Mass Emigration from Africa – Is It Modern Slavery?

Sex trafficking, child sex trafficking, forced labour, bond labour or debt bondage, domestic servitude, forced child labour, illegal recruitment, and the use of child soldiers are the only topics you will learn about if you Google “modern slavery.” All of these are wrong and terrible, but there is another serious issue at hand and few are aware of it because of its high level of sophistication.

Let’s quickly examine things. The recent World Cup in Qatar had 13 black players for the Canadian national team, roughly 14 black players for France, about 8 of them were regular starters, six black players for Belgium, six black players for England, and so on.

We can all confirm that black athletes participate for the majority of western nations in the Olympics and other sports tournaments; take a peek at the American running squad. Now let’s move on to the manufacturing sector where Latino and black people make up the majority of the workforce.

Walmart employs around 1.5 million people in America, making it the largest employer in the continent, according to CNBC. Nearly 21% of its employees are black, which is a higher ratio than the 13.4% number of black Americans in the country’s overall population. Moving up the corporate ladder, however, results in a reduction in the representation of black personnel. According to Walmart’s 2020 equality and inclusion report, there are 8% of black officers and around 12% of black managers among all employees.

Many healthcare professionals left Ghana to work in the UK and other EU nations last year. Although the majority of these people already had jobs in their native countries, overseas recruiters made them juicier offers. It is fairly understandable considering that everyone wants to make more money. Our African brothers and sisters frequently accept overtime pay that is offered by the working system outside of Africa. Keep in mind that these recruiters do not provide tax-free employment. If they are employed there, our folks continue to pay taxes on everything.

According to the Statista website, over 41 million individuals left Africa as of 2020 in comparison to 2000 when it stood at roughly 22 million. The projections “are based on official statistics on the foreign-born or foreign population,” Statista claims.

These individuals all departed the continent in search of better opportunities. Companies from western nations constantly offer Africans job possibilities, despite our fertile fields, topography, and significant mineral accumulation in our lands. Some also offer opportunities for education.

Is this an attempt to get Africans to work for them? Can’t they collaborate with our governments to establish their factories in Africa so the locals can work in better conditions? Why do Africans need to travel so far to take advantage of the services provided?

Why do western nations give some job roles to Africans instead of pushing their natives to take them? Why do their citizens take the higher-paying positions and leave the lesser-paying ones for Africans just because they pay more than local businesses in Africa? Is this a form of contemporary slavery?