A Samoan man has been arrested in New Zealand on charges of slavery and people trafficking. While there have been a few prosecutions over the last few years for exploitation of migrant workers, an immigration official described this case as “A new low for New Zealand.”

At a news conference, Detective Inspector Mike Foster told reporters that a Samoan national later identified as Viliamu Samu lured at least ten people to New Zealand with promises of high paying jobs. He described Samu as a respected member of his community, who targeted vulnerable people with limited education and literacy.

Once they were in New Zealand, Samu contracted them out to commercial orchards in and around Hawke’s Bay. They were not paid for their work, their passports were confiscated, their contacts restricted, they were threatened and physically abused. Immigration New Zealand General Manager Peter Devoy said the case bears the hallmark of modern slavery.

The officials said that Viliamu Samu started his slavery ring in the mid-1990s and that while he’s charged with treating ten individuals as slaves, there could the more.

He faces eight additional charges of trafficking. Each slavery charge carries a maximum sentence of 14 years, and as much as 20 for each case of trafficking. The officials said that the owners of the orchards probably didn’t know what was going on. The investigation was conducted over two years and involved cooperation from police in Samoa.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told the Morning Post, “We want to do more to uncover where exploitation is occurring.” The scandal will prompt consideration of the Modern Slavery Act, a law adopted by the United Kingdom in 2015; a version enacted in Australia comes into effect on January first.

More than 45 million people around the world are living in slavery.  That’s according to an Australian human rights group which compiled what it calls the “Global Slavery Index.” And it says two-thirds of those modern day slaves live in the Asia Pacific.  HPR’s Bill Dorman has more in today’s Asia Minute.

The “Walk Free Foundation” estimates more than 18 million people in India are living in what it calls “modern slavery.”  That count includes people born into servitude, trapped in bondage because of debt, or involved in forced labor.  It also includes those trafficked for sex work.

The foundation says nearly 46 million people around the world are in such conditions—a 30% increase from the group’s estimate in 2014…. mostly because of better data collection.  The biggest concentration of slave labor: North Korea…where nearly one in every 20 people is under those dire circumstances.

The logistics of putting together this study were challenging—and because of the nature of the work, they involve a lot of estimates based on imperfect knowledge.  The foundation says it used Gallup to conduct interviews with about 42,000 people in 25 countries….in 53 languages.  Nearly 60% of those living in modern slavery are in five countries: India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan.

The study’s authors say one factor that makes modern slavery so prevalent in the Asia Pacific region is the emphasis on cheap labor…from fishing boats to garment factories.  One common theme: many of those goods are produced for mass-market export to the west.