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Purchasing and consumption are political acts. Each time you spend money, you are supporting where it came from, the ethics or lack of ethics used in its manufacturing, and the environmental and human impact of the product produced, packaged, and sold.
Child slavery is a pervasive and too often ignored occurrence. Many third world countries where popular and mainstream items are produced, do not have any safeguards in place to protect child workers from abuse. This abuse is no different than the abuse non-child workers face. They include intimidation, neglect, unsanitary and unhealthy work conditions, long hours of work with no breaks, little to no access of food and safe drinking water.
Even products that are labelled "Fair Trade" may only mean that one of those conditions of abuse are not present. The point is, as a consumer, you are not passive. You are a proactive citizen that has the power and leverage to make these companies accountable and solvent.
The U.S. Labour Department has identified 122 goods from 58 countries it believes to be produced by forced labour, child labour or a combination of the two.
Children commonly work to produce products or crops such as:
- Cotton
- Sugar cane
- Tobacco
- Coffee
- Rice
- Cocoa
- Bricks
- Garments
- Carpets
- Footwear
- Gold
- Coal
Cocoa, cotton and rubber
"Three of the ones I would single out are cocoa, cotton and rubber," Tim Newman, the campaign director for the workers' advocacy group, the International Labour Rights Forum in Washington, D.C., told CBC Radio's As It Happens.
He said Cameroon, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Ghana were the worst offenders when it came to using children to produce cocoa, while 15 countries were listed as using child labour to pick and process cotton. Newman said Liberia was singled out for child labour abuses in the rubber industry.
Force for good
"It is my strong hope that consumers, firms, governments, labour unions and other stakeholders will use this information to translate their economic power into a force for good that ultimately will eliminate abusive child labour and forced labour," said U.S. Secretary of Labour Hilda Solis, in a release.
The aim of the research is to identify which countries are the biggest offenders, says Newman. "This list can help consumers to support products companies that use certification programs that have strong labour standards. But he admits "there are no real teeth behind this."
Products that use animal testing must also be avoided. Animals are a vulnerable group that cannot defend themselves. Companies that engage in animal testing subject these animals to cruel and unusual punishment.
For a list of companies that test on animals, please visit: http://search.caringconsumer.com/
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