( CNN ) -- For the first time in history , slavery can be brought to an end . What 's more , we already know how to do it . Even if the cost of ending slavery were astronomical , we should do it -- but in fact the cost is surprisingly low . A number of forces have come together to create a unique moment . On one side there has been a recent rapid growth in the number of slaves worldwide . The population explosion , coupled with natural disasters , epidemic disease , civil war , grinding poverty , and especially government corruption , made millions of people vulnerable to slavery . The result is some 27 million people in slavery today . These are real slaves , controlled by violence , paid nothing , unable to walk away , and making fat profits for criminal slaveholders . Slaves are concentrated in South and Southeast Asia , across North and West Africa , and in South America , but virtually every country has slavery , and the U.S. is estimated to have 40,000 hidden slaves . Around the world , slaves do dirty , dangerous work , everything from agriculture to prostitution , and their lives are brutal and short . The lives of slaves have changed little over the centuries , but the price of slaves has collapsed to an all-time low . For all of history , slaves have been expensive capital investments , costing an average $ 45,000 in today 's dollars . Today the average price of a slave is $ 90 . This means slaves are disposable , so cheap it is not worth giving them medical care when they are sick or injured , and it 's easy to just dump them when they are used up . It is an ugly problem , but at the same time , everything has clicked into place to make the end of slavery possible . The current number of slaves , 27 million , is the smallest percentage of the global population ever . The $ 40 billion they produce each year is the smallest fraction of the global economy ever represented by slave labor . Read more about Kevin Bales at TED.com . Slavery is illegal in every country and denounced in United Nations conventions . There is no support for slavery from moral authorities , religious or political groups . And no industry or economy is dependent on slavery . In fact , if slavery ended tomorrow , consumers would n't see any price increases . Slavery has been pushed to the criminal edges of our global society and to the very edge of its own extinction . There is no silver bullet that kills slavery , but over the past ten years an arsenal of effective responses has shown that you can end slavery and make communities slave-proof . One powerful vaccination against slavery is to make sure freed slaves build lives of economic stability . This means education , skill training , micro-finance , and citizenship -- all the things denied American ex-slaves in 1865 . Americans are still paying the price for their botched emancipation . Meanwhile , freed slaves given opportunities today generate economic growth through a `` freedom dividend . '' The modern anti-slavery movement is growing rapidly , and freedom is coming to an ever-increasing number of slaves . The end of slavery is possible , but three things have to happen . First , governments have to keep the promises they made when they passed laws against slavery . The laws are on the books , but police are untrained and budgets are woefully inadequate . Second , the public needs to be aware that slavery is all around us , and that it can be brought to an end . Third , resources have to flow to those areas of the world where slavery is rife -- resources from international aid , charities , World Bank and IMF , and businesses . More funding is needed to provide for more anti-slavery workers . When it is done right , the results are spectacular . Take the village of Azad Nagar in northern India . All the families there were hereditary slaves in a stone quarry . All children worked , there was no school , and all women risked regular sexual assault by the slaveholders . A Free the Slaves partner organization sent in a community organizer who helped the families to stand up to their masters and renounce slavery . It was a tense and dangerous tactic , and at one point the slaveholders burnt down many of the huts where the families lived . After a few months , the crisis passed and the villagers embarked on new lives , many of them now running their own quarry . The children went to school and some ex-slaves even ran for elected office . Now in stable lives , it would take an armed invasion to push them back to slavery . If you would like to know more , visit http : //www.freetheslaves.net/Page.aspx ? pid=183 . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Kevin Bales .
For the first time in history , it 's possible to end slavery , says Kevin Bales . Economic trends have reduced the value of slaves and limited their usefulness , he says . Score: 6