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

A Silent Scream

Child Abuse And Neglect In Indiana (And Across The Country).
(part of the Lost Childhood series)

(80% of children who die from abuse are under the age of 4)

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Across the country there is a common perception that child abuse and neglect are things that happen in someone else’s neighborhood. We tend to imagine that we live in a world where such grotesque acts of depravity could not be happening right next door. Instead we greet our neighbors with smiles and try to imagine that the picturesque world we have made for ourselves is just that… picturesque.

Statistics on our neighborhoods, our cities, our states, and our country as a whole do not paint our world as we would wish it to be. With a few clicks of the mouse you can easily find the numbers for your state, your county, and your city. With just a few moments of research you can see just how such a wretched crime is being ignored as it happens again and again… right next door.

 (Image via Child Help)

For Indiana, the home state of Alder’s Ledge, these numbers are daunting. 

During 2010 in Indiana there were 23,095 cases of child abuse or neglect. That is the amounts to around 14.5 children out of every1,000 children in Indiana. Of these 11 percent were physically abused, 16.2 percent were sexually abused, and 89 percent were severely neglected. This is only made more tragic when we factor in that 17 of these children succumbed to the trauma inflicted upon them by their abusers and/or the neglect they suffered.

This is just one state. It is just one portion of the world where people are expected to be wholesome and kindhearted. It is after all home to the infamous “Hoosier hospitality”. And Hoosiers are among some of the most generous people when it comes to donating to charitable causes.

So we are left with the fact that child abuse is not something that can be kept at bay by our good intentions. Once the doors close the skeletons come out of the closets. When the world isn’t looking the monsters inside us seem all too willing to come out and stretch their muscles. Inside each of us is the potential for tremendous good and unconscionable maliciousness. The only difference between the people who commit this crime and those who do not is the ability to choose the prior rather than embracing the later.

There is no excuse for this behavior. There is no defense for the abuse and slaughter of innocent children, ever.

During 2009 in Indiana of the 38 children killed due to abuse and/or neglect 79 percent of them were three years of age (or younger). All of these children could have been spared the fate their abusers dealt them. Yet the silence of our society allowed them to perish.

For the children who survive their abuse and/or neglect there are lasting effects that span well into their adulthood.

• 14% of all men in prison in the United States and 36% of all women were victims of child abuse and/or neglect. (Nearly twice the frequency seen in the rest of the population.)
• Children who are abused are nearly nine times more likely to become involved in criminal activities.
• About 80% of 21 year-old adults who had been abused as children tested positive for at least one psychological disorder.
• Around 30% of abused and/or neglected children will later in life abuse their own children.
• Children who are abused are nearly three times more likely to have a substance abuse problem by the age of 18 than children who were not reported to have been abused.

In addition the cost to society itself is astounding. Americans on an average year pay and estimated 124 billion dollars as a result of the direct effects of child abuse. This number is however an estimate since an untold number of cases of child abuse go unreported every year.

Child abuse and neglect can be defined in several ways. Children who suffer from neglect of abuse do not necessarily suffer just one form or another. In many cases children who are reported as having suffered abuse often are recorded as suffering multiple types of abuse and neglect.

While neglect of a dependent is the most prevalent it is also the most noticeable form of abuse. Sexual abuse, physical abuse, and psychological abuse are harder to identify without the crime itself being reported by either the victim or a witness. This is made even more difficult when one realizes that the perpetrator of these crimes often uses intimidation or inherit trust to keep the victim silent.

Breaking The Silence

This crime knows no boundaries. Though the myths all claim it is a social ill that is mainly the problem of the underprivileged and poor the facts all show it is a pervasive disease of mankind. There are no members of society that are beyond it. There is no social class that does not commit it. There is no religion or culture that does not have it amongst them. Money, education, faith, and good intentions do not stop it. The only source of preventing it is through persistent vigilance.

When pushed to their limits parents, family members, and general custodians of children can reach a breaking point. However, the moment the child is forced to suffer physical, emotional, or sexual abuse the excuse of being frustrated cannot be applied or allowed. There must be a zero tolerance threshold for these acts. The effect of even one incident costs both the family and community for the remainder of that child's life. In addition, just one incident of abuse and/or neglect creates barriers in that child's life that may limit the child's mental and emotional development. 

As a society we have an obligation to our most precious gift, our children, to readily combat this crime. We must realize as a whole that these victims have no ability to defend themselves or knowledge of how to seek a way out. Abuse isolates a child in a way that prevents them from seeking help (especially when the abuser is a family member or parent). Therefore, these children rely upon the intervention of adults (whether that be relatives or community members). 

Society as a whole must realize that child abuse does not simply pertain to physical abuse. Sexual acts (or forcing the witnessing of sexual acts), psychological abuse, neglect, emotional abuse, and verbal abuse are all forms of abuse that must also be identified and punished without exception. The myth that "if it isn't violent it isn't abuse" cannot be permitted to continue. Any and all forms of abuse must be punished with the full force of our laws and zeal. 

In addition the said laws must be persistently scrutiny so as to be certain that there is no way for abusive cases to slip through the system. Whenever a child dies from abuse (especially when it has been reported) the system must be investigated and the failures must be identified. In cases where the system has failed due to neglect of it's operators those responsible must be punished to the fullest extent. When it comes to the life of any child there is no room for failure.

As for those of us who are not in a position to pursue these crimes there is always the responsibility to report them. By turning our eyes away we become accomplices in the suffering that these children have to face daily. If we are not willing to scream for them we must ask ourselves who will?

To report a suspected case of neglect or abuse all you have to do is make one simple phone call:

• United States or Canada: 1-800-422-4453
• UK: 0800-1111
• Australia: 1-800-688-009
• New Zealand: 0800-543-754 

(For more international list please visit: http://www.chiworld.org/)

By utilizing your voice you give these children a chance at a life free from abuse. Though the consequences of the abuse they have already sustained may not change, the hope for a better tomorrow is given to them. And all it takes is one phone call.

If you suspect a child is being sexually abused you can also call:

• "Stop It Now": 1-888-773-8368
• RAINN:  1-800-656-4673 
• For international list visit: http://www.chiworld.org/

In Indiana there are resources available for parents who feel they need help caring for an infant. The "Safe Haven Law" allows for parents who wish to surrender their infant the ability to do so for 30 days after birth. As long as there are no signs of intentional abuse the person surrendering the child will only need to prove they are the legal custodian of the child.

If you are an Indiana parent of a baby less than 30 days of age and can't provide for him/her you can learn more about your options by visiting: http://www.safehaven.tv/ or calling 1-877-796-HOPE (4673).

Help break the silence by visiting any of the sources listed below to learn how you can help raise awareness of this horrible crime. You can also help by sharing articles like this one and thus raising awareness of child abuse. Lending your voice, your vigilance, and your compassion is the only way that this crime can be stopped. So do your part and scream for those who have been made mute by this wretched crime.

Want to know more about this subject?

Follow us on Twitter: @alders_ledge

Follow us on Facebook: Alder's Ledge

Source Documents
(note: not all sources listed)

Prevent Child Abuse Indiana
http://www.pcain.org/statistics.asp

CWLA
http://www.cwla.org/advocacy/statefactsheets/2012/indiana.pdf

Child Help
http://www.childhelp-usa.com/pages/statistics

National Children's Alliance
http://www.nationalchildrensalliance.org/NCANationalStatistics

Help Guide
http://www.helpguide.org/mental/child_abuse_physical_emotional_sexual_neglect.htm

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? 

Follow us on Twitter: @alders_ledge

Or on Facebook: Alder's Ledge

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

Separate Is Never Equal

European Roma Still Face Apartheid
(Roma In Europe series)

(European Union Member States Continue To Segregate Roma Children In The Classroom)

The foundation for a better future in any society is found through education. In a world where we are rapidly being reduced to the sum of what our degrees and diplomas say we have achieved there really is no other way forward. Regardless of our own determination and personal ingenuity the world around us views us through paper work. If an portion of our society is thus kept from having access to even the most basic levels of education they are therefore kept from the vast majority of what our society has to offer.

Would we elect government officials that were kept from graduating even the most preliminary levels of education? Would we trust a doctor to treat our ailments if he/she was never able to go to medical school? Would we believe a teacher if he/she had never even been to any form of upper level education?

It is a common trend amongst unskilled labor, the backbone to our economy, that many are placed in those roles due to a lack of education. We may rather enjoy believing that everybody has access to education at any level if they simply apply themselves. This provides us an excuse to look down upon the grocery clerk while ironically they make our daily lives possible. It gives us the ability to stare down our noses while the sun beats down upon the construction workers that slow us down in our daily commutes to our so called prestigious jobs. But what if we knew the stories of these people, if we knew what obstacles they had to overcome, we might look at the systems our society flaunts in a different light.

For some of the most neglected members of our society the story that they start with almost immediately erases the opportunities we take for granted. Personal choice becomes less of a reason for their place in society as society itself begins to hijack those said choices. In the case of the Roma in Europe this hijacking can be summed up as blatant discrimination on the part of governments, local communities, and the society in which the Roma live.

Centuries of looking down upon the Roma as a permanent underclass (or outsiders) has left a systemic discriminatory perception about who the Roma people are. It has left the very name Roma, or gypsy, a sort of slur in and of itself in European society. When someone feels cheated they say they have been "gypped". When a stranger appears to be poorly dressed and unkempt they are flat out referred to as a "gypsy". And then there is the romantic prejudices of the Roma as being fortune tellers, witches, and symbols of bad luck. All of this has left a barrier that Roma people have had to climb over to reach the world that has attempted to go forward while leaving them behind.

Roma children in Europe are the first to notice this when it comes to the hallmarks of childhood. Instead of being allowed into the same school systems that other European children get to go to many Roma children are forced to either attend schools designed solely for Roma or take classes designed for the mentally handicapped. In Greece this has been more evident than in other European states. When schools were built in Sofades (a town comprised of roughly half Roma citizens) the Roma who were closer to schools catering to "Greek" children were told they had to go to schools farther away. The reason: these children were Roma, and Roma children are not allowed to attend school with other children in Greece. Plain and simple discrimination on the basis of ethnicity.

“It’s shameful that, despite three separate European Court rulings now, Greece has failed to change its ongoing discrimination against Romani schoolchildren and the flagrant violation of their right to education,” said Jezerca Tigani, Deputy Europe and Central Asia Director at Amnesty International. 

Last year countless European courts took up the issue of Roma children's rights to an equal education in European schools. These court decisions were considered historic since they for the first time addressed the long upheld discrimination by European society against the Romani people. In many ways these courts took upon the same fight that American schools had been forced to do when they desegregated schools and allowed black and white children to be educated side-by-side. Yet that is a point that European nations tend to avoid since they were supposed to be the leaders in ending slavery, segregation, and all that "old world" bigotry.

Some might ask why we should talk about segregation while Romani families face violent attacks by racists (both in politics and in racist extremist groups) in the Czech Republic and Hungary. Some might ask why we should worry about school while Roma are still facing deportations from France, Germany, Italy, and other "developed" European countries in the West. And while these concerns are very pressing indeed, the open hostility in society at large is the basis for why these conditions exist in the first place. If we are to accept that children can be introduced to the idea that they are less than human from the start of their "education" then we accept that other children can be taught that the prior are the "them" in an "us vs them" scenario. It allows for the effects of discrimination to be imprinted upon the next generation while the one in control allows the cycle to persist.

"What startled me most of all was the unbelievable aggression, the hateful speeches, and the openly racist positions occupied at certain points by the loudest participants, male and female, from the special schools. These are the same people who meet disadvantaged Romani children and their parents every day. They are the very people who educate those children, " said Michaela Marksová-Tominová, Czech Shadow Minister for Human Rights and Equal Opportunities.

When hate is allowed to be the first taste of what a society has to offer for a child it becomes a lens through which that child will view the world in which he/she lives. While many can overcome this discrimination through hard work on their own part, many others cannot. It is an obstacle that chips away at what our society can be and will become. It destroys the foundation of a society for generation to come. Thus permitting the instability we have lived with thus far to persist into the world we leave behind for our children and grandchildren.

When we deny education to a child we aren't telling that child he/she can be anything that they can dream of. We tell that child that they aren't valuable in our society. We tell them that for as long as they are alive they will always be outsiders in our community. The denial of education (full, equal, and integrated)  is a method of oppression and rejection. It forces upon the next generation the prejudices of the previous generation. And for this reason it denies society at large the hope for a better future.

If Europe is to continue forward in its progressive views on what it means to be European they will have to come to terms with their past. Either they fully integrate the Romani people into European (accepting the differences and not forcing assimilation) or Europe admits that they are a society that accepts apartheid. For in a world where we claim that "all men are created equal" we can never expect that being kept separate be viewed as equality.


























Source Documents
(Note: not all sources listed)

Amnesty International
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/european-court-again-chides-greece-over-discrimination-against-roma-schoolchildren-2013-05-30

Open Society Foundation
http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/voices/roma-education-2013-time-europe-remedy-its-democratic-deficit

Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/artur-conka/roma-families-in-europe_b_3253404.html

Prague Daily Monitor
http://praguemonitor.com/2013/05/24/%C4%8Dr-fails-deal-segregation-romani-students-ai-report-says

Is Forced Sterilization Next?

Myanmar's Two Child Limit For Rohingya
(The Darkness Visible series)

(How does it feel to be "illegal"?)

When the Rohingya were forced out of their homes and into ghettos the world said nothing. When the Rohingya were forced to watch their sons and husbands being marched off to do slave labor for a government that hates them, we said nothing. While the Rohingya girls were taken off to rape camps the world refused to speak up. When the planting season passed and the Rohingya were made dependent upon foreign aid for food, the UN couldn't find it in them to say something. 

Now the Rohingya are facing the monsoon season in camps set up in floodplains. Their children are starved as the Burmese blockades hold fast. Their sons and husbands live as broken men as they are made to live under the boots of fascist soldiers. Their daughters and mothers are forced to live in fear of the minions of a genocidal regime. So where is your outrage?

Last week the government issued yet another restriction upon the Rohingya of the Arakan state (note this restriction has been on the books for decades, just being enforced more rigidly now). In a community where medical assistance is almost as scarce as food, the Rohingya are now prohibited from having more than two children. This extension of restrictions specifically issued for Rohingya Muslims adds to the marital laws already on the Myanmar's books. It states that only "monogamous marriages will be recognized" somewhat ironically since Burma does not recognize the Rohingya or permit them to lawfully married. From there the restriction goes on to demand that any Rohingya couple married may only have two children at any point in time. 

“Regarding family planning, they can only get two children,” Arakan State government.

One is suddenly forced to ask just how Burma plans on enforcing this vast breach of a basic human right? Does this new restriction give the authorities in Myanmar the legal means to begin enforcing such measures as forced sterilization? After two children are you supposed to pay fines for all other children that might result from natural sex? And if sterilization is the next step then does that mean that the Rohingya women will be sterilized or will it be the Rohingya men? 

Win Myaing said, “It’s being implemented to control the population growth, because it’s becoming too crowded there.”

Win also stated very clearly that this new restriction is not for Buddhist members of Myanmar's society. This clarification was only diluted by Win's statements back in February when the spokesperson for the Arakan government said of Buddhists jumping the border from Bangladesh, "...if they come, we will help them." Yet according to Win today the Arakan is just "too crowded" to allow minorities to have children. Somehow, however, the Buddhists immigrating from Bangladesh are more than welcome to have as many children as they wish despite being immigrants in an ethnocentric society. 

So with Win Myaing's statements are we to assume that the government of the Arakan is willing to begin to take measures to end the current birth rate of Rohingya Muslims in Burma? 

Maungdaw District Authorities,"will not use force, but if people want to marry [or register newborn children] they have to submit forms to relevant local authorities and gain permission.”

If we are to take the leaders of Burma at their word we would believe that Burma is willing to allow Rohingya to marry and even have children. After all, "will not use force" is a rather clear promise that the soldiers will not round up the undesirables or even force them to live in unsanitary and unsafe ghettos. "Will not use force" should insinuate that the government will not use armed soldiers to keep food, water, and medicine just out of reach of Rohingya refugees. "Will not use force" would signify that Rohingya men would not be marched off at gunpoint to work for a government while their wives and daughters are left defenseless against said government. So why can't we take Myanmar at its word? 

In Europe the Romani people were told that they would be receiving medical attention time and time again (both during the Porajmos and since then) only to be forced into being sterilized. The governments of Norway, France, Hungary, and Germany are all just a few of the perpetrators of this said offense. In some cases the Roma women who were sterilized did not realize what had happened till years later. But no matter when the victim realizes what had been done to them... the affects of the crime are always there. 

So if Western nations (the so called "developed world") are not above using this form of ethnic cleansing then why presume that Burma is telling the truth? 

Was starvation too slow for you Myanmar?

This new restriction is just the latest step in a long line of steps that Myanmar has taken toward its original goal of completing its genocide against the Rohingya people. By limiting the number of children that Rohingya can give birth to the government opens up a new list of excuses for taking action against them. It permits abuses to be committed against the Rohingya without hesitation on the part of the government officials committing these crimes.

In the past Myanmar has shown that it is unwilling to recognize Rohingya marriages. It has set fees so high that marriage itself was out of reach (it also taxed the right of the Rohingya to die as a means of escaping repression). Through this it should be clear to the Western leaders that Burma will never recognize the right of the Rohingya people to give birth. And most of all, it should be obvious to the West that with new laws like this one being made that Burma has no intention of recognizing the existence of the Rohingya already alive... let alone those yet to be born.

“The two-child policy is only for Bengali fathers and mothers who have no citizenship. They have no ID, they are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh,” Than Tun, of the Arakan Social Network. “The order came from the president and it was implemented as a regional notice.”

Thein Sein's promise of working to mend the relationships the state has with Muslim minorities in the Arakan should be seen for what they are... lies. While he paid lip service to the West he was issuing new orders such as this one geared at the ethnic cleansing of the Arakan. By calling the Rohingya "Bengali" he admits once again that the Rohingya have no place in Burmese society. In his view the Rohingya are simply "undesirables". 

Source Documents

(Note not all sources are listed)

Irrawady News

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/35017

http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/25820

Washington Post (blog)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/wp/2013/05/21/mr-sein-goes-to-washington/

The Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20130429/as-myanmar-sectarian-violence/?utm_hp_ref=green&ir=green

A look at the enemy:

Oliver Soe Thet, "...mothers are forced to get much much more children than they and specially their Husbands can feed and educate , — all under the pretext of a religion to ensure that they outnumber the other race in a soon time. If peaceful living together is with the Bengali community in North Rakhine on the program than they will understand and fully agree with such a step."

From Instagram: 

@moonoimartyn, "The Rohingya are invaders trying to implement Islam by rape, torture, murder, and forced conversion. Islam and Muslims bring the biggest form of genocide. The Buddhist have the right to fight back."

Preying Upon The Weak

Children Targeted By Rakhine Nationalist
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

In every genocide the weakest and most vulnerable are the most likely to be targeted for extermination. For those communities that find themselves the target of ethnic cleansing their children are preyed upon without mercy. The aim of this merciless method of slaughter is aimed at depriving the targeted community of their next generation. It is a tactic that is employed to ensure that the "undesirables" have not opportunity for a future.

When Stalin wanted to weaken his imagined foe in the Ukraine he commanded his forces to work the adults to death while starving the children. In doing this Uncle Joe damned an entire generation to a fate worse than death. He desired to starve them slowly as they watched their parents wither away and their grandparents perish. Stalin's long term goal however was to wipe out the children by taking the food right out of their mouths.

In Nazi Europe the children, especially the youngest, were often told to go off to the other line than their parents. It was a long and painful line that wandered off to the gas chambers or to freshly dug mass graves. Many SS soldiers took pride and using infants and babies as target practice or bayonet training. Hitler had set this part of the Final Solution in place so as to kill off the "undesirables" both here an now and in the years to come. Without children the "lesser races" could not raise up a generation that could be used to resist the Nazi cause. 

The Ustase behaved like rabid wolves when it came to the children of Jews and Roma in Croatia. Entire campaigns were launched to round up the vulnerable children into massive groups so that they could be led off like sheep to the slaughter. Ustase troops picked young children up by their limbs and bashed their heads onto rocks and concrete so as to save bullets. Roma children were held down while Ustase SS slit their throats. As with the rest of Hitler's followers, the Ustase knew that their actions were designed to slaughter the last hope of their victims. 

Burma has followed in Hitler's footsteps as they target the Rohingya of Myanmar. In Sabbay Goong, Northern Maung Daw, the Nasaka took into custody the mother of four children who were slaughtered by Rakhine extremist. Instead of going after the killers the Burmese security forces have decided to further degrade the mother. Once again Myanmar's government shows that they are willing to prey upon the weakest and most vulnerable of the Rohingya. 

The four children were;

• Noor Semon, 10 year old girl.
• Abdur Rahman, 8 year old boy.
• Rabina, 5 year old girl.
• Yasmine Ara, 2 year old girl. 

Their lives were ended simply because they were born Rohingya instead of Rakhine. Their assailants, thought to be members of the radical Rakhine terrorist group Arakan Liberation Party, are still free even as their little bodies remain unclaimed and most likely buried in unmarked graves. Their mother remains in captivity in a Burmese prison even after having been attacked and tied up by the men who killed her children.

This is what justice looks like in a government that openly practices a campaign of genocide against the Rohingya people. The slaughtered are blamed, the survivors are made to live in hellish conditions, and those who try to flee are killed without mercy.

So once again Alder's Ledge will ask... how many more need die? Why is the world remaining silent as innocent people perish every day?

The Slow Walk Into Hell

A Look At Burma's Forced Famine
(part of The Darkness Visible series)

(Blockades Hold Back Food, Water, and Medical Aid)

As Burma prepares the Rohingya for "citizenship" the order of the day appears to be starvation and police brutality. Thein Sein has publicly claimed that any Muslim who is a citizen of Myanmar will be treated as such under the newly formed democratic regime. Yet Rohingya and other Muslim ethnic groups in Burma have been subject to ethnic cleansing since June of 2012. This sort of violence occurred under the old Junta control and prior to Colonial power in the region. However this time around the threat of a total genocide against the Rohingya appears more plausible than ever before now that neighboring countries are developed enough to prevent escape. 

In the months that followed the massive influx of ethnic violence in the region the Junta style authorities reappeared in the Rakhine region of Burma. Police and military leaders immediately began rounding up Rohingya and in some incidents mass executions have taken place. Rohingya who were able to fight back were dealt with through systematic roundups and disarming by government and Buddhist militia like mobs. Those who survived were forced into camps that greatly resemble the small concentration camps used by the Japanese during World War Two. 

For those who were taken to police run camps and prisons the stories of torture became a very real situation. Boys as young as their early teens have been taken to these "safe houses" and prisons where they have been subjected to torture without ever once being convicted of any crime. Piles of bodies have been reported near or behind these facilities so as to leave the Muslim bodies out and unburied well past the time allotted for such ceremonies given by the Koran.

Yet now that the outside world has shown even the most minimal amount of interest the Burmese government has pulled back on outright slaughter of the Rohingya. Instead of the mass executions that immediately followed the outbreak of violence, the Myanmar authorities have turned to their Communist teachings for inspiration in implementing the Rohingyas' "final solution". Following in the footsteps of Stalin, Thein Sien's government has begun expanding upon their original goal of starving out the Rohingya who they claim hide in the "illegal refugee camps". This method is meant to recreate Stalin's infamous "forced famines". 

(Wasting Away As The Outside World Watches)

The goal of this barbaric method of warfare is to force submission or extermination of a selected group by withholding the basics all humans need to live. In the case of the Rohingya the Burmese have decided to blockade the camps and keep all sources of food, water, and medical aid out of Rohingya hands. Police and military have been recorded going into the camps to fetch any source of food or water that the Rohingya may scavenge. The blockades also serve as a way to keep the Rohingya in the camps so that they have no hope of escape. In affect, the refugee camps within Myanmar have become death camps. 

Starvation is the new reality for the Rohingya who hoped this wave of ethnic cleansing would pass like all the rest. Their children are dieing at an alarming rate as malnutrition claims the weakest members of their community first. Without some form of help soon the Rohingya within Burma may face total hell at the hands of their tormentors. 

There are stories leaking out of Burma that the government is growing tired of waiting. That the regime wants the "final solution" sooner than later. Military personnel have been reported to have been growing in number in regions further away from where Western media normally has access too. These soldiers, as usual, carry only more ammunition and absolutely no aid for the Rohingya they are now harassing. Even with starvation claiming more lives every day... it appears the Buddhists in charge are looking to cleanse their land of all other religions once and for all. 

This is the face of genocide in the modern age. This is the face of genocide in Myanmar. How long till we act? How many more times do we have to watch this before our hearts begin to beat?

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.