Slavery Becomes a Personal Question Online

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ANDREW MARTIN, On Wednesday September 21, 2011, 8:42 pm EDT
Do you know how many slaves work on your behalf?

While many people may assume the answer to that provocative and unsettling question is zero, the creators of a new Web site want to demonstrate how forced labor, especially overseas, is tantamount to slavery.

A nonprofit group, with funding from the State Department, will unveil the new site, www.slaveryfootprint.org, on Thursday in an effort to show that forced laborers are tied to all kinds of everyday products, from electronics and jewelry to the shirt on your back.

Ideally, they hope to get consumers engaged enough in the issue to do something about it, primarily hoping people demand that companies carefully audit supply chains to ensure, as best as they can determine, that no “slave labor” was used to manufacture its products.

“What we are trying to do is make it so it’s not just someone else’s business, it’s everyone’s business,” said Luis CdeBaca, ambassador at large for the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. “There’s a horror about it when they figure out what is going on.”

The slavery footprint is a twist on the more commonly known carbon footprint, and the new site tries to point out areas of a consumer’s life where the organization believes slavery is most likely used to manufacture products.

Slavery Footprint defines a slave as “anyone who is forced to work without pay, being economically exploited and is unable to walk away.” The State Department estimates that there are 27 million slaves globally. The Web site steers users through a set of prompts, where they can define where they live, the type of dwelling they live in, how many children they have, how many cars they use, what they eat and what types of things they have bought.

Sprinkled throughout are grim notations about slave labor and human trafficking, like this one: “In China, soccer ball manufacturers work up to 21 hours in a day, for a month straight. Even the toughest American coaches wouldn’t ask that from their squads.”

Or this claim: “Every day tens of thousands of American women buy makeup. Every day tens of thousands of Indian children mine mica, which is the little sparkles in the makeup.”

The site also asks users how many times they have paid for sex. While there is no way to answer, the site notes that people who pay for sex contribute to the demand for sexual trafficking.

Although the Web site had a few kinks before its official introduction, it informed me that I had 76 slaves working on my behalf, well above the average of 55.

The site was created by the Fair Trade Fund, a California-based nonprofit group that uses media to promote advocacy on issues, particularly human slavery. Among its projects are “Call + Response,” a documentary on the slave trade, and chainstorereaction.com, a Web site that encourages consumers to send electronic letters to companies challenging them to define their policies on human trafficking.

The companies’ responses, or lack thereof, are posted on the Web site.

Based on the movie and the Web site, the State Department sought out the Fair Trade Fund to create the Slavery Footprint site and provided it with a $200,000 grant.

Justin Dillon, 42, the organization’s chief executive, said the Slavery Footprint site did not make specific companies its targets. Instead, it shows consumers which products they use are most likely to involve forced labor.

He said a mobile application would allow consumers to find information on products at the point of purchase, and send companies electronic letters asking about their policies on slave labor. Those letters will also be sent to all of the consumers’ Facebook friends, in the hopes of applying consumer pressure for changes in practices. “Really the goal is to amplify the conversation between the consumer and the producer,” Mr. Dillon said. “Our torches and pitchforks are out for the slave traders, not the multinationals.”

Ideally, he said companies would hire third-party auditors to determine if their supply chains were employing slave labor.

The Slavery Footprint application is being started nearly a year after California passed a law that requires companies with global sales in excess of $100 million who do business in the state to disclose what efforts they have made to eliminate forced labor from their supply chains.

Some business groups opposed the measure, saying it unfairly tagged companies for “failing” on an issue they were powerless to change.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the United States Chamber of Commerce said he would not comment because officials at the organization had not yet seen the Slavery Footprint Web site. Mr. CdeBaca said the new grant recognized the need to encourage consumers to put pressure on the marketplace.

“Without some kind of demand, the traffickers wouldn’t be rushing to meet that through coercion and threats,” he said.

inance.yahoo.com/news/Slavery-Becomes-a-Personal-nytimes-3128497430.html?x=0&.v=1


S,

Something must be done to stop the plight of slavery

Today tens of Millions of people are forced into slave labor in China, North Korea, Cuba, Zimbabwe and Myanmar.

All the "slavery" mentioned in the above article is based on a strict anti-business, socialist agenda. Never once was force mentioned. To have slavery you need force as a component.

Force can come in different forms and from different directions. Some people are in such tough economic situations they feel forced to accept conditions that otherwise would be unacceptable. And as the article brings out it's often the exploitation and the lack of complete freedom is what makes into modern day slavery.

Bernard, i was going to make a similar response, but i find it pointless trying to explain things to a guy with the IQ of a snail, and the mental wherewithal of a six year old.

You said it......."Feel" forced but not actually forced!


I rest my case.


Now watch Ms. Dready come back with some insulting response....after consulting a thesaurus of course.

anthonyc, it would be counterintuitive to use big words when addressing you, because you have trouble understanding a driver´s license. as an elder statesman observed, we all know that you are stupid. to that i add obnoxious, delusional, low informational, presumptuous, and just plain stupid.

Whatsamatter Dready?

Welfatre check late? They wouldn't let you buy malt liquor with your food stamps? Obama didn't pay your mortgage? Oh sorry....You don't own a home!

says anthonyc

Welfatre check late? They wouldn't let you buy malt liquor with your food stamps?

buying malt liquor with your welfare check. ahh, a thinly veiled racist remark, aimed at the racial group in the USA that is known to be the primary buyers of malt liquor. well, i told you that this stinking piece of dreck is a right wing racist swine, and i said it from the beginning. he likes to label others a racist, but that is just projection. we forgive him, because all the help that the USA gave to his people could not buy him a brain.

Cubans Dominate Illegal Pot Growhouse Trade in Florida ...

at least i just wait for the check. you poison the neighborhood.

Funny how you didn't answer the question. We already know you suck at the Teat of the productive Taxpayer.

BTW We all saw the hypocrisy of you calling my post " a thinly veiled racist remark" after all the bigotry you have posted here.