Algeria slams allegation of 70,000 slaves' presence

Algerian government has rubbished the findings of a non-governmental organisation (NGO)'s survey which has alleged existence of 70,000 slaves in the North African country.

Reacting upon the findings of Walk Free Foundation (WFF), Algerian foreign ministry spokesperson Amar Belani said: "The estimations of the WFF survey against Algeria are totally absurd, ridiculous, and deserve no further comment."

WFF issued a global survey on slavery last Thursday, alleging that 29.8 million people are living under "slavery conditions" within 162 countries, including three-quarters of countries across the Asian continent. Algeria ranks at 91st position while Mauritania tops the list, according to WFF.

As for the survey's result, Belani said that "this investigation is not based on reliable and irrefutable data, as the index of the prevalence of modern slavery is the result of fanciful extrapolation based on random samples, whose representative is no more than doubtful."

WFF's criteria to define slavery are quite different from those of classical definition of slavery. Modern slavery, according to WFF, includes forced labour, forced marriage, human trafficking and sex abuse.