Labor Trafficking and Trade
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President Obama, Please Address Slavery in North Korea Today
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2010 Sweatshop Hall of Shame
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What Is Child Labor?
Business Groups Oppose Ban on Child and Slave-Made Products
Published November 14, 2009 @ 09:00AM PT
Rachel Maddow's choice of "you child labor-endorsing, pro-slavery freaks" to describe business groups' opposition to a bill that would ban the import of goods made by child labor or slave labor was pretty apt. However, I personally would describe the move as the most stunning display of corporate douchebaggery since Walmart's "dead peasant's insurance" fiasco. According to a recent report from Inside U.S. Trade, business interest groups are "worried" that a legislative ban on goods made by children and slaves could prompt the government to more actively seek out and identify consumer goods made by exploited people. And if we started doing that, well then businesses might have to start giving workers their rights, paying them a living wage, not abusing children, and freeing their indentured slaves. And then where would we be?
Here's Maddow's analysis (the relevant part of the video starts about 3:30 in):
My colleague (and frequent guest poster) Tim Newman also has a great analysis of the history of legislative attempt to ban goods made with child and slave labor here. Last year, the International Labor Rights Forum took Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland to task for trying to block a voluntary child labor free certification initiative in the Farm Bill. The initiative passed, despite the lobbying of interest groups. History shows that despite the powerful corporate lobby, grassroots activists can be just as powerful a voice for children and workers as high ticket lobbyists can be for corporations.
Kraft Foods Commits to Buy More Sustainable Cocoa
Published November 05, 2009 @ 01:00PM PT
Kraft Foods, makers of Chips Ahoy and Oreo cookies (among others) has committed to buy 30,000 tons of Rain Forest Alliance certified cocoa beans to use in their products. In 2005, Kraft bought a smaller amount of certified beans from Cote d'Ivoire, but this move indicates a stronger commitment to fair and sustainable cocoa than ever before. Good job, Kraft Foods, for making a good choice in where your cocoa comes from.
As I've mentioned many times before, child labor, human trafficking, and abuses of workers are rampant in the cocoa industry, especially along the West Coast of Africa. Children enslaved and abused in the cocoa industry are made to work excruciatingly long days, and are often beaten if they try and leave or refuse to work. Many have been forced to pick cocoa with open wounds or covered in their own excrement. The cocoa farms of the Ivory Coast where some of the worst cases of child slavery and labor exploitation have been found are also the world's largest supplier of cocoa, making up 40% of the global market. The cocoa industry needs reform, and it needs it now.
"No Good Jobs": Sokha and Makara's True Story of Slavery
Published November 05, 2009 @ 07:00AM PT
Sokha and Makara's stories were originally collected by Stop the Traffick. In this case, a serious family illness put these young girls at risk for trafficking. Often, when given the choice between sending a child to work and watching another family member die, parents will send their children away with desparte hopes of money. Here is their story:
Sokha and Makara are from Poipet in Cambodia. When they were just 14 and 15 years old, their mother was ill with a liver problem. The family needed money to pay for the medicine to treat her. They also hoped to buy some land to build a home. A man promised good jobs for the girls in nearby Thailand, and offered the family some money if they would let them go. Sokha and Makara were excited at the thought of being able to help the family with the money they earned. The reality turned out to be very different.
The man was a trafficker. There were no ‘good jobs' for the girls in Thailand. Sokha's mother died within a year, and the family couldn't afford to buy the land that they had dreamed of. Sokha, who is now 17, says, ‘I felt cheated. The traffickers used us for slave jobs, and while they earned lots of money, we only got enough to feed ourselves each day.' She explains how she and Makara, 16, were given jobs selling fruit, but it did not pay enough. So they were forced to work even harder and to do work that they didn't enjoy.
Sokha and Makara's story has a happy ending because of the Cambodian Hope Organization (CHO) that works with Tearfund, a relief and development agency. Sokha and Makara's parents met with CHO and gave them photos to pass on to an organization in Thailand that rescues trafficked girls. The girls were found and rescued about a year after their ordeal started.
What is unusual about this story is not that the sisters were trafficked, but that they were kept together for the duration of their enslavement. Many traffickers will try and isolate and disorient victims, which often means cutting them off from friends and family. However, having a sister close by may have been the key to helping these two young women survive slavery.
Photo credit: thomaswanhoff
Victory in Landmark Human Trafficking Civil Case
Published November 04, 2009 @ 01:00PM PT
What does justice look like for a survivor of human trafficking? Is it seeing her pimp handcuffed and sent to prison? Is it hearing his abuser sentenced to 10, 20, or 30 years? Is it reuniting with friends and family who were lost? All of these things can be justice for human trafficking survivors, but increasingly survivors are seeking another kind of justice -- cash. Specifically, they are suing their traffickers. And at least in once case in California this week, they are winning.
In what may be the first case of its kind in California, and one of the first in the country, a trafficked domestic worker brought suit against her former employer and was awarded $768,000, including $500,000 in punitive damages. The case stated that an Indonesian businessman brought the survivor Suminarti to Los Angeles to work in his home. The family confiscated Suminarti's passport, withheld all her pay, required her to work 16 hours a day with no days off, and refused to let her pray at a mosque or visit the Indonesian consulate. They abused Suminarti verbally and psychological, and told her to lie and say she was a family member if law enforcement ever visited the house. The family was convicted og the crime of human trafficking, but Suminarti wanted the sort of justice that civil suit could bring.
Her victory is indicative of a number of positive developments in the anti-human trafficking field.
Zimbabwe Still Exporting Blood Diamonds
Published November 02, 2009 @ 03:48PM PT
The folks over at the Kimberly Process certification scheme, the main body responsible for certifying diamonds as "conflict-free", have threatened to suspend Zimbabwe's participation in the program for six months. It appears Zimbabwe is still seeing a great deal of human rights abuses, exploitation, and slavery in the diamond industry.
The Kimberley Process (KP) is a coalition of governments, diamond industry representatives, and civil society stakeholders, which was created to stem the flow of conflict diamonds from countries in Africa to global markets. Rough diamonds have been used by rebel movements to finance wars against legitimate governments, and the diamond industry has become notorious for exploitation and slavery, especially of children. The trade conflict diamonds has fuelled devastating conflicts in countries such as Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone and resulted in the abuse of thousands of workers and children. The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) imposes extensive requirements on participating members to enable them to certify shipments of rough diamonds as ‘conflict-free’.
Zimbabwe's eastern diamond fields are the areas currently being questioned by the KP. Human Rights Watch has accused the military of killing a number of diamond diggers in the area and using the gems recovered from the dead diggers to line their own pockets. Zimbabwe is also accused of not having stringent enough regulations in place to prevent abuse in the diamond industry. A KP inspector recently recommended that Zimbabwe be barred from importing or exporting rough diamonds within the Process for at least six months "until such time as a KP team determines that minimum standards have been met." Such a ban would be a huge blow to the diamond industry in that country, but might also allow KP members to put the additional regulations in place to help prevent exploitation in the industry.
It's comforting to know the folks at KP are actively monitoring all of their members, and that they aren't hesitating to call one out for failing to live up to the rigorous standards KP insists on. But it's still important to know where the diamonds you buy have come from and how or if they are certified. You can find a wide selection of Fair Trade diamond and gold jewelry at Brilliant Earth's website.
Photo credit: swamibu
Where to Buy Fair Trade Winter Accessories
Published November 01, 2009 @ 08:00AM PT
Winter is sneaking up on us like a spy in silk stockings, and bringing with it those icy winds that require hats, gloves, and scarves. But before you stock up on winter accessories, take a few moments to consider the people who are making you warm. Buying Fair Trade products to keep you cozy is a great way to support companies who are taking measures to prevent slavery and exploitation of workers. Plus, the Internet is full of great options. Here are a few:
World of Good Ebay Store: From sweatshop-free wool socks to simple hemp gloves to colorful handmade mittens, this is your Fair Trade Winter hookup. As a bonus, you can also buy through individual sellers who make a living selling Fair Trade and environmentally conscious products. Also, Original Good, which is part of World of Good, has a huge selection of scarves, though they're the kind that are probably better in warmer climates.
Pristine Planet: They have a selection of Fair Trade and eco-friendly products. with a huge selection of scarves. Some are the keep-you-toasty kind and some are good for Winter in Dallas or Atlanta.
Ethica Accessories: Based in Australia, this company was founded by a group of Sisters of St. Joseph who wanted to make a difference. They sell handmade, Fair Trade products from Peru, including Alpaca hats and other Winter snugglies. They also have products for kids.
Eka: This UK fashion line is all Fair Trade and features cute vintage-style Winter hats inspires by the Great Gatsby and Rita Hayworth, among other. These would make a great holiday gift for anyone who likes both fashion and justice. I would totally live in these hats year round if they didn't make me sweat in July.
Vaute Couture: If you're the creative type, you can design (or ask others to design) your own made-to-order Winter coat. All the materials they use are vegan, green, and Fair Trade materials, and the coats are assembled in Chicago by workers paid a living wage. It's high fashion with a high purpose.
There are a number of other sources of Fair Trade Winter accessories, so if you know of any, please leave them in the comments. If we take the time to really think about out purchases, we can keep warm this winter without leaving workers in developing countries out in the cold.
Photo credit: mahalie
What Hillary Clinton Should Say In Pakistan This Week
Published October 29, 2009 @ 07:00AM PT
Hillary Clinton is on day two of her official three day visit to Pakistan, the first of her career as Secretary of State. I'm pretty sure that while she's there, she'll remember to talk about terrorism and the Taliban. I hope she might even slip in a comment or two about women's rights. But will Clinton mention the rampant debt bondage and slavery that makes modern Pakistan look more like 11th century Europe than a modern nation? And next to terrorism, is that even important?
To borrow some terrorism language, the situation of debt bondage in Pakistan is quickly deteriorating from a Code Orange to a Code This-Whole-Freakin'-Country-Is-Getting-Dragged-Back-Into-the-Dark-Ages. For example, according to TIME Magazine, at least three landlords have held as many as 170 bonded farmworkers at gunpoint on their estates since late September. Most traffickers have tools other than guns to keep workers enslaved, but the fact that these traffickers can hold their victims at gunpoint for months with no government interference speaks to the impotence of the Pakistani government in addressing debt bondage. In Pakistan today, 10% of men own 90% of the land. The vast majority of farmers are somehow indentured, and many of them are caught in false debts and held under the threat of violence -- they are slaves. Debt bondage is not the exception in Pakistan. It would be the rule, if there was any system of enforcement.
The U.S. government hasn't addressed this issue with Pakistan, in part because the Taliban, Al Queda, and all the other violent and extremist goings-on look like a much bigger and more important issue than some farmers not getting their due. Well I've got news for Secretary Clinton and all the foreign policy wons who think they can ignore slavery -- ending slavery in Pakistan will go a long way towards reducing terrorism and creating a peaceful, stable Pakistan.
Here's how it works:
