Apparently, today, it is impossible to get dressed, operate a motor vehicle, use an electronic device, eat a meal or for that matter exist without touching products tainted by forced labour.
In a first-world city, we do not see the process of making our products in the malls or food in our supermarkets. And that is why, we are unaware of the labour behind the things we take for granted.
The most common raw materials harvested by exploited labour are cotton, cocoa, coltan and micca. Among others are coffee, tea and gold. Despite the political abolishment of slavery, modern slavery is existing at an even higher and more severe rate than before. It has become a lucrative business because traffickers are able to put a price on a human being and yield a profit many times higher.
Many factors contribute to the issue of human trafficking. On the top of the list is poverty. And we have marginalized populations, gender inequality, unequal education and economic status. All these factors contribute to forced labour, the most vulnerable groups of people being from developing countries.
Every year, about 100 million people leave their countries for foreign job opportunities, out of which many are not familiar with the labour laws outside of their countries. This leaves them vulnerable to fraud, one of the many tactics traffickers and exploitative employers use to enslave their workers.
Modern day slavery exists in a spectrum. Anything that violates the contract of work or human rights qualify as exploitation. Thus in order to effectively combat slavery, one cannot only look at severe cases of exploitation but also the less severe ones that occur daily. Forced labour is unseen and requires some observation and picking up of signs in order to be identified as a case of exploitation. Therefore, effective combat against any form of human trafficking happens only when government bodies, NGOs, the community and corporates work together.
The FairTrade certification was introduced a while back as a standard for brands or line of products to adopt a responsibility over the supply chain of their products. Fair Trade does not guarantee that a product is free of forced labour but it guarantees a system that ensures against it. You see, most corporations may know where the raw materials in the making of their products come from, however, they are not aware of the harvest methods. In addition to this, the raw materials changed many hands while being processed and the prices are being marked up. This makes it more complicated for individual brands to track the whole process of the making of one product. And this would explain why many corporations are unaware of their products tainted with slavery.
What we can do as consumers is to be aware of the different raw materials used in the making of each product and find out how they are harvested. As consumers, we have the power to choose which brands to buy from, a brand that ensures against slavery or a brand that might be cheaper but made with the hands of slaves. If everyone would choose wisely, we can make a difference in the fight against slavery. We have the power to make individual brands account for the supply chain and ensure that people from the top to the bottom are paid a minimum wage for the harvest and processing if the materials.
A good app to use is the Free2Work app which is free. It contains information on different brands with a grade on them in their response to Fair Trade. We have the power to make the right choice.
