Bonded Labor

Kara's exploration is perhaps the most ambitious and reasoned treatment of this form of slavery in the modern era. By combining academic rigor and discipline alongside the narratives and voices of slaves, Kara offers a definitive analysis of the complexity of bonded labor as well as a reinvigoration of the movement to end this form of slavery globally. A must-read for all who want to better understand the trajectory of the global economy and its effect on labor. -- Randy Newcomb, president/CEO, Humanity United Kara's eye-opening view of bonded labor jolts the reader into acute awareness of one of the most insidious forms of modern-day slavery, inciting us to act to end this crime against humanity. -- Anne Archer, founder, Artists for Human Rights This book is a tool for a slave-free future. Incisive, relevant, and composite, it offers the latest data on bonded labor in South Asia, argues brilliantly that choice is irrelevant to bondage, and has new 'how-to' guides for activism. -- Ruchira Gupta, president/founder, Apne Aap Women Worldwide A beautifully lucid, compelling mixture of history, investigative journalism, personal testimony, and trenchant socioeconomic criticism. -- Jacqueline Bhabha, Harvard University An eloquent description of human misery and courage. The unique contribution of Kara's book is his in-depth economic analysis of industries where high profits are made on the expense of millions of poor and vulnerable people. -- Beate Andrees, International Labour Office Bonded Labor blends an historical account of the origins of slavery with meticulous research and first-hand testimonies from victims. The book enables the reader to fully grasp the extent of the problem and should move us all to act. -- Nina Smith, executive director, GoodWeave U.S.A. Beyond sobering, disturbing, yet so well and humanly written. The solutions proposed are the clearest in relegating this modern-day slavery, finally, to history. -- Erica Stone, president, American Himalayan Foundation Passionate...yet data-driven and absent of sensationalism, Kara's spotlight on debt bondage, "at once the most ancient and most contemporary face of human servitude," warrants profound attention. Publishers Weekly This book is a valuable resource for policy makers, human-rights activists, legal experts and academics, as well as for businesses with supply chains in developing countries. It deserves attention, and should inspire the eradication of the insidious crime of enslavement. -- Kathleen Hwang Asia Literary Review Researchers, academics, teachers, students, activists, community workers...would all benfit from reading Bonded Labor. -- Angie Redecopp Journal of Human Trafficking

Siddharth Kara is Director of the Carr Center Program on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and Fellow on Forced Labor at the Harvard School of Public Health. Kara speaks and consults extensively on contemporary slavery worldwide and advises several governments on antitrafficking policy and law. His first book, Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery, received Yale University's prestigious Frederick Douglass Book Prize.

List of Tables and Figures Preface Acknowledgments 1. Bonded Labor: An Overview 2. Agriculture: Kamaiya and Hari 3. Bricks and Bidis 4. Shrimp and Tea 5. Construction and Stonebreaking 6. Carpets and Other Sectors 7. Bonded Labor and the Law 8. Tackling Bonded Labor Appendix A: Global Slavery Metrics Appendix B: Select Bonded Labor Economics Appendix C: Select Bonded Labor Supply Chains Appendix D: Bonded Labor as Defined by India's Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act Appendix E: Bonded Labor Law and Cases: Pakistan Appendix F: Select Economic and Human Development Statistics Notes Works Cited Index