Guilt Free Chocolate

Avoiding Chocolate Made With Child Labor
(part of the Lost Childhood series)

(70% Of World's Cocoa Produced With Child Labor)

As your child (and most likely you too) set out to enjoy this Halloween's bounty of chocolate laden treats there is a very important question that needs to be answered... Where did that chocolate come from?

West Africa produces just over 70 percent of the world's supply of cocoa. Each of the countries that produces this cocoa allow the use of child labor on their vast cocoa farms. The largest producer of these five countries, Ivory Coast, also permits and often encourages the use of forced labor (slavery). All are known to have large human trafficking rings active within their borders supplying children to work the fields of the sprawling cocoa plantations. 

This is where your Halloween chocolate comes from. 

Trafficking And Chocolate 

The children who are sent to the fields to collect the cocoa are not always victims of trafficking. Yet as the demand for cheaper chocolate goes up the number of children being trafficked into the slave trade goes up too. These children, often purchased or bribed into slavery, are subjected to physical, mental, and sexual abuses in an effort to force them into submission. The goal of the trafficker is to break the spirit of the child so that the chances of a runaway becomes minimal. 

Children who are trafficked in Western Africa can be used for many things throughout their life as slaves. Some will be used as child soldiers in times of conflict. Others can become victims of sexual violence and abuse. The use of children as sex slaves is a growing problem across the globe as "sex tourism" becomes an ever increasingly lucrative trade. Yet despite these more notable abuses, most children trafficked in West Africa will be used at some point as child labor. This allows the trafficker the ability to make a reliable income off their slaves while waiting for other higher earning jobs to come along. 

This horrific reality is one that children who are trafficked in West Africa face. They have no say in where they are forced to work or what abusive task they will be forced to perform. From the moment they wake up in the morning to the moment they are allowed to go to sleep they are forced to work in one way or another. There is no rest for these children. With each passing day the hope of freedom is ground out of them as they are degraded and abused at the whim of their owner.

It is modern day slavery.

Chocolate comes into the picture as trafficked children are "employed" on West Africa's vast cocoa plantations. These large operations (many of which are supported by chocolate giants like Hersey's) willingly and knowingly pay the traffickers as the children take to their fields. The use of slave labor allows these farms to increase their yields in multiple ways; including inhumane treatment of forced laborers, longer hours, more strenuous tasks performed, and little to no time for rest between heavy tasks.

The children who work on these plantations are subjected to physical abuse for even the most minor infringements or accidents. If injured while performing dangerous tasks the children are expected to continue working. If an accident includes a life threatening injury the child is given the most minimal treatment and then beaten before being sent back to work. Mercy is not commonly shown to these children. 

Avoiding Chocolate Produced With Child Labor

When buying chocolate this holiday season there are multiple ways to insure that you are buying chocolate that was not made with cocoa produced with child labor (or slave labor). Though the first way is rather simple really, just don't buy chocolate. But for most this way is just too difficult since we have a horrible addiction to the sweet sensations chocolate produces in our mind and mouth. So ignoring the obvious solution of avoidance... here are a few ways you can have a guilt free chocolate fix. 

 

 Fair Trade

This route is expensive for both the consumers and the farmers alike. While it ensures that the chocolate you are buying was produced by a farmer who was paid a fair price and produced it using ethical labor practices; it does not tell you how much the farmer paid for that certification. This is the portion of that label that is often overlooked. And yet it is important to note that the farmer (or farmers, which is most often the case) had to pay thousands of dollars to gain that label. 

So while you can rest assured that the farmer did not use child labor you cannot rest assured that the process is as nice and neat as you would be led to believe. 

For example-

Besides the thousands of dollars spent to get certified (which could had been used to invest in the workers themselves), the farmers are often paying dues to cooperatives. This increases the amount of money the farmers need to make before their product is worth the time it takes to produce. The increased cost also drives down the amount the farmer would otherwise be capable of paying their workers. 

Yet, outside all this, in the case of child labor and chocolate production fair trade is a valuable tool in helping you avoid chocolate made utilizing child labor. 

Organic

The vast majority of organic chocolate comes from South America. So while all organic chocolate may not be completely child free, the source country on the label should indicate another country outside West Africa. This method allows you to decide to buy chocolate that is not produced in the five countries mentioned in the first picture (all of whom are well known for child labor). Yet unless you research the country of origin it does not assure you that the producer did not utilize child labor. 

This method requires the consumer to research both the producer's labor practices and the common labor practices of the country where the cocoa came from. It also may require the consumer to research the ecological cost of cocoa produced in countries that are home to the Amazon Rain Forest. 

Source Country 

The most direct way to find out where your chocolate comes from and how it was produced is to put in the effort to research the producer and the country of origin. This method allows you to both gain knowledge of how your chocolate was produced and where it comes from. To do this you will find it is easier if you find a brand that is Fair Trade or certified organic. You may also want to find a brand you like (since that is the reason behind buying the product anyway). 

Once you find a product you know you want and just can't live without the real fun starts...

First you want to make sure that your chocolate is not made with cocoa from Africa.

Then try and find out just how many companies or facilities the product has gone through before reaching you. Chances are that if the product takes the shortest route from farm to shelf it is child labor free. If the product has to go from one country to the next (and then some) the chances for utilizing child labor in the production and/or harvesting of the cocoa goes up. It also means that less of your money is going back to the person who produced the cocoa in the first place. 

These two steps will greatly reduce the probability of your chocolate being made through the use of child labor or slave labor. 

Don't want to do all that work?

You can always visit sites like 'Stop The Traffik' to learn more about buying chocolate made without child labor. You will still have to do a little reading. But if you made it to the bottom of this post and didn't switch over to a YouTube video of cats or whatnot... I guess a little more reading won't kill you. 

Happy Halloween From All The Alder's Ledge Team

Want To Contact Us?

Tweet To Us On Twitter: @alders_ledge

Source Documents 

(note: not all sources listed)

Food Is Power.org 

http://www.foodispower.org/slavery-in-the-chocolate-industry/

Flo-cert.net 

http://www.flo-cert.net/flo-cert/fileadmin/user_upload/certification/cost/en/20120120/PC_FeeSysSPO_ED_23_en.pdf 

 

Stop The Traffik 

http://www.stopthetraffik.org/campaign/chocolate 

Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/30/conflict-free-chocolate-easter_n_2985023.html?ref=topbar

Scarier Than Ghosts And Goblins

Child Labor, Slavery, and Halloween
(part of the Lost Childhood series)

(Ghana and Ivory Coasts supply 75% of worlds' chocolate)

As the holiday season approaches many of us will begin to be tempted by seemingly endless displays of candies and chocolates at our local grocery store. The somewhat cleverly designed and well placed displays make it hard to ignore the massive amounts of cocoa that is available from October on through February. One holiday after the other brings candies and chocolates of different shapes and colors. But most of them have one thing in common (if they aren't "fair trade"). The use of child labor and/or slavery somewhere along the supply line.

As more information has come out about the use of both trafficked slaves and children on cocoa plantations in Ghana and the Ivory Coast the chocolate industry has deflected much of it's critics. Many of the largest chocolate companies in the world have denied access to humanitarian groups and reporters trying to gain access to the cacao farms in these countries. When reports do come out from these farms the news is almost always about vast human rights abuses being committed behind the veil that the corporations have erected.

In some of the worst cases the very governments of Ghana and Ivory Coast have harassed and expelled journalists for reporting on the chocolate industry within their borders. Some have even claimed that at least one journalist has been killed for his reporting on the industry. All of this in the name of keeping that dark chocolate powder flowing into the hands of companies like Mars, Hersey's, and Nestle.

While some children in West Africa do seek out employment on these farms on their own due to the plague of poverty across West African countries, many more are sold into the trade. This practice often peaks during times of political unrest and in areas where militias rule through fear. Yet it is also plentiful even in areas where Western tourism and companies are found. It is especially profitable for the traffickers where Western companies build up plantations just beyond the peering eyes of the outside world.

In Ghana and the Ivory Coast children as young as 7 have been documented operating dangerous (potentially fatally so) equipment and doing jobs even grown men would find difficult. The average age in these two countries for children to be in the "work force" is 12-16 years of age. However, most will have started working much younger. And for those who injure themselves along the way, these sorts of dangerous jobs may become their only source of work through adulthood.

“Some of the bags were taller than me. It took two people to put the bag on my head. And when you didn’t hurry, you were beaten.”

~ Aly Diabate, former cocoa slave.

The work day for these children begins as soon as the sun begins to rise. They take to the cacao trees with heavy and dangerous machetes. Forced to climb the trees without any of the proper supports or tools to do the job they use their knives to cut down the cacao bean. Children who are not sent up the trees are forced to gather the beans and fill huge sacks with the harvest. These children are then expected to either drag the heavy loads back to the production facilities or have them placed upon their backs or heads and walk the sacks back. There is no sense of mercy in the fields as the children are beaten and yelled at for even the most minor of infractions. Anyone who dares slow down the production process is subjected to savage abuses that almost perfectly mirror the American South and the cotton plantations.

Once the dangers of harvesting the cacao beans is over the children are exposed to even more dangers. Their health is put at risk as they are exposed to chemicals, some of which are banned in the United States, used both on the harvested cacao and the trees themselves. Hulls of the beans are harvested and sold for several uses across the world (mulch being one), so the chemical soaked hulls must be handled by the children as well. During all of this these children are exposed to these chemicals on their bodies, in their lungs, and on the clothing they must wear day in and day out.

The health of these children is not a priority of companies that employ these tactics on their plantations across Western Africa. While Hersey's claims to be fighting the use of slave labor and child abuse the truth still stacks up against the chocolate giant. Over the past several years reports (and court cases) have been stacking up across the table from Hersey's corporate office. Accusations of supporting the beatings of children, encouraging of trafficking, and covering up of deaths of farm workers have all come down the line. And yet the chocolate giant has been incapable of proving any of it's accusers wrong.

Nestle, yet another giant, has done no better when fighting against the peering eyes of outsiders. Slavery, child labor, and the employment of traffickers has left a blight upon the image of a company that hides behind logos designed to appeal to children. When accused, much like Hersey's, Nestle has turned to the governments of the countries it operates in as though to hint at their complicity in the crimes. And it is this common deflection tactic that brings us to another portion of the story...

Ghana and Ivory Coast have long been accused of having their governments hands in the process of producing enormous quantities of cacao. Through turning a blind eye to the abuses, lining their pockets with corporate pay offs, and denying access to investigators the two regimes have hid the bulk of the evidence from the consumers. With every accusation levied against Hersey's and the other market leaders the two governments have been found to not only be helping the companies but willingly covering up their bed partners' offenses.

Ending The "Worst Forms Of Child Labor"

With a country where almost half the population is illiterate the government of Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) can hardly afford to continue the punishing process in which chocolate is currently produced. The utilization of their most precious resource in production of a commodity they can afford to neglect robs the country of it's actual potential. Companies and governments in the West should be more than able to realize that by supporting this self-destructive habit will only continue to hold back the country itself. It will also continue to rob the world of the valuable contributions these children could have been offering the world community had they not been exploited by Western companies and the local offenders (as well as their own government). 

For this reason it is valuable for us to note that some efforts have been made in fighting the "worse forms of child labor" in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Some companies, including Hersey's, have cooperated with local governments in building schools for children who work on cacao farms. Yet the main draw back of this small gesture is that the children continue to have to work dangerous jobs for much of the year. 

In 2001 many of these same companies also promised the world that they would make their chocolate "child labor free" by 2005. Of course that benchmark came and went without any real condemnation when none of the companies managed to produce even a single line of chocolate without utilizing child labor. These companies did move the date to 2008 and lowered the rate to 50% of their production as being "child labor free". And once again the process of utilizing child labor along with slave labor did not change as the targeted date passed without notice. 

So how can the system be changed when little to nothing is being done to end the use of any form of child labor (and/or slave labor)?

The main way any form of change occurs in the current system of consumerism is for the consumers themselves to start the change they desire. This means that as consumers we must not only avoid buying chocolate that utilizes child labor but also spread awareness of this issue. Through the creation of a vocal minority in the supply chain the consumers can start a revolt of sorts that would ultimately put pressure on the companies themselves. Buy not buying, lobbying the companies themselves, and protesting vocally (screaming) the consumer can demand the change they seek in the process of producing the products we would like to enjoy. 

If no effort is made on the consumer end of the process then no change will ever come. We cannot rely upon governments, companies, and international organizations to create the change we seek. We are the source of change. We are the ones who hold the power in this relationship. All you have to do is stop buying and start fighting. 

These children have been robbed of their voice. You can use yours to return theirs to them. 

These children have been robbed of their freedoms. You can use yours to fight for theirs. 

This holiday season do your part in waging a little war against the use of slavery and child labor. Raise your voice against the oppression and abuse of these innocent children and trafficked souls. Keep your cash and say no to the product their blood, sweat, and tears helped produce. It is the only way to we will ever bring an end to all the "worse forms" of abuse the world has to offer our most precious resource... our children.

Want to learn more about this subject? 

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Source Documents
(note: not all sources listed)

Food Empowerment Project
http://www.foodispower.org/slavery-in-the-chocolate-industry/

International Labor Rights Forum
http://www.laborrights.org/stop-child-labor/cocoa-campaign

Confectionery News
http://www.confectionerynews.com/Commodities/Hershey-funded-school-should-curb-child-labor-says-Barry-Callebaut

Sex and Football

 

              There are more slaves today than ever before in history. Believe it? Most do not.

In America, we are motivated and shaped by fear. In 2012, the world was supposed to end three different times. We worry and stockpile, produce end-of-the-world prepper reality TV shows, and give all of our attention to the media pumping out reports on the fiscal cliff and small arms bans. When we read and watch these things, we get hit by a wave of anxiety. But when it comes to the face of modern slavery, there are many people who would rather believe it doesn’t exists. In fact, there has been heated debate about whether or not it actually exists. After all, we have enough things to worry about, right?

On November 16, 2011, Nicholas D. Kristof published and article titled The Face of Modern Slavery in The New York Time Opinion Pages. In this article, Kristof hints towards the disbelieving attitude of the American public. Ignoring this, he tells the story of Strey Pov who was sold by her family at six years-old to a Cambodian brothel. Knowing nothing about sex, she was soon bought and raped by Western men.

Western men? That’s us. That’s the Americans--the people that don’t believe that human trafficking exists. Yet, we are the demand in supply and demand. A retired U.S. Schoolteacher openly spoke out about his experience with sex tourism. “On this trip I’ve had sex with a 14 year old girl in Mexico and a 15 year old in Columbia. I am helping them financially. If they don’t have sex with me, they may not have enough food. If someone has a problem with me doing this, let UNICEF feed them.”

But it isn’t just retired old man taking these trips. Recently, the FBI released reports of their investigation on New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez. In the reports, they cover details of several trips he made in August 2012 to the Dominican Republic with his friend, campaign contributor, and Miami eye doctor, Salomon Melgen.  On these trips, the men had sex with Dominican prostitutes as young as sixteen--girls bought and sold into the sex industry. Not only did Menendez violate the senate’s code of ethics, but he may have broken federal campaign finance laws. It is important to note that the age of consent in the Dominican Republic is 18, but even so The PROTECT Act, a law passed in 2003, made it a federal crime for Americans to engage in sex for money with anyone under the age of 18, even in countries where the age of consent is lower. The Senator denies these accusations, saying, “Any allegations of engaging with prostitutes are manufactured by a politically-motivated right-wing blog and are false.”

New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez under investigation for having sex with minors in Dominican Republic.

American men justify their “vacations” under the lie that the young women and girls in these brothels are there voluntarily, but it isn’t so. Many survivors that have managed to escape from the brothels speak of torture if they do not simply give in and hand their bodies and virginity over. Even if they could escape, where would they turn? Where could they ever find acceptance and a normal life? Many leaders in these organized crime rings have the girls’ information; know if they have children, and who they love most in the world. If they don’t comply, they threaten to kill those the women cherish most in the world.

But human trafficking does not only exist outside the United States. Jessica Ford, an escaped victim, testified against five men who kidnapped her and forced her into the industry. These men controlled one of the biggest sex traffic rings in Dallas, Texas. Evidence revealed that the men kidnapped girls as young as 16 and advertised them on the internet for sex. If the women did not comply, or were caught trying to escape, they were beaten.

Adds for an "escort' uses code words such as 'young', 'fresh', and 'innocent' to advertise minors for sex.

Other pimps sell their girls on websites like backpages.com, where girls are as young as eleven or twelve. Of course, the girls are warned to lie about their age, but many have testified that the men they are purchased by never ask questions anyway.

In Toledo, Ohio, Kimberly(not her real name) was only a teenager when she was kidnapped off the streets and forced into prostitution. She tells a hair-raising story of how a man in a car pulled up to her and her friends. “He did his research.” She says, “Finds girls that he likes and finds out your name and all sorts of stuff.” Mistaking the man for the father of a friend, she got into the car with the man. After 11 days of being forced to have sex with strange men, Kimberly was rescued when a trucker noticed her at a truck stop. Hear her tell her story in this video.

I recently met a woman I will call Betty who dances at a strip club here in Indiana. Dancing is not the life she wanted. Growing up without parents or a real, true home, Betty got tangled up with a man whom she married at 17. Betty’s husband fell into drugs and sent her out to work as a dancer in order to support his drug habit. But even local strip clubs are not all that they seem. Many girls learn they can perform sexual favors, or allow sexual favors to be preformed on them, for extra money. In desperate need to bring in a certain sum, many dancers give in. This kind of behavior leads the girls into alcohol and drug abuse just to get through what they need to do. Because of this, Betty was soon addicted to drugs and now had to support two addictions. To meet the needs, her husband began pimping her out as a prostitute. Betty had nowhere else to go. By now, she had a baby. In an effort to keep her baby fed and clothed, in a home and relatively safe from harm, Betty found herself in bondage.

In an article titled Human Trafficking : Modern-Day Slavery in America, the author Phillip Martin cites: 

About 18,000 people are trafficked to the U.S. each year, according to the State Department. What do they have in common? Most are indebted to smugglers and traffickers. According to the Polaris Project, a national anti-human trafficking group, victims have also been pressed to work in factories, farms, strip clubs, begging and peddling rings and as domestic workers--for little or no money.

This is not another country’s problem. This is a global problem. The most frightening part about this issue is that the United States, our land of freedom, fuels and feeds it. The biggest culprit, knowingly or not: The NFL. Skeptical? The 2010 Super Bowl estimated 10,000 sex workers brought in to Miami, while the 2011 event reaped around 133 prostitution-related arrests. 

On February 3, 1013, Super Bowl XLVII will be hosted at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. At 6:30 EST time, most households will tune in to see the Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers face off. What we will not see is the trafficking of young girls and boys, men and women, being sold off for the sexual pleasure of others. Already, the seedy underbelly and even the classy streets of the bayou are being prepped for the buying and receiving of sexual pleasure.

On the streets of New Orleans, men prepare for the onslaught of customers the Super Bowl will bring in.

I’m not sure why so many American men eagerly exploit the abuse of women and children. My bet is on the rise of the porn industry and our sex-saturated culture. A man walks into a strip club and figures the girl dancing in front of him is there by choice, and sometimes they are. But he never questions if she might be owned by a pimp or abusive boyfriend, sending her to dance and perform sexual favors to rake in as much cash as she can. Instead, he enjoys instant gratification with little guilt. A man might feel at ease picking up a hooker on the street corner because, after all, she’s standing there offering and he has the money. But there are never any guarantees that the women are not girls, taken from outside their homes, faced with a beating if they do not comply and walk the streets.

So what can you do about it?

Get educated. Know what human trafficking is: the illegal trade of human beings mainly for the purpose of commercial sex exploitation or forced labor.

~Read up on articles written by advocates trying to shed a light on the issue.

~Don’t judge a woman that has found a way out. Help her find a new life.

~If you suspect trafficking in your area, tip off police.

~Spread the word.


~Teach your children the signs and dangers of predators.

~Scream for those who cannot.

~Most importantly, vow not to purchase a woman/girl. Ever. Not off the street. Not in a strip club. Be  a person of integrity.

Education Resources:

The White Umbrella Campaign
The A21 Campaign
Not For Sale Campaign
End It Movement
Blue Heart Campaign

Or, please share this video on you social media pages.



~Gia

Nowhere Left To Hide

Two Hundred Thousand Children At Risk
(Part of the Lost Childhood series)

 

 Within twenty four hours of capturing Goma the Congolese rebels of M23 began their search for anyone loyal to the government. Those who had worked for the city were hunted down and executed in mass. Anyone who had ties to the military were also rounded up and killed. The numbers of how many were killed are still being estimated as the rebels prepare to move onto their next city.

As for the 200,000 estimated children (under the age of 18) within Goma, the roundups are still happening. These children are now at risk of being forced into conscription with the M23 rebels. This would mean that they would be turned into child soldiers and used as slave labor by the rebel army. Their task would be more dangerous than their adult captors. They could be facing task such as placing landmines, running ammunition under fire, and fetching weapons off fallen soldiers. 

According to UNICEF around 600 children are in immediate danger due to having been separated by from their families. "We know from the recent practices of the groups involved in this latest fighting that unaccompanied children in this part of DRC are in immediate and real danger of forcible recruitment into armed groups," reported World Vision. Once again it is important to remember that nobody can say for sure how many children are being forced into the rebel army. Yet reports of forced recruitment are coming in. 

"Children have nowhere to turn, we can't get to them, and we are hearing reports of groups arming people around Goma. Local partners have seen armed people passing guns and ammunition to civilians this morning, including children aged 16-18. A former child soldier we have worked with in the past told us today: 'I have seen some of my friends receiving weapons and going to fight... they are being told to go and fight the rebels and take their guns'." As reported by World Vision.

These children are, just as everyone else in Goma, afraid and lost as confusion sets in and lawlessness take over. Loyalist are just as likely to take advantage of this sense of helplessness as they too force children into makeshift militias in an attempt to fight off the M23 rebels... something the Congolese military refused to do. With this irony the children of Goma are quickly finding themselves with nowhere left to hide.

Organizations like World Vision and UNICEF are urgently petitioning the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to take action to stop this criminal activity. Many of the human rights groups working in the area have tried to get permission to enter the conflict areas to rescue innocent civilians caught up in the battle. However it is more than likely that nobody will be able to reach the conflict region until most of the atrocities and crimes have already been committed.

As the M23 rebels prepare to march on their next target, Kinshasa, the citizens of Goma will continue to suffer mass executions, gang rapes of women and children, and the looting of their homes and businesses. One can only hope that the majority of the 200,000 children of Goma will escape with their lives.... and avoid the horrors of becoming a child soldier.

Yum, Yum

Preying On The Innocent
(Part of the Lost Childhood series)

 (Sex Slaves in Cambodia, Ages Unknown)

It is the personal opinion of the author of this article that people who trade in or purchase the sexual services of anyone under the age of consent should face the possibility of the death penalty. With that said, please read the rest of this article.

In Cambodia children as young as 6 years old can be readily purchased by the hour by sexual deviants from the moment they step off the plane. If the pedophile knows where to look, has done his/her research online, they can often spot the signs of a pimp. These peddlers of innocents lost will openly start up the conversation if the sex tourist gives any sign that they are interested. Boys, girls... nothing is sacred in this perverted industry. No age is off limits. If the child can walk, there is a pervert ready to take advantage of Cambodia's most neglected commodity. 

The organization "Save the Children" estimates that as many as 50 to 100 thousand children and young women are subject to sexual slavery within Cambodia. This number is most likely far lower than the actual number of sexual slaves within the country. Mainly due to the growing sex tourism industry within Southeast Asia. A region where sexual predators can spend half the money as they would back home on prostitutes half the age. 

The growing crime has become the subject of intense international scrutiny. However with many outside governments unwilling to part with the notion of "national sovereignty" when dealing with blatant human rights violations... the trade continues to grow disproportionately to the rest of the economy. Instead of imposing the same sanctions we would apply for genocide upon a country the rest of the world has decided to look the other way when dealing with human trafficking and child prostitution. 

"The Svay Pak brothel area outside Phnom Penh, where children are exploited in the sex trade, continues to operate despite numerous attempts by police to close it down." United States State Department Human Trafficking Report 2012.

When sexual slavery within Cambodia becomes less profitable for the Cambodian pimps the children are often sent across borders into Vietnam, Thailand, and even over waters to Malaysia. The exploitation of Cambodian children has become such a problem that tourist visiting Cambodia for nonsexual reasons can easily spot government sponsored posters, commercials, and billboards warning about the very issue. Yet the actual prosecution of pedophiles traveling to Cambodia for sex is rare. 

In the sparse cases of criminal prosecution of "johns" the Cambodian government has shown that it has the ability to be tough on sexual predators. Yet in other cases, such as Dr. James D'Agostino, it also appears that prosecutors in Cambodia are able to achieve convictions without much evidence only so that the government can save face with the outside world. The actual ability of the government in Phnom Penh to achieve consistency in attacking this criminal enterprise is often seen as weak if not impossible to gauge. 

 "Within the country, Cambodian and ethnic Vietnamese women and girls are trafficked from rural areas to Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Poipet, Koh Kong, and Sihanoukville for commercial sexual exploitation. The sale of virgin girls continues to be a serious problem in Cambodia." United States State Department Human Trafficking Report 2012.

Poverty continues to be the driving factor in human trafficking throughout Southeast Asia. Being one of the poorest countries, only ahead of Laos, in the region has left Cambodians exceptionally vulnerable to this crime. Parents in Cambodia often are known to sell their children to traffickers under the promise of a better life by the predators. Other children are often put out to the streets to beg where they are lured or kidnapped and put into the sex trade.

A more disgusting part of the sex trade in Cambodia is fueled by the Khmer belief that having sex with a virgin will somehow endow the man with virility and other desirable masculine traits. This superstition continues to drive a disturbing number of Cambodian men to the sex trade. There they can readily find girls from the age 6 and up. And for most of these homegrown pedophiles the "virgin" is often a young girl who has been sold time and time again.

(Victim of Cambodia's "Sex Tourism" Industry)

No child should ever have to live this way. No human being should ever be bought or sold. This is not a simple matter of human rights. This is the fight to end the trade that spawned our understanding of the most fundamental of all human rights... Freedom. 

All people, of all ages, has the right from their first breath to a life free of fear. We are born into this life with the desire for it. We are born with the passion to preserve it. We are born to need it. Freedom is not a right we can deny to one and grant to another. As long as even one of us is left in slavery, none of us are truly free. 

In this spirit the world should offer Cambodia clear cut ways to end this crime against humanity.

First Cambodia needs to investigate and prosecute government officials complicit in human trafficking. It is painfully obvious when one looks at the "red light" districts of Southeast Asia that police are more than willing to look the other way. For this reason it should be standard practice of all state and federal authorities that any officer, politician, or judge willing to look the other way should face harsher sentences than even the "johns" themselves. We are not talking about just prostitutes and johns anyway. We are talking about modern day slavery. 

As for the pimps, Cambodia should create a registry with every arrest in which the slave driver is recorded. It is my own opinion that there is theoretically no sentence to harsh for these wretched souls. But in reality Cambodia should strengthen the sentences already in place while confiscating the property and money which the slave holder has made from this trade. The property should be sold and the money should be given those now responsible for the safety of the exploited children. 

As for the "johns"... again, it is my personal view that death is as befitting a punishment as any for these individuals. In reality Cambodia should use the most extreme punishment their penal system has to offer. The sentence should be as long as they government is willing to make it. And the johns from other countries should be sent to their country of origin only if the crime is punished harsher than it would be within Cambodia. 

We can not afford to take baby steps in our fight to end human trafficking. We spent far to long arguing the last time we fought slavery. It is time now to end this form of it. It is time that we show those who would exploit our next generation that we as a world community stand united in our desire to rid ourselves of slavery in all forms. Especially when it devastates our children... our hope... our innocents.

Stop Selling Our Hope

The Prostitution Of Our Next Generation
(Part of the Lost Childhood series)

(Every Year That Number Keeps Going Up)

On September 22nd, 1862 a great man stood before American and gave a proclamation that would set forth the framework to make certain that slavery would forever be abolished on American soil. It was with this speech that President Abraham Lincoln declared all slaves held captive on American soil free. Today slavery has spread to every state in the Union. Women, boys, and girls still to this day work in bondage to cruel slave owners who profit from the exploitation of these indentured souls.

The cause or reason for the enslavement of these victims varies with every given case of it. However the main purpose of many slaves taken from the American population or those brought into the United States is to service the sex trade. Women and children alike are abused sexually and physically to keep them in this trade. And for the most unfortunate of them, when they outlive their use they can face death at the hands of their captors.

In San Diego the number of human trafficking cases reported to the authorities has nearly tripled since 2011. Over the past two years in San Diego the number of human trafficking victims has risen to 1,277 individuals. That translates to around 638 victims each year... a number that is rising at alarming rates with every passing year. And it isn't just San Diego or the West Coast that is seeing this dramatic increase in human trafficking cases. These numbers can be seen rising sharply across the United States.

What is even more shocking is that in spite of the average 50,000 plus victims brought into the country to serve as slaves a surprising 72% of the victims in San Diego were American citizens.

When it comes to human trafficking involving child prostitution statistics show that the average entry of girls into the sex trade in America is only 12 years old. In Los Angeles these young girls are more often these days coming out of the foster care system (statistics show that as many as 70%). Others often suffer sexual or physical abuse at home and turn to pimps and human traffickers to escape... a mistake that ends in their enslavement.

So why is it that Americans are so unaware of this horrific violation of these victims' basic human rights?

Child sex trafficking is rarely discussed on major media outlets due to its taboos. Yet as more and more of our nation's future is sold off to pedophiles this illegal trade grows. The sex trafficking of children is now estimated to be the third largest and most organized criminal enterprise in the United States (and around the world). The people responsible for the growth of this industry have found that the sale of children is easy and without much risk.

In almost every state the risk of the sex trade nearly always falls on the victim. When a prostitute over the age of consent is caught she is rightfully prosecuted for the crime of prostitution. However when a child is caught, after being turned out by their pimp, the same system prosecutes the child. Instead of going after the pimp the system targets the victim... who has no ability to agree to sex in the first place.

If more of society would accept that the child is the victim and deserves our protection rather than our wrath as a society we might actually be able to stop this crime. As a society we must demand that the child be spared the punishment of a court sentencing and offered a safe haven. And as a culture we must address the reasons why these innocent children were turned out to the streets in the first place.

It is no secret that in America today that sex is a major part of the pop culture. But to blame that is an easy way out. The real threat to these children is how their predators view them in the first place.

"Throwaway Children"

This is how human traffickers view their victims. This is how these predators view their targets. And more indicatively, this is how American society views the victims of this disgusting crime.

We must demand that the systems we already have in place, such as foster care, be better managed and scrutinized. We must demand that our courts alter the way they view children arrested on the charge of prostitution. We need to also demand that our courts raise heavier sentences on those who prey upon our youth (in New Jersey a man got only 10 years for this crime on November 14th) and use them as slaves in this degrading trade. But most of all, we need to stop looking at these children in much the same way as the predators who target them in the first place.

Like Lambs Among Wolves

Children Soldiers on Colombian Battlefields
(Part of the Lost Childhood series)

The War on Drugs has long raged in Colombia. United States presidents have committed large numbers of soldiers and special forces to combat the problem. We have fortune in tax dollars to prop up the Colombian government and even support militia groups that were supposed to combat organizations like FARC. But all this has led to a war we can not win yet can not afford to lose. 

For decades now the guerrilla armies of Colombia have been abducting victims that are often forced into slavery and at times conscripted into combat. Many have been sent to concentration camps deep in the jungle where they are forced into slave labor. Countless victims have perished in FARC captivity due to disease, starvation, and out right massacres. 

Children are the most vulnerable victims of this barbaric practice of slavery and forced conscription. In the past the bulk of these children forced into combat roles were young boys. Today an estimated 43 percent of the children are now girls. This sudden increase of girls in FARC captivity can be directly linked to their use as sexual slaves and the human trafficking coming out of South America. The boys are still used and subjected in the same manner although sexual abuse of boys in FARC captivity is on the rise. 

In 2012 the number of children currently acting as child soldiers in Colombia was estimated in a recent study (titled "Like Lambs Among Wolves" by Natalia Springer) to be 18,000 children. With just under half of these children thought to be young girls. All these children are currently used to secure the leftist FARC goal of bringing about a Communist state in Colombia. All are slaves to a cause not their own. All are subject to a mortality rate of nearly 90 percent. 

Outside of Colombia the children soldiers have few people who are willing to fight for them. In Europe and the United States their cause is subjected to politics and the lack of will to wage full scale war on the Colombian rebels. Politicians in the developed world rarely admit to the use of child soldiers in Colombia unless they want to sink more money into private projects. In South America the politicians support FARC for the most part. Hugo Chavez and Castro both sink what funds they have into overthrowing their neighboring country's government. Both Venezuela and Cuba view the use of child soldiers as a simple tactic of war.... a means that justifies the rise of a communist regime. 

As for life amongst their FARC commanders, the child soldiers are given little protection or care. They are forced to find their food or pillage and fight for it. Medicine is rare if ever given. And the task they are used for are considered to be the most dangerous task FARC carries out. These include the laying of landmines and improvised explosives... task that often end in the deaths of the children. 

In many cases of mass atrocities in which FARC takes credit the children soldiers are often forced to participate. Young boys and girls are forced to take captives and torture their victims at the direction of the FARC commanders. The female child soldiers are then forced to take part in rapes as they too are sexually abused in the process. These young girls are considered the sexual property of their FARC commanders. 

When Obama waived the sanctions on governments that employ the use of child soldiers he unfortunately did not have to lift restrictions on a single South American country. Countries like Venezuela, who support the use of child soldiers in neighboring countries, are not subjected to the sanctions imposed by the Child Soldier Protection Act of 2008. These rouge nations who support the exploitation of children and actively participate in human trafficking are left untouched by such laws in Europe and the United States. Instead they are allowed to continue with normal trade with the developed world. And in the case of Venezuela, who's natural resources Europe can't live without, their trade with the West goes uninterrupted. 

If the Western world is to actively fight against the enslavement of our world's greatest resource, our children, then we must go after all who support it. Countries like Venezuela must be punished as harshly as Iran has for its human rights abuses. We must cut trade, embargo their exports, and isolate these nations in such a manner that they can not continue to violate the inalienable rights of innocent children. As for those who more directly participate in the use of children as combatants... they deserve direct military intervention. 

This is not a war to stop the flow of drugs anymore. This is a war to liberate those put into slavery by the enemy. This a war for independence. This is a war to restore the dreams of childhood to those from whom it has been stolen.

No Place in a Civilized World

"...That's Slavery"
(part of the Lost Childhood series)

(Children in Yemen's Army)

In October of 2010 the Barack Obama administration began to put into place actions that would lead to United States military aid to countries using children as soldiers. This meant that countries like Libya, Yemen, and South Sudan would receive weapons, ammunition, and food for their armies while the children of those countries were being forced to kill or be killed. Yet this was the president that claimed to be the biggest humanitarian to ever take office in United States history. This was the guy who ran on a slogan of "Hope". But here he was offering the life blood of any military to countries forcing children to fight... countries who offered no such "hope" to their own future. 

“When a little boy is kidnapped, turned into a child soldier, forced to kill or be killed — that’s slavery,” Obama said in a speech at the Clinton Global Initiative. “It is barbaric, and it is evil, and it has no place in a civilized world. Now, as a nation, we’ve long rejected such cruelty.” (October 2012)

Slavery you say mister Obama? Barbaric you say mister President? Evil even? 

For three years now the United States has been offering military aid to the Congo and South Sudan. We have also been waiving almost all sanctions on Yemen and Libya. These are all actions that were banned under the Child Soldiers Protection Act of 2008 by the United States Congress. These are all actions that were banned so that we, the United States, would not be seen as offering comfort to armies that employ slavery and children as weapons. 

In 2010 Obama told the New York Times that the waiving of these sanctions were of "the national interest". But what is the national interest in allowing children to be "kidnapped" and dragged off to war? Why are we so invested in allowing children to serve in militias in Chad, Yemen, Libya, South Sudan, or the Congo? 

There is no national interest in allowing the oppressive regimes of these countries to continue to recruit and abduct children from all over the globe. In Nepal the children soldiers are used as front lines human shields and gun runners. Do we have a national interest in teaching children to run guns a little faster or to zig-zag a little more while being shot at? Do we have a national interest in telling children to not fall over when the first bullet hits them? 

“After such a strong statement against the exploitation of children, it seems bizarre that Obama would give a pass to countries using children in their armed forces and using US tax money to do that,” Jesse Eaves - World Vision.

When it comes down to the bottom line it should be obvious to all Americans that it is unacceptable for our tax dollars to be funding children on the battle field. We can not nor should not take the word of a President simply because he thinks the ends will justify the means. This is not an issue that can be compromised on. We are not a nation that holds such low morals that we can accept the abuse of children anywhere for any cause. We are a people that believe that all men are created equal and this applies directly to children and women. Therefore we can not accept a president that calls it "slavery" but will take no action to stop it. 

After all, was it not a previous president that went to war to end slavery of Michelle Obama's ancestors? So why is it that Barack Obama now finds it suitable that our military and our tax dollars would help keep children around the world in bondage?

Sources Used 

(Note not all Sources Listed)

The Malay Mail

http://www.mmail.com.my/story/barbaric-yet-us-turns-blind-eye-child-soldiers-32432

UPI.com

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/10/04/Groups-say-US-weak-on-child-soldier-ban/UPI-73781349364001/

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/10/28/Obama-waives-child-soldier-sanctions/UPI-40901288304465/?rel=73781349364001

Trick Or Treat

Human Rights Violations Ruin Halloween
(Part of The Darkness Visible series)

As Halloween passes and Christmas approaches it is hardly inappropriate that we start asking where the resources come from that end up in our children's trick-or-treat buckets. For it will not be to long before the same resources end up in their stockings and once again on the store shelves. Then comes Valentines Day and Easter. The resources for all this candy has to come from somewhere. It has to be put on the shelves. And it has to be supplied for the ever expanding appetite for chocolate amongst the developed world. 

For corporations such as Nestle and Hersey's Chocolate the supply continues to flow out of countries such as Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). It is in these countries that slave labor and child labor are used interchangeably. The most innocent of lives are ruined by ruthless plantation owners who maximize profits for the corporate giants while selling human beings. The trafficking of humans in these countries is dependent upon the flow of cocoa. 

As your children chow down on their Reese Cups and Kit Kat bars there are children around the world working for little to no pay. They are owned by masters that will use them in the fields... in the factories... and at times, in brothels. These children will never grow up in a world where you go to school, graduate, go to college, and then off to a career of your choosing. These children will be bought and sold till they are too old to work for free. They are the children that make it possible for your child to eat his next M&M. 

There is no certain figure available to give when it comes to just how many children are enslaved in the Ivory Coast. Large companies like Hersey's have gone out of their way to block legislation in Western governments that would help identify the scale of the problem. These companies have also gone out of their way to block organizations from carrying out independent studies on child labor in West Africa. The irony is that companies like these make their profits from the gluttony of children in the Western world. 

This desire on the part of corporations to secure the resources of underdeveloped countries like the Ivory Coast has allowed the continued trafficking of children onto battle fields as far away as the Sudan. These children are brought to the coastal cities where they are sold off for the highest offer. Others are kidnapped from villages and refugee camps around the country. But all child soldiers are doomed to suffer the same fate... death on the front line as their grownup commanders hide behind them. 

Young girls from all over the Ivory Coast are taken as sex slaves and sold to masters from all around the globe. Pedophiles from Western countries often end up in the Ivory Coast where they are sold sex slaves or visit brothels in the cities. Many of these sex slaves will end up in other countries... and yes, many will end up in Europe and America. 

In essence, the leaders of the Ivory Coast are exporting the most valuable resource their nation has to offer... its children. Those who remain in the country are often forced to work as slaves or "domestic servants" in the fields and factories. Their little hands produce cocoa, cotton, and coffee for the rest of the world. Their lives are made miserable by the lust the developed world has for the cheap goods and seemingly free labor the third world's children have to offer. Their stomachs go empty more often then not so that your child's can be coated with the fruits of their labor. 

Silent Suffering

Rape And Genocide

As the Armenian genocide began the horrors it would unleash became almost instantly clear to one part of the Armenian population... it's women.

Turkish soldiers were well known for many things amongst the Armenians. Self-control was not one of them. Instead the Turks took everything they wanted without a moment of hesitation. This included the innocence of young Armenian girls.

Rape became a hallmark of deportation in the process The Young Turks called "Turkification". If a child became unable to walk after repeated rapes... the Turks killed them. If a woman tried to resist she would be bludgeoned and then gang raped... then killed.

Yet despite the use of rape as a weapon not all it's victims died. Many were kept alive to serve as sex slaves in Turkish homes. Government officials, officers, and street vendors all approached the caravans of deportees to purchase "desirables". Young girls and boys were purchased from the soldiers all along the death marches.

Some of these slaves would be sent to work on farms. Others were sent to Turkish homes as servants. Many were sent to Turkish villages to be used as forced wives or made to participate in orgies.

For those made to become wives or concubines, rape was a daily threat. "Unrelated girls and boys in the household—regardless of religious or ethnic origin—were sexually available to senior males." Any adult male could use them for his deviant desires.

In all of this a common form of brandishing ownership developed amongst the Turkish masters. Slaves were to be tattooed upon their face and hands. It was a way to demoralize the slave and to show the rest of society that they were "unclean".

Thanks to the League Of Nations (the predecessor to the UN) we have documented cases of this practice. The survivors' families can access the pictures and documents of their grandparents who made it out of captivity. All due to a safe house the League operated in Aleppo, Syria. These images and surveys are housed in Geneva.

For Suzanne Khardalian these documents helped her understand the suffering and deep scars left by the "devilish marks" on her grandmother's hands and face. You can hear her story by watching her film "Grandma's Tattoos".

To read more about this subject please follow the link below.

http://www.armenianweekly.com/2011/12/07/devilish-marks/

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