Slavery/Bonded Labour is still much more commonplace than people realise. As well as the various human trafficking operations around the world and the situation **even sven **describes in North Africa, it is also a widespread problem around in Pakistan/Afghanistan and probably in many other places.
I remember reading an article in Time, Newsweek or one of those magazines a few years ago, written by a man who had attended a slave market in Pakistan where Afghan children who had been sold by their families were being auctioned. IIRC girls were priced on a descending scale according to whether they were virgins, had been penetrated anally or been penetrated vaginally. I seem to remember the top price was USD 12,000 or thereabouts.