 2009] ILO/SAP-FL
* {{cite book|author1=Edward H. Lawson|author2=Mary Lou Bertucci|title=Encyclopedia of human rights|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J-SrdFtSuDUC|access-date=10 March 2011|date=1 September 1996|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-56032-362-4|pages=345–346}}

==External links==
* [https://www.antislavery.org/ Official website] of [[Anti-Slavery International]]
* [http://www.ilo.org/sapfl/lang--en/index.htm Profile on forced labor, modern slavery and human trafficking] from the [[International Labour Organization]], with links to statistical data and other information

===International legal instruments===
* [http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C029 ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29)]
* [http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C105 ILO Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105)]
* [http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C138 ILO Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138)]
* [http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C182 ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182)]

{{Debt}}
{{Deprivation Indicators}}
{{Poverty}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Debt Bondage}}
[[Category:Debt bondage| ]]
[[Category:Child labour]]
[[Category:Commercial crimes]]
[[Category:Slavery by type]]