Taking a stand against child labor and slavery tainted products
Is there child labor in your make-up? Being a conscious consumer is more difficult that one often thinks in regards to some products, especially when one wants to ensure that they are purchasing goods that are child labor and slavery free. While it is true that being a conscious consumer sometimes requires more effort, and can often be near impossible in some cases, other cases like purchasing Fair-Trade certified products like coffee and chocolate are much more simple, and a consumers impact is substantial. As mentioned in the post on Fair Trade and chocolate for Valentines Day, “The estimated cost to end human trafficking globally is $14 billion. In 2008, Americans alone spent $17 billion on Valentine’s Day - an average of $120 per consumer (Global Fast).” Many of these purchases include chocolate candies for which children have been enslaved for the purpose of picking the cocoa pods to be made into that chocolate that we so love. UNICEF estimates that some 200,000 children are victims of trafficking each year in West and Central Africa alone, for the purpose of working in the supply chain for products such as; cocoa and coffee. Global March Against Child Labor estimates that one in every eight children from 5 to 17 years old, some 179 million, work in the worst forms of child labor. The ILO International Labor Organization estimates that some 80 million plus children under 14 years old work in conditions deemed hazardous to their health.
What if there was a list of items you could avoid buying or take a stand on? If only such a list existed! Wait such a list does exist, but for some reason the list has yet to be released. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act reauthorization Act (TVPRA) was established in 200, then revised by Congress in 2005, at which time it was mandated that the Department of Labor (DOL) establish a list of products which where made by various forms of human trafficking/modern slavery, including child labor. However when the TVPRA was reauthorized again in 2008, the list was still yet to find its way into any consumers hands, despite increasing consumer and political awareness and activism. The need to release this crucial list was brought back into the public spotlight with the efforts of Ambassador Mark P. Lagon, who is the Executive Director of Polaris Project, and previous Ambassador-at-Large and Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (TIP), and Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State.Ambassador Lagon recently published an article for Change.org, Where’s the List of Slave-Made Goods the Department of Labor Promised?. “Why?” Ambassador Lagon asks;
“The Department of Labor, under the leadership of Secretary Elaine Chao until last January, said the requirement was an unfunded mandate - as they didn’t have enough people to put on the task absent any extra funding from Congress.
Congress unwisely put no deadline on the mandate in the 2005 legislation, then gave the Department a luxurious one year to produce it with the enactment of the latest December 2008 revision of the landmark 2000 anti-slavery act.
But the list exists. While I was still the anti-trafficking ambassador, a public hearing had been held for information and a draft list was fashioned.”
So what can be done to see that this list finally makes it’s way into our hands as consumers, and concerned citizens? e-mail the new Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis to release the list and correct the errors of the past four years, demand that the American consumer is both educated and empowered, that we have a right and choice to be purchase goods which are no longer contaminated by child and slave labor, that we want a true “free” marketplace.
Slavery taints consumer products such as clothing, jewelry, cosmetics, electronics, sports equipment, rugs, agricultural produce, sugar, tea, coffee, chocolate, and many other products. Often products, like clothing, may even be tainted at multiple points in the supply chain. For example children may have been used to pick the cotton of a shirt, while workers were held in situations of slavery and forced to sew the clothing. Slavery touches each one of us as a consumer, therefore as don’t waste anymore time you can begin to take a stand against child labor and towards keeping slavery out of the supply chain and slavery tainted products off of the shelves and out of your home, today in just a few easy steps.
Sign the petition to Tell the Department of Labor to release its list of goods tainted by slave labor.
Become a more conscious consumer and buy Fair Trade products. Amanda Kloer summed it up easily with her list of 7 Ways to Fight Slavery at the Grocery Store. You can also see the Fair Trade and Slave Free Links list, which has a number of resources and sites where you can learn more about, and purchase Fair Trade or slave free goods.
Remember to recycle and reuse as much as possible, for not only does it help us reduce waste and maintain fight global warming, you can also help reduce the consumption of slavery tainted goods.
Increase your knowledge check out some of the following resources;
Fair Trade Book ListSlavery and Trafficking Related BooksModern Slavery and Human Trafficking LinksHuman Trafficking and Modern Slavery Reports and PublicationsHuman Trafficking and Slavery Related Movies and DocumentariesHuman Trafficking Conventions and Laws
By supporting companies who do not profit from labor servitude, you not only ensure that you are purchasing free and fair goods, but are one step closer to helping to end modern slavery. By purchasing Fair Trade, slavery free and survivor made products you are not only doing the ‘right thing’, but you can also use it as an opportunity to educate others, especially children, about human rights issues, such as child labor and modern slavery.
See other post under Child Labor, Child Trafficking, and Fair Trade, such as; Is Your Family Eating Slave Tomatoes? and Another Step Towards A Slave Free America.
-Cassandra Clifford
