MODERN SLAVERY.

She approached me with shaky steps. She was holding the tray as if her life depended on it. She struggled to move with the orange juice without tripping. Head down, aware of the inquisitive eyes of her boss and frightened by the number of guests occupying the terrace stumbled a few feet in front of me. Fortunately, the bright orange liquid did not reach me but left a small puddle on the tile floor.

The young Philippine aware that she had made ​​the biggest mistake possible on her first working day, dropped to the ground to dry the puddle of juice. She was shaking like a leaf. Instinctively I grabbed a couple of paper napkins from a table near me and leaned over to clean up the mess. I tried to comfort her saying that nothing had happened and that bringing me another glass would fix the little mess. She looked up at me briefly. Her eyes were full of terror. She walked away from me at high speed.

I tried to follow her but my hostess intercepted me and distracted with a new drink. I never saw the young Philippine again but in the depths of my soul, in the dark corner of remorse for the events that I could have handled better in my life I wondered what had happened to her. Having seen other similar situations elsewhere in the Middle Eastern country where I was and the reaction of the patrons my concern was more than justified, knowing my hostess I expected a soft warning.

It is a misfortune to be born poor without the opportunity to get an education that would allow you to find a good job. It's great misfortune to live in an overpopulated country with tens of millions of people in the same precarious situation. The opportunities to succeed with dignity not only diminish but just disappear, especially if you're a woman. Philippines, Indonesian, Sinhalese, Sudanese, Egyptian, etc... are forced to accept jobs with salaries that might seem ridiculous to us - maybe not so much in the current economic climate - but , that actually represent a fortune to help its many impoverished families.

Thus, the Middle East, or rather, countries with higher purchasing power, mainly Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain have become the hope for a better future for a whole mass of Southeast Asia workers. Docile and submissive, these people are hired to perform all the jobs that natives consider humiliating. Little interest has arisen, however, about their plight, except for some news about the murder of a maid at the hands of her employers in some Arab countries, until allegations of inhuman working and living conditions of the construction workers in Qatar have appeared on the covers of the international media.

Employees mainly Asian, hired to build the macro works in Qatar, not only suffer long hours outdoors in a country where temperatures reach unbearable levels , lack the necessary security measures for posts of high risk - by height etc. . - live in overcrowded shacks without basic health guarantees, but also, in some cases, receive no wages, are fired without severance and denied permission to leave the country.

Meanwhile, domestic workers are subject to all kinds of physical and mental abuse, including sexual harassment and no law seems to protect them. For example, the Saudi labour law does not recognize domestic workers the same rights as other workers. The system of work ties employees to their employers, so that if they do not want, workers can not change jobs or leave the country. Employees, who are raped and also have the misfortune of becoming pregnant, rarely report the abuser because they have to introduce compelling evidence of abuse, something not always feasible. In addition, processes can last for many years during which no right to work or any assistance is given to the plaintiff.

What is the difference between this inhuman and abusive behaviour and the slavery practiced by the great American landowners, the European nobility and gentry or the Chinese masters of the nineteenth century? None. The truth is that human beings are capable of the noblest behaviour, of the most generous and supportive gestures but also can become the worst predator for their fellows.

If we move to the west, we find that the treatment may not be as brutal but, nevertheless, with the excuse of the economic crisis, labour relations have become a new kind of slavery for lower social classes. From the intolerable increase of women trafficking - usually very poor, young and trusting women, from countries with severe social inequalities in Europe, Africa or South America -, lured with promises of jobs and documents before being prostituted and abused to contracts that force workers to work for many more hours than established with paltry salaries, the abuse is increasingly widespread .

Nelson Mandela has just died. Public tributes are being paid to his memory all over the world. He was the man that, perhaps, best embodied the struggle for equality and dignity in the second half of last century. Undoubtedly, it would be much more appropriate to perform least celebrations and implement his teachings, chasing abuses, punishing inhuman and degrading treatment and especially implement new ways of eradicating slavery.