Labour Trafficking In America

(Part of our ongoing discussion on Human Trafficking)

In Series One, Alders Ledge outlined its working definition of the term “human trafficking” as a reference for future articles in the series, and the discussion now turns to “labor trafficking” in the United States. This is, perhaps, the type of slavery with which most Americans are familiar, as it is studied in U.S. and American History classes. For purposes of our discussion, “labor trafficking” shall mean:

The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons; by means of the threat, use of force, or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, through abuse of power or exploitation of a position of vulnerability, or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another for the purpose of exploiting labor and/or services. (UNODC, 2014)

It is vitally important for Americans, and the world, to understand that slavery NEVER ended in the United States, and history textbooks rarely frame discussions around this fact. Instead they focus on traditional notions of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the Constitution, and the Emancipation Proclamation, which did nothing to actually stop the exploitation of labor and services in the country. We’ll examine the various ways in which exploited labor and/or services continued, post-Proclamation, through today.

 

 

Post-reconstruction saw Black Americans subjugated to slavery via criminalization, through race-based laws known as The Black Codes. Prisoners were subjected to slave labor for profit by companies, prison wardens, and others with stakeholder-status in having a supply of free or nearly-free labor. Sharecropping introduced another form of exploitation. While a study of the history of corrections, Black Codes, and sharecropping are easily identifiable as forms of labor trafficking, as defined by UNODC, many fail to make the connection: slavery did not, literally, end after the Civil War. Laws were specifically written to criminalize only the actions of Black people…laws that were far too easy for any “freed” Black to “break.” Violating such laws landed former slaves in prison, where they were subjected to slave labor, once again. With the decline and eventual eradication of sharecropping by the 1960s, other forms of peonage, slavery, and exploitation gripped the country, and the world.

 

 

When Americans think “slavery,” the images that come to mind are those depicted above. While it is important to note that non-Blacks were also subjected to indentured servitude in the founding of America, historically, the vast majority of slavery centered on Blacks and agriculture. As agriculture declined, new methods of exploitation began to flourish, a much more “inclusive” slavery that sought to take advantage of human bodies, regardless of color. However, the “new” forms of labor trafficking still predominantly exploit minorities, especially immigrants, women, and children. While we observe that some forms of labor trafficking affect legal and illegal immigrant residents, it is important to note that human trafficking affects native-born citizens, as well. This is not an "immigrant" issue. This is a global human rights issue.

 

 

The Modern Face of Labor Trafficking in the USA

 

While 59% of labor trafficking is not found in the agriculture sector, it continues to proliferate in the industry, especially among migrant and seasonal farm workers. Nannies and housekeepers (think: Mammy figures in slave days of the past) and other domestic positions provide a ripe climate for exploitation. While sex trafficking will be highlighted in a future series, it is important to mention here that hostess and strip clubs are also rife with slave labor, outside of the traditional notions of forced prostitution (sex work). The actual performances, duties, and dancing (the labor) can be exploited, with or without forced sexual contact with customers (Alders Ledge does not conflate voluntary sex work with human trafficking, a discussion more appropriate for the upcoming series on sex trafficking).

 

The dining and food service industry provides a haven for traffickers, who force their victims to cook, clean, stock, and wait tables for little or no pay, often while under the complete control of their “handlers,” while living in controlled congregate housing. In addition, the manufacturing of clothing and foodstuffs also provide avenues for forced, coerced, and under/no-paid labor. With over 1.5 million employees in the hospitality industry, the United States has seen a rise in traffickers’ exploitation of room attendants, other hospitality-centered positions, even casino workers. Ever wonder about the knocks on the door by young people selling products, like magazine subscriptions? Many such peddling rings exploit the door-to-door market by denying food and accommodations to those who fail to make their quotas, even abandoning “employees,” leaving them penniless and without transportation in unknown cities. In short, ANY industry with a demand for cheap labor and little-to-no oversight is ripe for labor trafficking, including group care homes, construction, and landscaping.

 

 

Most Americans directly benefit from modern-slavery. Everyone eats, and most do not grow their own food. Many people dine out and stay in hotels, and we all live in, or travel to, various constructed buildings. Trafficking touches our lives in ways we may not have considered before. Anti-immigrant adherents may not care about the abuses of immigrant populations, rationalizing that “they ought not to be here, in the first place.” Hostess/stripper clubs are rife with “slut-shaming” and “victim-blaming,” and the voices of the exploited, the trafficked, are often silenced under the belief that these women and girls actively choose to earn a living “on their backs” and should “know the consequences” of their profession. When presented with evidence of force, victim-blaming still occurs: “They were stupid if they couldn’t see it;” “Why didn’t they just runaway or call police?” These judgments do not address the criminals who force and/or kidnap their way into exploiting human bodies. Finally, notice the eerie silence about slavery in these arguments. There is no acknowledgment that slavery still exists, and it resolves the cognitive dissonance felt when one realizes the benefits they unwittingly receive via trafficking. 

 

  

 

 

Obviously, a single blog post cannot provide the space for nuance on such a large, complex topic. Our purpose is to bring awareness and empower you to take action. Below are suggested readings for those interested in a deeper understanding of modern labor trafficking in the United States.

 

• Life Interrupted: Trafficking into Forced Labor in the United States (2014). See on Amazon.

 

• Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy (2008) See on Amazon.

 

• The Slave Next Door: Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today (2010). See on Amazon.

 

• The Coercion of Trafficked Workers (2011). See Online.

What Is Human Trafficking

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Broken

Life After Abuse
(part of Lost Childhood series)



We all carry around parts of our past that no matter how hard we try to hide them they always find a way of coming to the surface. These scars are part of us. They don't go away just because we push the pain deep down inside. For some these emotional scars find ways of physically manifesting as over time we try to deny them any other outlet. And in the end we end up suffering from a cycle of torment we never wanted in the first place.

This is not the story of the abuse we suffered. It is not just accounts of what happened or why we think it happened to us. This is the story of what it is like living after the abuse itself has ended. These are our scars.

In reading this we ask that you, if you don't have the same scars, try only to understand why this subject is covered here at Alder's Ledge.

Misfits

For nearly a decade now the team at Alder's Ledge has worked with team members that have come from every walk of life imaginable. We have had every profession we could think of represented on our staff at one point in time or another. Most of us aren't of the same religious or cultural background. And most of us wouldn't have ever really become friends if it wasn't for one thing we all tend to have in common...

Scars. 

The team members that have stayed with the team the longest are often the biggest misfits amongst us, myself included. We all come from backgrounds that often make our passion for this work rather strong and fiery. Between our scars and our passions, we really aren't fit for other lines of work anyhow. Yet for all we have in common there are these scars that often makes it difficult at times for us to get along. And at other times it's those same scars that bind us together.

Over the past month this part of our mismatched team has brought every still bleeding wound right back to the surface. Things outside our control ripped open the scabs we so viciously protect and left us once again vulnerable and exposed. And for the first time, for most of us, this was a chance to see what we all try to hide... the shame, the pain, the nightmares, the fear, this sense of being broken. 

Abandonment

When I first saw my beloved sister's eyes open for the first time since the attack I saw the same look I had in mine all those years when I was little. A look of pleading for someone to help. A look of pleading for someone to just be there. A look of fear that nobody would stay beside her as she fought for every last breath. It didn't matter that I was halfway around the world or that she wasn't my actual flesh and blood. I knew then that every waking moment would be spent making sure that look in her eyes, that fear, would fade away.

Over the years we had shared so much of our scars that I knew in that moment what was going through her mind. I knew that she had woken up far too many times with that look masking her beautiful eyes. I knew that in that mind were memories of years spent locked in a room after being beat nearly to death. I knew that those sights, those smells, that pain... all of those were flooding her mind as she gasped for air.

Every time I had woke up I knew felt it. I felt that rush of relief that at very least I was still alive. And yet with each breath there was a sense of fear that it wasn't over. A sense of fear that I was still fighting for life and no one could help me.

Offering words, since I could not physically touch her, I looked into the screen and fought back every tear. All I wanted was to take away that fear of being abandoned. All I wanted was to say that everything was going to be okay. But if you have been in that place before then you know that words don't dull the fear. The only thing that fades it to at very least a tolerable level is the fact that somebody is there. So all I could do was be there. There wasn't any fixing this. There wasn't any way of stopping the memories. There wasn't anyway to heal the wounds that time itself couldn't even keep from reopening.

No matter how long it has been since the abuse ended there will always be these lingering senses of fear. For some it is that of being abandoned. That was our shared fear. We had been left alone to lick our own wounds for years. And though we often felt like we had grown strong enough to do just that, we had this fear constantly.

Abandonment breeds in the mind more fears as time goes on. It brings to the surface ideas that we are somehow unlovable and unworthy of affection. It places in our minds this idea that we deserved the punishment of being abandoned by those who once claimed to love us. In time it makes us believe that we were the reason for our own abuse and neglect. Because in the time that it was first planted we weren't able to rationalize why it was happening. We weren't capable of understanding why we were being treated as though we were worthless or undesirable.

For me the sense of being abandoned bred a sense of worthlessness. For my sister it bred more so a sense of being unlovable. For both of us it created a barrier from behind which we hid from everyone else. Like the lepers of the Bible, we used it to tell the world that we were unclean in one way or another... that we couldn't be loved and there was no reason for anyone to try.

It is a scar that opens and closes without warning. When someone who has this wound lets another person come close to them they are risking having that scar ripped back open. This risk is never far from the mind of us who have it. Letting people close means living with this fear every moment that we are with that person. The fear that they will discover just how unworthy of their affection we truly are is always in the backs of our mind. And time doesn't heal this scar, it only magnifies it.

To live with it, both her and I alike, have had to accept that we are worthy of love. Though that fear will always linger, we had to accept that it wasn't rational. We had to finally understand that we didn't deserve what had happened to us in the past. That at some point those sins committed against us were not our fault. And that the people who hurt us may not deserve our forgiveness but they needed it so that their memory couldn't continue to kill us.

Guilt 

Once the reality of what had happened began to set in it was inevitable that she began to place the blame for her own attack not on her assailants but on herself. My sister had been viciously assaulted to the point of barely surviving it. Yet the scars that were left from a lifetime of abuse didn't register the events the same way the rest of the world would had. Instead of seeing the attack as unprovoked barbarism, her past assigned blame the same way she had been trained to through years of abuse. This was the scar that guilt leaves behind upon the victim.

There is no rational reason for why we do this. We find in the end that we need to blame someone for what has happened. And when there isn't a real reason for it, we find the first person we can to blame... ourselves. 

Just as with the fear of abandonment, this sense of guilt comes from believing that somehow we deserved what happened. For me it was an easy conclusion to come to since the abuse I suffered was often given the prefix of punishment. I could easily assume that I had done something to provoke such a violent response. Yet for my sister the abuse she had suffered was inflicted by men who had purchased the "right" to inflict these scars. And yet she had come to the same conclusion that somehow, in some way, she was responsible for the abuse she was made to suffer. 

Living with guilt is impossible over time. Once the abuse ends the guilt still remains. It is a corrosive emotion that slowly etches away every relationship we develop along the way. The only way to end it's destructive nature in our lives is to deal with the events that had led to the inflicting of this scar in the first place. 

For me this was something I had long felt was impossible. Instead of dealing with those memories I had pushed them down till they finally exploded. And when they came to the surface they came back with a vengeance. Memories that could be fought back while I was awake manifested into nightmares. And nightmares became the embodiment of that room where I had felt like a caged animal. Trapped inside my head, I had to face those memories over and over again. 

For my sister those memories came rushing back when anyone would dare to touch her in anyway that resembled intimacy. Every touch was like playing a game of dice between the responses of fight, flight, or freeze. Memories of what had happened to her replaced the responses of love or compassion that would had fit those moments. The reaction of fear, fear of being hurt again, pushed back against even the most sincere of gestures. It was a fear that isolated her over the years and left her trapped in much the same way she had been during the abuse itself. 

It was through talking to each other over the years that we both realized that we had to face what was done to us. We had to turn and fight our own past. All this running was only making us relive the abuse as we pushed away those who cared about us. And though we still are battling our own demons, in facing those memories we have at the very least learned from each other what trust feels like again. 

Yet the only way we have gotten to the point where we can even start to deal with these scars was with the admission that none of this was our fault. Guilt was like a chain that kept us bound to these memories. And it created even more scars the longer we lived with it.

Shame And Silence

Tears don't wash away the shame you feel when you bare these scars. The more you cry the more it feels like these scars grow deeper. This only continues till you reach a point where there aren't any more tears to shed and there isn't a cry left to be heard. Silence becomes your only friend as you try to hide your scars from everyone around you. 

Isolation becomes normal as guilt leaves you afraid that others will see what happened to you. Your mind warps that guilt into a state where you honestly start to believe that everyone else will blame you too. So the only real option you see at that point is to either withdraw and hide or become so outgoing that the obnoxiousness of it all drives others away. There really isn't much of a middle ground here.

When we did finally start talking, after so many years of isolating that part of our lives from others, the first question people ask is damning to us. 

"Why didn't you say something..."

It doesn't matter what the intentions behind that question really are... if there is actual concern or not doesn't make it past our defenses. That question makes every bit of shame we have felt for all that time come rushing over us like a tidal wave. The spirit that we have been working at mending, repairing, and holding together is broken with just one question. The strength it took to speak up is suddenly drained. It won't matter what follows next. That one question knocks the breath right out of us. 

Shame has a way of creating a defense that words can't penetrate. As long as we have not dealt with the guilt we have felt, we inevitably end up building those defenses. And once those go up; the longer they stay up, the harder it is to take them down.

I've never met anyone who suffered abuse that felt truly comfortable talking about it. Even those who suffered the same way I did don't always feel they can relate to my story. And I honestly don't always feel I can relate to theirs. Over the years I have come to the conclusion that much of this comes from the damage we suffered when it comes to trust. Even if the other person's story matches our own, we still feel that they will judge us. This is where guilt was left to turn to a lingering sense of shame. 

This scar is also why our stories in their entirety will not be shared. Speaking about these things takes time and trust for those who suffered abuse. For those who love and care about them there isn't much you can do to get those details out of them. If you truly care for them then all you can do is wait and offer them every reassurance that you won't judge them. But most importantly, you must always remember that just because they are holding back doesn't mean that they don't trust you.... it means those scars go deeper than you ever will really understand. 

Silence in the end can be far more dangerous to those of you have suffered any form of abuse. The longer you have to deal with those emotions, those memories, that indescribable pain... the longer you remain isolated then the longer you run the risk of depression and all that goes with it. We as a species aren't solitary animals. We need to speak, we need to share, with others that which is hurting us. We need the comfort of others. And even when the pain has taught us to withdraw... that is when we need it most. 

A Broken Spirit 

& 

Putting It Back Together

It would be nice if I could give a list of things to do to heal those scars and take away this broken feeling we try to hide. It would be nice to say that there was a quick way to end the pain that didn't only cause you more problems. But the fact is that there isn't anyway you can just bottle up those emotions and walk away from the feelings that will forever linger in the back of your mind. However, there are ways to live with them. There are ways to deal with this brokenness so that you can feel whole again. 

For my sister and I it began with talking to those who love us. We started with each other and those closest to us. Through the tears, the fear, and the reliving of those parts of our lives we found our way forward. The feeling that part of our soul was still broken didn't go away. There is always a part of us that doesn't feel normal... doesn't feel like we are all better and everything is sunshine and rainbows. But we started to heal the scars and put back what was taken from us. 

My sister's sense of insecurity was restored through our little family here at Alder's Ledge. Relationships that will last longer than this blog will helped her feel that there was at least someone that could love her for who she was... that could love her no matter what she had been through. The vulnerability that came with this wasn't easy to adjust to. Those scars had provided her with a sense of false security and now the healing of them left her exposed. It was only through out persistent reassurances that she felt like this healing process was worth the pain that came with it. 

As for me... my healing came through faith, family, and therapy. As much as I have always said that I would never turn to that last one, I did. The pain of what I had been through, the pain I was living with, was driving me crazy whether I wanted to admit it or not. Thoughts of life beyond that pain were terrifying because for so much of my life it was what I knew. Yet those first two led me to the later choice. I couldn't live with the torment that was hidden in my soul... my broken spirit was bleeding me out. 

We can't tell anyone that there is a set path forward. We have watched over this past year as a close friend lost his battle with the scars he had lived with. As a group we buried a friend who fell to the same fight we all have struggled with. We knew that day that we all might be fighting different battles but the scars are the same. And the result of surrender in this fight could just as easily be the same if we didn't call out for help. 

Life after abuse isn't easy. Some people will and can bare the pain till the day they die. And it might very well be a "natural death", but the soul was broken long ago. As long as the pain isn't dealt with you will always feel that pain creeping around in the back of your mind and lingering in your heart. 

The only thing we can say to finish this post is that if you are struggling with issues related to abuse you have suffered... please seek out help. 

Counseling and therapy may be the first step. Perhaps a religious organization would work for you better than a therapist. But whatever the case, please talk to someone. Those thoughts and feelings that come with the scars that abuse leaves behind don't heal themselves. They fester deep inside till something triggers them and brings them back to the surface. And when they do there is often the immediate response of fight, flight, or freeze... none of which will be pleasant. 

Don't wait. 

Don't bury those scars.

If you have suffered abuse.... 

Scream.

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.

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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

Hungry And Desperate

Refugees Face Death While Seeking Freedom
(Footsteps In The Dark series)

(North Korea denies "death camps" yet satellite images show the camps clearly.)

Defection from North Korea is simply defined as crossing the border without expressed permission by the state. Those who are treated as second class citizens in the system are not allowed to ever leave the country. The fear that they might not return isn't really exaggerated in a country where mass starvation is a persistent threat to the underclass. Given the chance these abuses peasants would rush the borders in a heart beat. Yet the North Koreans making it out aren't from the lowest cast of North Korea's communists system. Instead the defectors are coming from the youth of all classes (with the exception of the elites). 

Young Koreans in the North have some idea of what awaits just beyond the fortified borders. The lies they have been fed all their lives cause reasonable doubts. Yet these young North Koreans compose the bulk of refugees attempting to illegally flee the country. And given the challenges that face them on the other side they are either just naive to believe freedom is possible or desperate enough to die for it. 

Regardless of what brings them out of the country that has kept them as slaves from birth, the first steps these young Korean defectors face are terrifying. In just moments they go from being disenchanted North Koreans to being stateless. The country they find themselves in, China, is hostile toward them. The people they are suddenly surrounded by can't really be trusted. And the bribes, the lies, the danger that got them out of North Korea are all just the beginning of what they now face. 

On the other side they are met by a country of wolves. Citizens of China have been bribed with rewards for spotting and turning in Korean refugees. The police in China are ruthless in their attempts to root out any North Koreans attempting to make their way to safety. This all further complicated by the presence of North Korean agents sent over into China to spot and capture North Koreans on the run.

Hiding, Starving, And Desperate.

“If these refugees are found in China, the Chinese government sends them back to North Korea, where they will face imprisonment or death,” ~ Yoon Sun Na

The only thing refugees from North Korea have is their ability to go unnoticed. Anything, any little minor detail, can out them as a defector from the dreaded North. A loose word, a misspoken statement, can raise the suspicions of an eavesdropper. Anyone and everyone they come across is therefore met with suspicion. Every smile is a mask and every handshake a possible handcuff.

When North Koreans flee they are often in search of food. Hunger is a major motivator for those who dare to cross the border into China. They take to desperate measures to find anything that they can use as food. For the nine recently returned youth who were captured in Laos this had meant digging through discarded food. They were reported to have mixed fish bones and rice into porridge just to have something to eat. Then they would consume toothpaste in an effort to help digest what food they had managed to scavenge.

These stories seem hard to believe in a world where we have a McDonalds on every block and a Starbucks in every spare corner. Food surrounds those of us in the West. And for the developing economy in China this is starting to become more normal. The constant presence food becomes a luxury for us as we take every spare moment to indulge in some form of it. So much so that we don't often pay attention to the food itself.

For the North Koreans, especially those outside Pyongyang, life is rarely defined by food in the aspect of what they recently ate. Rather food becomes a milestone that they struggle to reach as the days pass without it. Children who have been abandoned or made orphans are even worse off as they take to eating whatever they can find. Grass, tree bark, and at times clay become sources of material with which to fill their stomachs. This is in spite of the fact that North Korea claims to be prospering.

Once outside North Korea these young refugees use their life long experience with hunger to keep themselves moving. They know that the food they find is not free. There is always a price for scavenging whether it is social or physical punishment. Then there is the reality that being seen scavenging can be a red flag for the ever-prying eyes of a hostile world.

For 70-80% of the North Korean girls and women that flee the threat of hunger and forced repatriation is further complicated by human trafficking. When these desperate girls are over the border they become targets for traffickers that are more than willing to exploit the victims illegal status in China. These numbers are also added to by traffickers that lure North Korean women over the border in the first place; promising freedom, safety, food, and shelter all as ploys to enslave the would be refugee.

For those who manage to evade forced repatriation to the North, trafficking by criminals, and starvation as they run... the journey has only begun.

There is no safe harbor in China for North Koreans on the run. Once over the border these refugees must continue moving toward Mongolia, Laos, Thailand, Russia, or find ways over the border elsewhere. The path they choose is often decided shortly after fleeing North Korea or is determined by what networks they can find after arrival. This short window of deciding whether to hide where they are at or run further is the most dangerous time these refugees face. It is in this window that they risk all the dangers of being exposed, captured, or trafficked.

The Railroad System

Over the years of isolation North Koreans have endured there has been progress made in alleviating there suffering. Networks across the border have been forged as countless organizations strive to establish routes upon which to smuggle refugees out of China. These organizations play constant games of cat and mouse with authorities who remain determined to stem the flow of Korean refugees. Every move they make not only risk the safety of the refugees but also the security of the network they have forged. 

The most notable case as of recently where the system has failed was in Laos where the Laotian government agreed to forcibly repatriate 9 young Korean refugees. This illustrated to the world that China's long held agreement with the North goes well beyond it's borders. When refugees begin to feel safe they are often still well within reach of the red states' grasp. Meaning for most that they must either reach South Korea or get as far away from China as possible. 

For organizations that can manage to cart refugees out of China's reach this is an expensive endeavor. For the organization Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) this can cost 2,500 dollars to get a refugee to safety. That is a price that is almost comparable to the average cost a trafficked person is sold for in Cambodia or Thailand. And yet in this case it is the cost of freedom for these North Korean individuals.

With the help of donations and private funding LiNK is able to do amazing things for refugees that have faced a living nightmare while escaping what some call "hell on earth".

A simple donation of 100 dollars can provide shelter for refugees and refugee rescue teams along the journey to safety. 

A donation of 250 dollars can provide the basic necessities to refugees needed by North Korean refugees; including food, water, clothing, and medical attention. 

A larger donation of 500 dollars can give refugees safe transportation to countries where they can be safe from forced repatriation (including cars and buses). 

And for those who are able, a donation of 2,500 can provide all the funds needed to bring a refugee to safety and liberty. 

This is just one of the organizations helping North Koreans reach a better life and escape from a regime that has denied them so much. Through there work they contribute to an extensive underground railroad system that is bringing desperate refugees to safety. And you can help...

By visiting, promoting, and donating to LiNK you can help scream on behalf of the North Korean people. Using your voice you can help to fight the dehumanization that North Koreans have had to live with in their homeland and the prejudices they face outside it. You can echo their voices to a world that knows so very little about their struggle. And you can put your money and time to use by helping to give hope where it is most needed. 

Please visit LiNK today and watch how you can support the #BridgeToNorthKorea.

This is the second article on this subject. We will continue to highlight the struggle of North Koreans and what you can do to help them in future articles. If you would like to learn more please read our source documents, contacts us on Twitter (@alders_ledge), or follow us on Facebook (key words: Alder's Ledge). And most of all, to learn more about the organization highlighted above, visit: http://libertyinnorthkorea.org/bridge/

Source Documents

*Note: not all sources listed.

Washington Times

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/1/9-north-korean-defectors-may-have-been-executed-up/

National Post
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/09/27/we-were-slave-owners-ex-prison-guard-taught-to-view-north-korean-inmates-as-sub-human-enemies/

Pipe Dream
http://www.bupipedream.com/news/22956/n-korean-refugee-recounts-escape-seo-recalls-starvation-journey-to-america/

Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2440178/Did-North-Korea-execute-children-defecting.html

Telegraph UK
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/10349298/Fears-over-fate-of-young-defectors-sent-back-to-North-Korea.html

Liberty in North Korea
http://libertyinnorthkorea.org/bridge/