Labor Trafficking and Trade
Reader Challenge Winner: Fight Slavery Now
Published August 18, 2009 @ 05:30AM PT
A couple weeks ago, Jenn over at The Human Trafficking Project and I teamed up and challenged you all to find the 10 most slave-free versions of some common consumer goods. We are happy to announce FightSlaveryNow.Org sent us the winning list (finding 8 out of 10), which is now published here and at HTP.
Our organization, FightSlaveryNow.Org, has been investigating products untainted by modern-day slavery in order to choose a worthy recipient on whom to bestow our "Freedom Seal". Since we had a head start on many of these product categories, I thought this would be a challenge easily met. It was not. But it has been fun and enlightening. First, it engendered a hot discussion of what is meant by 'Free Trade' and the merits and limitations of that designation. As one site noted: "Bringing about fairness is not easy, and will need much more substantial change than our merely choosing a different brand of coffee..." Additionally we learned a lot about some products not readily associated with slave labor, such as flowers and lip gloss. For some products it was easy to find a large selection of Fair Trade alternatives, while for other products there were few or none.
For the most part we have tried to 'spread the love' and offer a wide variety of websites rather than falling back on a few mega-sites offering many of the items on your lists. We have also tried to steer readers to the original makers where possible. Secondary criteria in our selections, besides being 'Fair Trade' or otherwise presumed to be slave free, were eco-sustainability and freedom from animal cruelty. Hence leather wallets were not considered as many other innovative choices were found. In the case of similar products, we tried to choose those vendors who seemed to have the most worthwhile charitable need, or the most progressive company policy for supporting social justice issues. Thanks to both Jenn Kimball and Amanda Kloer for your wonderful and informative work, and for bringing us this eye-opening challenge.
- Couch, plus two alternatives
- Stereo
- TV
- Flowers, but with some interesting controversy
- Rug
- Lamp
- Rice
- Curtains
- Coffee Table
- Coffee
Honorable mention: For the widest array we found of Fair Trade products from peanut butter, tahini, and coconut beer, to underwear,
socks, and baby bibs, check out Ethical Superstore.
Image from blogs.fairplex.com
Inspired, Activist Creates NGO to Save Cambodian Girls
Published August 16, 2009 @ 09:00AM PT
Nomi Network Co-Founder Diana Mao tells the powerful story of how a heart-breaking trip to Cambodia led her to create her own non-profit organization to help girls and women in Cambodia find freedom from slavery. You can check out my guest post on their blog here.
My first encounter with sex trafficking was when I was a micro-finance research fellow in Cambodia in 2005. My task was to interview over 300 micro-finance clients, many of whom lived in remote villages and made less than $1 per day. The experience was a rude awakening. A micro-finance client and father of 7 children offered to give me his daughter to bring back to the United States, in the hope that she would have a better life. As I stared into his eyes, I understood that he did not want to give up his daughter but that his request was a result of desperate poverty. In this same village very young girls were being recruited to work in brothels.
My experience in Cambodia led me to form the non-profit organization, Nomi Network. Sex traffickers prey on poor and unemployed women. The goal of Nomi Network is to empower women economically by employing them in manufacturing jobs in the fashion industry, and to help create a market for the products they make. Once women have stable employment and a steady income, they will no longer be at risk to sex traffickers. To ensure success and sustainability, Nomi Network coordinates the efforts of the women with manufacturers, retailers, and consumers.
Consumer purchases can contribute greatly towards the eradication of sex trafficking. The total market for illicit sex trafficking is approximately $28 billion dollars. What if just a fraction of that amount was channeled into creating opportunities for girls that have been exploited? Girls, some as young as 5, who were once exploited, violated, and stripped of their dignity could be given the hope of a future. Nomi Network offers survivors of sex trafficking gainful employment by ensuring that there is a demand for their products and not their body.
You can help break the vicious cycle of sexual exploitation and invest in their lives by purchasing Nomi Network's signature product, the "Buy Her Bag, Not Her Body," tote bag. The tote bags are made from recycled rice-bag paper, and are made by women who are either survivors or at risk from sex trafficking. The women who make the bags receive competitive wages, medical care, childcare, and one meal per day. In addition, a portion of the proceeds from each sale will be allocated to creating more training and job opportunities for survivors. Put your consumption power to use and pre-order a bag today for $20 at www.nominetwork.org. Bags will also be available at various boutiques for $25. Please look for a full listing on our website.
For more information about Nomi Network:
Chipotle's Slave-Stuffed Burritos?
Published August 12, 2009 @ 12:07PM PT
The foil on your thick, juicy Chipotle burrito might be hiding a secret ingredient: slavery. That's because Chipotle refuses to pay the farmworkers who pick their produce a living wage and take steps to ensure their suppliers are slave-free. Tell Chipotle executives to end workers exploitation and stand up to their motto: "food with integrity".
The Coalition of Immokolee Workers (CIW), who have won great victories in the past few years in getting the likes of Taco Bell and McDonald's to agree to better wages and non-exploitative working conditions for farmworkers, are now setting their sights on burrito giant Chiptole. This comes on the heels of Chipotle's support for Food Inc., a documentary about "big food". The Chipotle/Food Inc. relationship is a pathetic PR move that lacks any real ability to improve the lives of farmworkers in the U.S. and reduce human trafficking in agriculture. We know Chipotle needs to do something real to address this real problem.
Some of the farm workers are paid sub-poverty wages in gross violations of labor laws. Others have been,
I love a good burrito, but not one that has been tainted by slavery. It's time Chipotle stood up for farmworkers and against human trafficking and exploitation.
Click here to email Chipotle executives and ask them to live their motto "food with integrity." Also, you can call Chipotle as part of CIW's call-in campaign to urge Chipotle to create a formal agreement to give farmworkers better wages.
Together we can stand up for justice, integrity, and delicious burritos!
Dreams of America Dashed: Mary's True Story of Slavery
Published August 04, 2009 @ 01:21PM PT
Mary's story was originally collected by The Salvation Army. Human trafficking between the U.S. and Mexico can be especially fluid because of the high demand for cheap labor in the U.S. and the broad border between the two countries. Here's Mary's story:
Mary was born in Mexico. When she was about 17 years old, she was persuaded to go to the USA with the promise that she would have a better life and be provided with a job. A man promised to take her and to look after her.
However, when she arrived in the USA her life got a lot worse. She was given a job at a factory packing vegetables. But she was escorted there and back every day and was never allowed to go anywhere on her own. She was never paid for the work that she did. She was given drugs and was badly abused. She wasn't allowed to go and see a doctor when she was ill or hurt. She wasn't allowed to leave her apartment except when she went to work. The man who took her to the USA threatened her. He said that if she tried to escape she would be deported - sent back to Mexico - or hurt by the immigration authorities.
Eventually Mary managed to escape with her young son. She is now staying in a special center that looks after people who have been trafficked or abused. She is being given shelter, food, clothing and advice about what to do next. She is hoping that she will be able to stay in the United States and start a new life.
Having a child, especially a child the trafficker knows about, changes everything for victims. Most parents would do anything in their power to keep their children safe from harm. Just like victims of domestic violence will stay with an abuser if he threatens to harm the children, so will victims of trafficking stay with a trafficker. In Mary's case, she was able to escape with her child. But many victims' children are back in their home country, and the traffickers threaten to harm them before the victim can get home.
In Recession, Fearful Workers Keep Quiet About Exploitation
Published August 03, 2009 @ 12:00PM PT
Undocumented (or documented) immigrant workers being exploited at work is sadly nothing new. But in today's economy, many of the workers who previously might have spoken up about workplace abuse or exploitation are now keeping their heads down and their lips shut for fear of losing their jobs.
New America Media tells the story of Clemente Rodriguez, a documented immigrant who works 14 hour days in a shoe store in New York City. Despite the fact that New York just raised their minimum wage from $7.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour, Clemente only get $35 a day for his work. He should be making at least $101.50.
Clemente, like many other migrant and immigrant workers, is being exploited by his employer. And now he's got a tough choice to make: file a legal complaint and risk losing a job he can't replace or suck it up and take the exploitation. Clemente's thoughts are,
I know that it is important and it will help us someday. It is good for the government's record, but not for my family. If I don't have a job, what will happen now? I think it's still better to have a small income, overcome my hardships, and make sure that I'll bring food to our table.
Clemente's specific case may not legally rise to the level of human trafficking since he is free to leave his job, though, arguably has no other reasonable options. However, one technique traffickers use to keep workers enslaved is to pay them something small instead of stealing all their wages. Especially in times of recession like this one when employment can be extremely hard to come by, workers like Clemente might decide that $2.50 an hour is better than nothing.
Think about what you would put up with to keep your current job in this economy. Would you take a cut in pay or benefits? Would you put up with your boss grabbing your ass or making lewd comments? Could you handle being paid less than is legal?
Now think about what someone who is truly desperate to keep a job would put up with in order to feed his or her family and stay in the U.S. Wage theft? Sexual assault or rape? Slavery?
It's a tough market for everyone, but even tougher for those who must keep their current job at any cost, no matter how terrible.
Image from outdoors.webshots.com
7 Ways to Fight Slavery at the Grocery Store
Published August 02, 2009 @ 09:00AM PT
I am a bit of a foodie (and more than a bit of a nerd), so grocery shopping for me is a fun, relaxing activity. Handling the fruit, smelling the cheese counter, ogling the wine section- it can be quite a nice outing. But when you're trying to pay attention to what you buy, sometimes grocery shopping can feel overwhelming! To make things a little easier, here are seven items at a grocery store to pay special attention to if you're looking to shop slavery-free.
1. Coffee: Coffee might be the most famous food product for having a high incidence of slavery involved in its production. Luckily, most grocery stores carry Fair Trade and ethically-produced brands of coffee which are a better choice for workers.
2. Chocolate: As more and more chocolate companies begin to introduce greater responsibility into their production, finding slave-free chocolate is getting easier. However, the candy isle at the grocery store is still covered with chocolate from companies like Hershey and Nestle who have no supply chain transparency.
3. Seafood: Fishing industries, especially in Southeast Asia and Africa, are growing as destinations for trafficked children. Don't think Thai seafood will make it to your supermarket in the U.S.? Think again. Always check where in the world your seafood comes from and how it is produced.
4. Strawberries: Strawberries are a valuable crop which is difficult to harvest, making migrant workers in the strawberry industry extremely vulnerable to exploitation and slavery. When strawberries are in season, you may be able to find them picked near you. It doesn't guarantee a slave-free berry, but it avoids feeding the industry in California and Central America where much of the trafficking has been found.
5. Tea: Like coffee, the tea industry has seen a lot of slavery. And because tea is the most popular beverage in the world, the profits from exploiting tea growers and harvesters are high. Many teas now are coming out with better labels indicating how they were produced.
6. Poultry: Processing poultry is a gross and dirty job, which means it is often left to undocumented workers. And lack of oversight of poultry factories puts these workers at risk of trafficking. There was even a recent case of disabled workers being enslaved in a turkey processing plant for years.
7. Sugar:The slavery on sugar cane plantations in the Caribbean never quite went away. Slaves grow and harvest sugar in Caribbean, Africa, and Central America. Some grocery stores may carry Fair Trade or ethically-sourced sugar, but you might have to seek out a specialty store in some areas.
Remember. slavery can be found in any industry, but these are a few of the common offenders. Knowing where to look for slavery is the first step toward being a conscious consumer of slave-free goods.
Image from prevention.com
The Role of Parents in Child Trafficking
Published August 01, 2009 @ 09:00AM PT
Across the world and here in the U.S., parents sometimes play a role in the trafficking of their own children. The parents' intentions vary from the purely criminal to the completely innocent, and everywhere in between. Here are some of the common ways in which parents play a role in the trafficking of their children.
Parents Directly Traffick Kids
Sadly, sometimes, parents directly traffick their children. I worked with one case in the U.S. where a father was giving his young sons to pedophiles in exchange for beer and cigarettes. A case recently cited in the State Department's Trafficking in Persons Report involved a five-year-old sold into prostitution by her stepmother in Nicaragua. Direct parental trafficking can be as simple as a mother trading her teenage daughter to the landlord for rent that month, or as complicated as parents involved in a larger, multi-child crime ring. In my experience, the smaller scale parental trafficking, and especially in exchange for drugs, rent, food, etc. is more often the case.
Parents Knowingly Sell Children into Trafficking
Often, this is the sort of parental trafficking you hear about in the media: A destitute family in India/Thailand/Bolivia sells one child into slavery in order to feed the rest. Sometimes the situation is that simple, but more frequently it's more complicated. Parents may realize they are signing their child into debt bondage, but believe the debt can be worked off or is limited to a short time period. Parents may intend to send their child to work, but may believe he or she will be better paid, better fed, or work in less dangerous conditions than turns out to be the case. In one case, a Bangladeshi mother sold her daughter into debt bondage to work as a domestic servant but thought the debt would be repaid in 5 years and the daughter well-fed during her time working. In reality, the debt continued to grow and the girl was allowed a small bowl of rice a day, with a serving of vegetables once a week.
Parents Are Negligent or Abusive and Allow Trafficking
Parental negligence or abuse can allow for child trafficking to occur. Children may run away from an abusive home and fall victim to traffickers. They may be more susceptible to predatory pimps offering them the love they have been stared for. Parental negligence may even make it easier for traffickers to kidnap children or otherwise force them away from home. In the U.S., foster youth are extremely vulnerable to trafficking in part because of issues with parental negligence and abuse. I worked with one case of a girl who was trafficked into prostitution at 15 because she ran away from a negligent, abusive home.
Parents Are Duped By Traffickers
In some cases, traffickers trick parents into believing their children are going to school or to work, especially in another country, and will be well-paid and cared for. Sometimes the trafficker is a distant relative promising a Western education. Sometimes the trafficker is promising a job as dancer/waitress/model which turns out to be prostitution. Sometimes, once the child is gone and no money is sent home and no letter written, the parents realize what has happened. Other times, traffickers may force or forge correspondence home to tell the parents their children are safe and happy and the money is being put in a "special account". This is a common technique of traffickers, especially where parents are poorly educated or illiterate.
