by Patricia Church – Easter Sunday
It is Easter, and the nation is once again feasting on chocolate. Australia will spend close to $200 million on the stuff, but it may be time to consider that maybe only 5% of the world’s cocoa is certified as ethically grown (according to aid group World Vision).
Fairtrade Australia and NZ has flown Mary Appiah out from Ghana to tour schools in Australia. The cocoa farmer joined the Fairtrade-certified Kuapa Kokoo cooperative (in Ghana) in 2008, and now Mary enjoys fairer pay (to provide for seven children) – and her cocoa is better quality.
Mary Appiah
But it is almost impossible for many of us to believe that “There Are More Slaves Today Than at Any Time in Human History” Terrence McNally.
Slavery was not abolished world-wide in the 19th Century! And though most modern slaves are women and children – forced into producing cheap goods or providing unpaid services, men are also part of the equation.
According to the United States Department of Labor, in 1997 over 2.2 million children world-wide were illegally employed making carpets and rugs. In India, Pakistan and Nepal, families are often tricked into sending their children to a carpet workshop in order to work off a loan that the family has taken. These children may end up working 10 to 14 hours a day in cramped and hazardous conditions.
It is estimated that 98 million children and youth work in agriculture. Many of them do not attend any form of school, have little time to play, and do not receive proper nutrition or care. More than half of them are exposed to the worst forms of child labour or degrees of slavery.
There is evidence of slavery in all stages of the supply chain – from the production of raw materials (e.g. cocoa, cotton farming, fishing) to manufacturing every-day goods (e.g. mobile phones, garments) and even when the product reaches the market.
The problem is wide ranging and diverse. For example a growing number of women are being trafficked to Nordic and Baltic countries for forced labor or “marriages of convenience”.
Men often are trafficked into fishing, agriculture or construction, while women turn up as workers in grocery stores, hospitals and brothels.
It is alleged millions of Chinese citizens are subjected to forced labor and North Korea is one of the worst perpetrators of human trafficking in the world.
Child labour and in some cases slavery, exists on cocoa farms in Western Africa (supplying Hershey’s, Mars, and Nestlé), and Pakistan, Indonesia, India, and China are all countries that are known for locking kids into warehouses.
Nike Inc. was employing Indonesian children under 16 years old in sweatshop conditions, to produce their athletic sneakers. And earning a little more than one dollar a day, hundreds of children in Jalandhar in northern India, make soccer, football and rugby balls for Australian children the same age.
Last summer, Nepalese workers died at a rate of almost one a day in Qatar in the frantic building for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. An investigation found evidence to suggest that they were subjected to exploitation and abuses that amounted to modern-day slavery (as defined by the International Labour Organisation).
Qatar protest
Biram Dah Abeid and two other imprisoned anti-slavery activists in Mauritania are in prison for raising awareness about modern slavery in Mauritania, a country where 4% of the population is enslaved.
The fight against modern slavery will only be won with a groundswell of individuals challenging governments like Mauritania, letting them know that their actions do not escape unnoticed.
The Bigger Picture
We need to have a greater understanding of what constitutes “modern slavery” – and the geo-political and social conditions that provide fertile ground for the abuses and trafficking to flourish.
Countries that are vulnerable to global multinationals and central banking debt are often unable to assist their people. These governments are themselves often entrapped and slaves to loans, or tricked by multinational tax evasion, and thus are unable to break the “slavery cycle”.
One has to also personally consider how many of products involving forced and slave labour do you own or use? These range from carpets, garments, leather, glass, matches, salt soap, ceramics, footwear, pornography, surgical instruments, silk, footballs etc., then food like strawberries, cocoa, olives, or coffee.
And don’t start me on sex trafficking.
Patricia Church is a retired teacher and school principal of 37 years, and did research for the sex trafficking Melbourne thriller, THE JAMMED, in 2005.
Actors Saskia Burmeister, Emma Lung and Sun Park in The Jammed.
Patricia, What should a consumer in Oz do to access fair-trade chocolate?
A start buy Fairtrade labelled choc
There are Fairtrade shops in most cities and they have website.
Any goods that they have investigated and found free of slavery or forced labour are entitled to be labelled “Fairtrade”.
As someone who lived in China for many years, I’d like to add a couple of comments to the statement, “It is alleged millions of Chinese citizens are subjected to forced labor and North Korea is one of the worst perpetrators of human trafficking in the world.”
For a start, I am suspicious of any article or report claiming to be factual that uses the phrase, “it is alleged”, especially when applied to China and North Korea together. Cold-war propaganda (= lies) about China is still being circulated as if true, such as, “Mao killed millions of his own people”. Alleged by whom?
China has a population of about 1,400 million, which is about 1/5 of the world’s population, and as a still ‘developing’ society, one would expect some slavery to exist there and it should therefore be listed in any global survey of slavery. But even if “millions” live in slavery, such as 2 or 5 million, it would still be a very small percentage of the population. Two million is 0.14% of the total population and I doubt that the number of slaves in China would even come close to that figure when “slavery” is defined as working for no pay or virtually no pay and having little or no ability to escape from that condition.
We often hear that the millions of Chinese factory workers in south-eastern China are working in virtual slave-like conditions. But I believe such workers are a very small minority of the total number of factory and construction workers, and an even smaller percentage would be true “slaves”. It is true that the average pay, working hours and conditions might be considered to be close to “slave-like” when compared to the situation in countries such as Australia. But for the vast majority of Chinese factory workers, a job in a factory is a god-send, an escape from abject poverty. Most of those workers come from small, dirt-poor family farms that have an annual cash income equivalent to what the factory worker earns in one month, or even one week.
Overall, I believe that if one studies the social conditions in China over the past 100 years, it is very clear that all the social ills such as abject poverty and slavery have shown a strongly decreasing trend under the Communist Party. This has especially been the case since the ‘reform and opening up’ of Deng Xiaoping started in 1979. If you want to know about really horrific slavery, read about the social conditions that existed in Tibet before 1950, when virtually the entire non-land- owning population were living in slavery of the most cruel kind, like beasts of burden.
As for North Korea, there is of course very little information available about social conditions within the country so any “allegations” should be treated with even more suspicion. Except for those few factory workers who work for South Korean- owned factories in N. Korea (and who are relatively well-paid), there are almost no private employers in the country. So, any allegation of slavery in North Korea – “one of the worst perpetrators of human trafficking in the world” – implies that the state traffics and employs some people as slaves. Aha! Now the article indirectly gives the West a moral justification for attacking and overthrowing the North Korean government. As far as I can see, the so-called “hermit kingdom” of North Korea is not isolationist by choice but has been harshly isolated by Western economic and diplomatic sanctions, and is living under the constant threat of being attacked by the U.S., much like China was under Mao.
Thank you for commenting Chris.
I might modify that sentence, though I know Patricia originally had a figure which I could not confirm from two sources – thus added alleged.
But I have seen many horrific reports. http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/03/world/asia/china-labor-camps/ (just one quick one)
And as we don’t get much open reporting on this – we are not to know.
But as for this promoting an attack on North Korea – we do not hold back on any nation on this site (if you have gone through some articles) … including Australia and the US. I have reported many times on the revelations of Gen W Clark and how the neocons planned (in 2001) to destroy 7 countries in 5 years.
And thus The western allies went into Iraq (which resulted in the murder 1.4 million). And I will ask Patricia to source that on N K.
You say
“But even if “millions” live in slavery, such as 2 or 5 million, it would still be a very small percentage of the population.”
I think the question here is what is slavery….
Having done a film on sex slavery – and praised for its accuracy – I can only add: Modern “Slavery” ranges from persuasive debt bondage to outright “held in chains”.
Now in the sex industry – being caught in the sex trafficking biz cold range from being drawn in by a promise of money / sold / pushed by families / entrapped / or stolen. Once in it is almost impossible to get out. So those who volunteered are subjected to debt bondage and powerful emotional abuse.
Where slavery begins can’t be clearly defined.
As for workers in a factory getting paid a meager wage – many are completely 100% emotional and psychological slaves. They might not necessarily be locked up at night (physical slavery) – but again millions are subjected to this.
Thus I was reluctant that Patricia put her original figure to China. Because the definition prescribed to that definition of slavery was not available.
The term can be related to physical restraint, but I believe most of the modern slavery is probably just as bad — powerful psychological bondage in all forms. Tank the tens of thousands of young boys that work in cocoa plantations… they have every chance to run away while working in the field, but (for example) because one farmer hacked a couple of boys feet off for running off … it stops a 1000 others from doing so.
CNN! You gotta be kidding. I thought you knew better than that, Dalia.
I don’t claim to be an expert on the Falungong, but I saw a version of it in Taiwan in the early 1990’s, which I think was being ‘beta tested’ to see how it succeeded with people from the Chinese culture. It was (or is) definitely a political movement, not a religious and health movement as it appears to be on the surface. In Taiwan, the political aim was Taiwanese independence. The Chinese government called Falungong a cult, which damages families, and I think they are right.
Ha–thought youd say that. apologies for grabbing the 1st cab off the rank.
I have seen several videos that were authentic. I will try source them.
But the 2.9 M estimate comes from Walk Free Foundation — (WFF is a 20-strong team based in Perth, Australia, founded by philanthropists Andrew Forrest – chairman of Fortescue Metals – and his wife, Nicola.) So I don’t know if we can trust their figures.
I have nothing against China—I am usually by default suspicious of all governments.
Careful you experience there doesn’t cloud your judgement
“Careful you experience there doesn’t cloud your judgement” – I know that no government or system is perfect, and that power corrupts. I am also aware that local law enforcement in China sometimes over-steps the boundary between enforcement and abuse – we see examples of that in the U.S. as well.
But I am vehemently against the planned ‘color revolution’ in China (or anywhere) that is being promoted by such arrogant war criminals as Hilary Clinton and Bliar.
On the “war criminals” – and soft coups – completely
Just found this….
Have not determined how reputable…
2.9 – China – But we forgot about the 14 million Indians caught in modern slavery
http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1333894/29-million-trapped-modern-day-slavery-china-30-million-worldwide
And lets us not point fingers to developing countries. My film was about sex slaves (based on fact) – slaves (locked up) in the fancy suburbs of Kew and South Melbourne in Australia. It is everywhere. And almost no city is immune.
I just skimmed that article. There is no doubt that such sexual slavery exists in China, although the figures might be disputable. But where is the article about Israel’s sex slavery, using Ukrainian girls? Nowhere to be found in the mainstream media.
I say to the West: “Keep your nose out of the internal (i.e., social) affairs of China”. China has 4,000 years of continuous cultural (and social) development and can handle its own social problems without the interference of illustrious “human rights” figures such as – Hillary Clinton (“We came, we saw, he died.Ha! Ha! Ha!”) , Britain’s ex-prime minister Tony Blair (Bliar), current Australian leader Tony Abbott and philanthropists Bill Gates, Richard Branson and Mo Ibrahim.
good points.
I saw a very relevant (though not that well made) movie of the sex slave trade in Israel. Will find the title.
http://beforeitsnews.com/power-elite/2014/09/half-billion-dollar-industry-in-israel-largely-staffed-by-sex-slaves-2446756.html
“The real problem is that ‘modern slavery’ is an entirely political subject, which has been depoliticised by modern abolitionists and the state. What gets defined as ‘modern slavery,’ and the laws that are consequently formulated to address it, mirror and promote certain basic political, socio-economic and other interests or concerns of politicians and national governments. Across North America, Western Europe and elsewhere in the Global North, far from exclusively serving human rights interests, ‘anti-trafficking’ legislation and related measures such as border militarisation have actually created conditions for gross human suffering and needless deaths over the world. In many cases, state actions or inactions have also been found to be directly linked to the creation of the conditions they purportedly aim to eradicate.”
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) around 21 million men, women and children around the world are in a form of slavery.
There are many different characteristics that distinguish slavery from other human rights violations, however only one needs to be present for slavery to exist. Someone is in slavery if they are:
• forced to work – through mental or physical threatment;
• owned or controlled by an ’employer’, usually through mental or physical abuse or the threat of abuse;
• dehumanised, treated as a commodity or bought and sold as ‘property’;
• physically constrained or has restrictions placed on his/her freedom of movement.
Contemporary slavery takes various forms and affects people of all ages, gender and races.
Hope this helps,
Patricia.
Slavery is a word that has a very wide range of common use that includes the “debt slavery” of many Australians to the brutal physical manifestations of “sex slavery” and “prison slavery” that Patricia draws our attention towards in her article.
Chris, in comments, draws attention to the very prickly question of relative slavery arguing, “even if “millions” live in slavery, such as 2 or 5 million, it would still be a very small percentage of the population”.
Chris also argues the improving “trend” as a defence, warning against buying into propaganda against China or North Korea.
How much of the product on Australian retail shelves is in fact manufactured under conditions that would be illegal conduct in Australia?
How does this make logical sense?
Millions of Australians vote for this trade policy contradiction.
I have never found a politician who could explain why laws are applied to Australians, justified by our ethics and morals, yet as long as it is out of sight the laws can be transgressed.
Clearly the standard in Australia imposes a cost on Australian business that forces a definite “off shore” result.
Is this accidental, incompetence or treachery?
Many “think tank” papers champion this trend as inevitable and full of “business” opportunities.
Many Australians embrace the inevitability and trend.
Do our principles and laws mean anything to Australians?
Why do we have a Constitution?
On the surface it appears to be a hopeless case of muddled thinking.
A consistent madness I have observed all my life is those agencies pleading for money to “drill a well” or “fund education”
for poverty stricken populations.
These agencies are far too busy devising methods to collect “money” from Australians with their brand of propaganda they ignore the fully dynamic reality of debt money slavery that by deliberately planned and executed deception separates African people from the abundant freedom potential of their natural environment.
Charity is now being commercialized and integrated into synthetic employment solutions that dictate almost pointless and counterproductive compulsory activities must be undertaken to satisfy bean counters that “unemployment” is trending down.
Is there a single “Charity”, “Church”, “Think Tank”, “Political Party”, “University Faculty” or populist “Social Movement” that is examining the debt money slavery dimension of our ills?
Perhaps our root slavery is to the lies and deceptions that are corrupting the human dynamic towards self destructive policies.
Fraudulent intellectualism and “justice”, dressed up as the inevitable irresistible progress needed to cope with the economic and social distortions caused by the monopoly over debt plus interest created money slavery.
All slavery must be understood in it’s fully dynamic perspective as any non voluntary transgression of individual human choice and freedom of thought and action.
Our life is a process of striving towards the ideal knowing that reality guarantees the path is not certain or smooth and the only certain destination in the journey is our death.
Brilliantly said C B.