The data
Every case on SlaveryMap, drawn from public sources and shown with its location deliberately generalized to protect survivors.
631 of 1,631 cite a source · Updated
Showing 1–24 of 155
United Kingdom GB
Metropolitan Police found eight Romanian nationals, including a 15-year-old boy, who had been trafficked to the UK with false promises of accommodation, fair pay, food and legitimate work, and forced to work at a car wash in Mitcham, south London. They were housed in a small room on site and routinely subjected to physical, mental and psychological abuse.
Australia AU
Vanuatu workers employed under the PALM scheme on a sweet-potato farm were allegedly subjected to unlawful wage deductions. Between January and March 2022, 29 employees were fined $500 each for alleged breaches of an employer alcohol policy, totalling $14,500. Some workers were left with approximately $150 net pay for a week after deductions.
Uganda UG
Ugandans recruited for jobs abroad, including domestic work in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Middle East, are vulnerable to forced labor, and Uganda is a transit point for migrants seeking work in the Middle East whom traffickers exploit. Labor recruitment companies have been investigated for illegally holding migrant workers' passports, and observers alleged that some high-level officials were linked to recruitment companies suspected of trafficking.
DR Congo
Amnesty International and Afrewatch documented children as young as seven working in dangerous cobalt mining tunnels near Kolwezi, with the mineral traced through traders to major electronics and battery manufacturers. Accused: Trading depots and mine operators purchasing cobalt from child-labor sites with no oversight.
Malaysia MY
More than 108,000 Rohingya refugees in Malaysia cannot legally work, which leaves them vulnerable to exploitation, and refugees, asylum-seekers and stateless people are exploited in forced labor. Traffickers also recruit young women and girls, recently including from Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda, with offers of legal work in restaurants, hotels and salons, then exploit them in sex trafficking.
United States
Motel manager manipulated young woman's homelessness addiction and custody issues to compel hotel housekeeping labor and sexual compliance Accused: Georgia motel manager.
United Kingdom
Eastern European workers trafficked for cannabis cultivation in residential properties. Confined forced to tend plants under threat Accused: Albanian organized crime group.
Zambia
Human Rights Watch documented persistent labor abuses at Chinese-run copper mines, including forced 12-18 hour shifts, inadequate protective equipment, and threats against workers who refused unsafe conditions or tried to join unions. Accused: Chinese state-owned mining companies operating in Zambia's Copperbelt.
United Arab Emirates
South Asian construction workers held in labor camps. Passports confiscated wages withheld threatened with deportation extreme heat conditions Accused: Construction subcontractor.
United States US
H-2A farmworkers employed by Rancho Nuevo Harvesting in California, including Fresno County, experienced violations involving substandard housing, inadequate or spoiled food, unsafe transportation, failure to pay required transportation and subsistence costs, and failure to meet the H-2A three-fourths pay guarantee.
Uganda
Security companies recruited Ugandans to serve as guards in Middle East. Travel documents and pay withheld Accused: Ugandan recruitment agencies with Gulf partners.
Malaysia MY
Hundreds of migrant workers, mainly from Bangladesh and Nepal, arrived in Malaysia after paying high recruitment fees for promised jobs that did not materialize. Many incurred substantial debts, while recruitment agents confiscated passports, leaving workers vulnerable to forced labor and severe destitution.
DR Congo
Adult miners in artisanal copper-cobalt sites working under armed guard. Wages withheld movement restricted injuries untreated Accused: Armed mining militia connected to supply chain middlemen.
United States
Micronesian couple brought an 18-year-old relative to the US with promises of education, then forced her into domestic servitude and hard labor while withholding her documents. Accused: Edk Kenit and Choimina Lukas of Longview, Washington.
South Korea KR
A Cambodian migrant agricultural worker testified that they worked 11-hour days while receiving pay for only eight hours, lived in greenhouse accommodation for six years, and faced deductions for housing and insurance. The worker reported approximately ₩10 million in unpaid wages and described wider exploitation of migrant agricultural workers.
Singapore
Filipino and Indonesian domestic workers recruited through agencies charging excessive fees creating debt bondage. Rest days denied Accused: Licensed and unlicensed recruitment agencies.
Thailand
Human Rights Watch documented systemic forced labor aboard Thai fishing vessels, interviewing 248 current and former fishers, mostly from Myanmar and Cambodia, who described confiscated documents, 14+ hour days, and confinement at sea for months. Accused: Thai fishing vessel owners and captains.
United States
A couple hired workers from India through false job ads promising good wages, then forced them into unpaid domestic labor in their home, physically abusing them and threatening consequences if they tried to leave. Accused: Satish Kartan and Sharmistha Barai of Stockton, California.
Japan
Vietnamese workers in Technical Intern Training Program placed in seafood processing instead of promised training. Excessive hours garnished wages confiscated passports Accused: Japanese company and Vietnamese broker.
United States
Farm labor contractor ran criminal enterprise compelling Mexican H-2A workers into forced labor across five states Accused: Owner of farm labor contracting company.
Qatar QA
A Guardian investigation found that more than 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka died in Qatar in the decade after it won the right to host the World Cup, with widespread reports of forced labor under the kafala sponsorship system.
Italy IT
A Chinese-run leather goods manufacturer exploited Pakistani and Bangladeshi migrant workers, making them work up to 14 hours a day for just over €3 per hour producing handbags.
United States US
From 2009 to 2019, a woman in Cicero, Illinois, helped at least ten undocumented Guatemalan immigrants enter the US illegally, then forced them to work to pay off debts she demanded, threatening them with deportation and separation from their children.
United States US
A Cuban man living in Palm Beach County smuggled three Cuban women into the US through Mexico in 2016 and 2017, then forced them to work in Palm Beach County strip clubs to pay smuggling debts of more than $10,000 to $26,000. He beat the women and threatened them and their families.