THESE ACTIVISTS TEND TO TALK ABOUT BATTLES YET TO BE FOUGHT, RATHER THAN THOSE ALREADY WON. WHILE PRESIDENT CLINTON PRIDES HIMSELF MORE PEOPLE THAN EVER NOW LIVE UNDER DEMOCRACY, THEY POINT TO DARK CORNERS OF THE WORLD CONCEALING WHAT THEY SAY IS SLAVERY.

SPEARHEADING THE DRIVE IS CONGRESSMAN CHRISTOPHER SMITH, A REPUBLICAN FROM NEW JERSEY, WHO SAYS SUCH HORRIBLE PRACTICES MUST HAVE NO PLACE IN TODAY'S WORLD.

WE MUST DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO ABOLISH SLAVERY, NOT ONLY BECAUSE ITS VICTIMS ARE OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, BUT ALSO BECAUSE AS LONG AS THERE IS ANYONE IN THE WORLD WHO IS A SLAVE, NONE OF US IS TRULY FREE.

BACKING THE CONGRESSMAN IS A WIDE ARRAY OF CIVIC GROUPS DETERMINED TO DO AWAY WITH VESTIGES OF BONDED LABOR.

ONE OF THEM IS THE MASSACHUSETTS-BASED AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY GROUP. ITS LEADER, CHARLES JACOBS, SAYS MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ARE HELD IN VARIOUS FORMS OF BONDAGE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. MR. JACOBS BELIEVES THAT IS MORE THAN IN ANY TIME IN HISTORY. HE NAMED SUDAN AND MAURITANIA AS COUNTRIES, WHERE SLAVERY IS FLOURISHING IN ITS MOST UGLY FORMS.

IN SUDAN, THE FUNDAMENTALIST ISLAMIC REGIME IN KHARTOUM HAS LAUNCHED A JIHAD, A HOLY WAR, AGAINST THE NON-MUSLIM POPULATION IN THE SOUTH, WHICH IS MOSTLY BLACK, AFRICAN CHRISTIAN AND ANIMIST. AND AS PART OF THAT WAR, THEY RAID VILLAGES AND TAKE SLAVES -- AND TRANSSHIP THEM, ACCORDING TO THE U-S STATE DEPARTMENT, ACROSS BORDERS THERE, NOTABLY TO LIBYA.

MR. JACOBS SAYS IN MAURITANIA, SLAVERY IS AN OLD TRADITION DEEPLY ROOTED IN SOCIETY'S ETHNIC STRUCTURE.

THE SLAVES THERE ARE MUSLIM. SO YOU HAVE ARAB BERBER MASTERS, WHO RULE MAURITANIA, HAVING BLACK MUSLIM SLAVES. AND, ACCORDING TO STATE DEPARTMENT DOCUMENTS, THERE ARE 90-THOUSAND SLAVES. OTHER ESTIMATES RANGE UPWARDS TO 300-THOUSAND. AND THEY ARE TREATED HORRIBLY, THEY ARE TREATED LIKE ANIMALS. AND THEIR TORTURE IS NOT FOR FAMILY RADIO.

A SUDANESE EMBASSY SPOKESMAN IN WASHINGTON CALLED CHARGES OF SLAVERY BASELESS AND POLITICALLY-MOTIVATED, WHILE MAURITANIA'S AMBASSADOR REFUSED TO ANSWER INQUIRIES IMMEDIATELY.

MEANWHILE, U-S ANTI-SLAVERY ACTIVISTS WANT THE STATE DEPARTMENT TO DEDICATE A SPECIAL CHAPTER TO BONDED LABOR IN ITS ANNUAL HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTS. THEY WANT THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION TO BRING THIS ISSUE TO THE FORE IN ITS RELATIONS WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.

27-Jan-97
Source: Voice of America