Dear Colleagues,
Greetings! Trafficking Monitor is breaking for the Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year/Vietnamese Tet and will resume posting the week of February 5, 2012.
Gong See Fatt Chai!
SockFoon
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| Image via Wikipedia |
Monday, January 16, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
US envoy: Myanmar weak against human trafficking - Boston.com
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2012/01/11/us_envoy_myanmar_weak_against_human_trafficking/
BostonGlobe.com
January 11, 2012
Forced labor, by local governments or unscrupulous employers, child labor and sex trafficking were also cited by CdeBaca as problems Myanmar needed to tackle better.
CdeBaca said those topics were discussed frankly and openly in his talks this week with Myanmar Home Minister Lt. Gen. Ko Ko and Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin.
"Challenges, of course, remain, given the unfortunate record on these issues, but we saw these initial discussions a recognition of a problem and an openess to act," he said.
An annual U.S. report on trafficking grouped Myanmar in the third, or worst, tier of countries last year for failure to comply with the minimum standards or make serious efforts to curb human trafficking. Others among the two dozen worst were North Korea, Venezuela and Iran.
CdeBaca, who arrived Monday along with U.S. special envoy and policy coordinator for Myanmar Derek Mitchell, acknowledged the country's efforts to combat human trafficking and welcomed its recent decision to stop detaining female trafficking victims involuntarily in a shelter.
Washington long shunned Myanmar under its repressive military government, but the Obama administration reversed policy to try to engage the Southeast Asian country's rulers.
The military-backed but elected government in office since March has made some mild reforms and promised more, and the pace of U.S. engagement has quickened, highlighted by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's visit in December. Several influential members of Congress are slated to visit in the next few weeks.
Myanmar seeks better relations so the United States and other nations ease economic and political sanctions holding back its development.
"We hope there will be more reforms that would be able to be taken into account as we look at the ranking in the coming year. We still have three months left. There is plenty of time for the government to continue to do positive steps towards compliance with these minimum standards," CdeBaca said.
Related articles
BostonGlobe.com
January 11, 2012
YANGON, Myanmar—Myanmar's archaic laws that allow conscription of workers for public projects are the biggest obstacle impeding its fight against human trafficking, a top U.S. diplomat said Wednesday.
"As long as it is still legal for the governments to use forced labor, it will be very hard for there to be improvement" on meeting international standards, visiting U.S. ambassador for human trafficking Luis CdeBaca told reporters.
Forced labor, by local governments or unscrupulous employers, child labor and sex trafficking were also cited by CdeBaca as problems Myanmar needed to tackle better.
CdeBaca said those topics were discussed frankly and openly in his talks this week with Myanmar Home Minister Lt. Gen. Ko Ko and Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin.
"Challenges, of course, remain, given the unfortunate record on these issues, but we saw these initial discussions a recognition of a problem and an openess to act," he said.
An annual U.S. report on trafficking grouped Myanmar in the third, or worst, tier of countries last year for failure to comply with the minimum standards or make serious efforts to curb human trafficking. Others among the two dozen worst were North Korea, Venezuela and Iran.
CdeBaca, who arrived Monday along with U.S. special envoy and policy coordinator for Myanmar Derek Mitchell, acknowledged the country's efforts to combat human trafficking and welcomed its recent decision to stop detaining female trafficking victims involuntarily in a shelter.
Washington long shunned Myanmar under its repressive military government, but the Obama administration reversed policy to try to engage the Southeast Asian country's rulers.
The military-backed but elected government in office since March has made some mild reforms and promised more, and the pace of U.S. engagement has quickened, highlighted by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's visit in December. Several influential members of Congress are slated to visit in the next few weeks.
Myanmar seeks better relations so the United States and other nations ease economic and political sanctions holding back its development.
"We hope there will be more reforms that would be able to be taken into account as we look at the ranking in the coming year. We still have three months left. There is plenty of time for the government to continue to do positive steps towards compliance with these minimum standards," CdeBaca said.
Related articles
Can a Coin Help Stop Human Trafficking? | Coin Update
http://news.coinupdate.com/can-a-coin-help-stop-human-trafficking-1156/
January 10, 2012 By 1 Comment
The statistics of human trafficking are staggering, it affects the smallest village, town, and big city, and no continent is exempt. The figures are growing in terms of the number of women and men becoming victims of this horrific practice. But what can one person or group do to help combat this intolerable situation which still exists in the 21st century?
In the world of numismatics, an unusual and innovative approach is being launched by the United Future World Currency (UFWC) the global currency initiative which came to the forefront of international media attention during the G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy in 2009. Wanting to do their part to help combat human trafficking and modern day slavery, the UFWC have produced a prototype coin that carries the message of ending human trafficking prominently depicted on the obverse. The contemporary design carries the message “BREAK THE CHAINS OF BONDAGE” a direct reference to the intolerable circumstances.
Inspired by the Freedom Project, a year-long campaign launched by CNN international in 2011, the UFWC have developed this eye-opening campaign to be part of their world-wide initiative. Their prototype coin, the first of its kind to include this socially responsible message will be launched at the World Money Fair, Europe’s largest coin exhibition on the 3rd February in Berlin, Germany. As part of their unique approach to spreading this message, a challenge or invitation during the coin’s launch will be extended to attending world Mints at the WMF, inviting them to issue a legal tender circulating/collector coin with the message of ending human trafficking & modern-day slavery.
The coin is being struck at the world renowned Royal Mint UK in eco-silver, (a product developed by Cookson Precious Metals UK) a responsibly sourced product from a dedicated line of recycled silver, thus eliminating the need for further mining activities which are harmful to the environment. The specially commissioned design includes the silhouette images of a man and woman back to back with a broken chain of five links below them and the UFWC’s insignia above them both.
The idea behind the concept of the coin is to additionally focus attention on the monetary link & ill-gotten gain to the scourge of human trafficking and to prompt world Mints & Central Banks to carry the message on a legal tender coin. It is hoped that this project will result in an international campaign which will carry into 2013 and beyond, conveying this vital message in the most direct manner, far and wide to all members of the public and compelling everyone to take a stand! Ultimately, we hope the coin will speak for those who can’t.
For more information on this innovative project, for images of the prototype coin or to speak to the organizers of the UFWC about this initiative, please contact Firsthand PR at firsthand.pr@gmail.com or at: +44 90) 791 352 2565
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Combat Human Trafficking with the Comic Creators for Freedom - Comic Book Resources
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=36049
Comic Creators for Freedom has raised over $15,000 to end human trafficking.
This year's "Snowball Fight" themed jam piece will be given as a desktop wallpaper to those who donate.
Thu, December 22nd, 2011 at 10:58am PST
Lora Innes, creator of the Harvey-nominated IDW series "The Dreamer" sends out the call to comic creators this holiday season in a special guest editorial on Comic Creators for Freedom, an organization dedicated to stopping human trafficking in the United States.
Comic Creators for Freedom has raised over $15,000 to end human trafficking.
I remember my amazement the day I noticed that "Girls with Slingshots" creator Danielle Corsetto has twice as many Twitter followers as Adam Hughes. Having been a webcomic creator since 2007, I’ve seen the power of the medium. Unlike a book that you probably read once, webcomics are a part of a reader’s everyday life.
Five mornings a week Danielle Corsetto makes me laugh. And then all day long as I follow her on Twitter. I’d neverwish travel complications on her, but they sure do make for funny status updates. And when she’s sick in bed with her cats, I know about it and might even get an Instagram.
This is a powerful and instant connection that creators have with their audiences. When our computers break, our fans pay for a new one. When we want to attend a new convention, our fans donate the money for a plane ticket. And when we recommend a book or a service or a product, our fans go check it out.
In 2009, I had the idea to use this influence for something more important than a Kickstarter Campaign.
At the time I was mentoring a young girl through a program at Columbus City Public Schools. One morning near the end of the school year she was nearly abducted on her walk to the bus stop. Men threatened her at gunpoint and told her to get in the backseat of a car where several other teenagers were trapped, duct tape over their mouths. She decided to run instead and when a neighbor came out scaring the gunman away, that split second decision saved her life.
This happened less than five miles from my house. I’d heard enough about human trafficking to know that Toledo, Ohio, a few hours away, is one of the major hubs. But when it happens to someone you know, in a place you could walk to, it all becomes very real.
Human trafficking is a sanitized way of saying "slavery" and there are more people enslaved today then there ever were during the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Most of it is secret, hidden out of site. 1.2 million children every year are sold into slavery, most of it is forced prostitution. The US Department of Justice estimates 16,000 victims of human trafficking are brought into the United States every year.
The girl I knew got away. How many more don’t?
I didn’t know what I could do, but I did know that I had a special relationship with my readers. I planned to create an exclusive wallpaper featuring the girls in my webcomic and use it as a reward for a little fundraising drive on my website. I’d give all the money to Gracehaven, an organization in Ohio that was making renovations to a house in order to turn it into a rehabilitation center for survivors.
But how much could I really raise? Five hundred dollars? A thousand? It was better than nothing.
This year's "Snowball Fight" themed jam piece will be given as a desktop wallpaper to those who donate.
Then I thought about asking my friend Scott Sava ("Dreamland Chronicles") to participate. I bet Scott would help out. Or what about Sarah Ellerton ("Phoenix Requiem")? She has a huge readership and a big heart. In fact all of my colleagues had as much clout with their readerships as I did. So why not ask them all?
Comic Creators for Freedom was born.
The idea is simple: every participating creator donates a single drawing of a creator-owned female character and all of the drawings are assembled onto one wallpaper image. Participation is low-commitment: a drawing you can do on your lunch break, and the humble request that you mention the drive on your blog and other social media outlets.
We pull together the circles of influence we’ve established in our own corners of the internet and combined, the impact is far-reaching.
This is the third year for the CCF. We’ve had over 100 creators participate every year. Together we’ve raised $15,000 to fight Human Trafficking. 100% of the money is split between Gracehaven House and Love146, an organization that does work both domestically and abroad. And with a world-wide group of creators (and a world wide problem) that is important.
This year’s wallpaper theme is Snowball Fight. Imagine 100 comic book women in the most epic winter battle the world has ever seen. There’s still time to join. Final art is due December 31st, and the donations drive goes live Monday January 9th - 20th, for National Human Trafficking Awareness Day.
One person alone won’t accomplish much, but together, we will make a difference.
Full details on how to participate can be found on the project tab of our website.
(And those creators I mentioned? Danielle Corsetto is a veteran and returning member of the CCF, and Adam Hughes was a 2010 participant.)
So let’s see what we can do in 2012!
Lora Innes is the writer/creator of the Harvey Award Nominated "The Dreamer," from IDW and founder of Comic Creators for Freedom.
Malibu Times: Working to change human trafficking
http://www.malibutimes.com/articles/2012/01/04/malibu_life/art2.txt
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| Malibu filmmaker Chelo Alvarez-Stehle is producing a transmedia project that combines a documentary film and a computer game to educate young people about the dangers of human trafficking. Photo by Mette Lampcov. |
Malibu filmmaker launches entertainment-based campaign to stop 21st-century slavery
By Bibi Jordan / Special to The Malibu Times
Malibu filmmaker Chelo Alvarez-Stehle is bringing focus to a delicate, but all-too real problem that most Americans assume no longer exists: slavery. She is one of a group of Malibu activists determined to educate teens about human trafficking, the most pervasive modern form of slavery.
To this end, she is currently producing a transmedia project that combines a documentary film, “SANDS OF SILENCE: A Personal Journey Into the Trafficking of Women,” and a social impact, web-based game, “SOS_SLAVES: Changing the Trafficking Game.”
This is a timely campaign given that January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Evidence of this global problem can even be seen on the local level. The Los Angeles Times ran an article in December about the naturalization of a 22-year-old girl from Egypt who had been smuggled into the United States and enslaved in domestic servitude for ten years by a wealthy couple living in Irvine. In 2010, a Beverly Hills recruitment agency was indicted in the largest human trafficking case in U.S. history.
“My first encounter with sex trafficking took place fourteen years ago in the Himalayas,” Alvarez-Stehle said. There she met a young girl named Anu Chari Maya Tamang who, as a teenager, had been trafficked by fellow villagers to India. Dumped in a brothel and forced to work as a prostitute, she attempted to end her own life. Thankfully, she survived the suicide attempt and 22 tortuous months as a sex slave.
“Two weeks ago, I had the chance to visit Anu Chari Maya Tamang again in Kathmandu,” Alvarez-Stehle said. “She is no longer the shy girl that I interviewed in 1997, but a fearless woman.”
In June, Tamang received the 2011 Hero to End Modern-Day Slavery award from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Tamang was chosen from among thousands of other survivors because she became, in 1996, the first victim to personally file a police report against her traffickers.
Alvarez-Stehle's current project, “SANDS OF SILENCE,” is a film inspired by the filmmaker's own experiences and those of the many other women like Anu. One of only five documentaries chosen from hundreds of submissions in a competition by the PBS/CPB Producers Workshop, “SANDS OF SILENCE” is currently in post-production.
Alvarez-Stehle's documentaries concentrate on human slavery cases abroad, but this is also a national problem. The United States Department of Justice estimates that more than 300,000 American children are at risk of being recruited into the sex slavery trade.
“The Internet has changed the way we live, mostly for the better, but it has given criminals new means to prey on their victims,” said Chris Kelly, the Silicon Valley attorney who was previously Chief Privacy Officer of Facebook, in November. Kelly was one of the founding members of the 2012 ballot initiative Californians Against Sexual Exploitation Act (CASE). The initiative was launched in Malibu this past October at an event hosted by actress Stephanie Romanov-Wechsler and producer Nick Wechsler.
While CASE seeks to curtail predators' abuse of online sites, Alvarez-Stehle is capitalizing on the popularity of computer games to educate the youth on this sensitive issue. SOS_SLAVES is a role-playing computer game in which players find ways to help victims escape a slavery situation/scenario. In the process, players become aware how, as consumers, they may be unknowingly abetting child slavery by buying chocolate from West African cocoa farms or T-shirts from sweat-shops in the U.S.
Given the sensitive subject of the game, Alvarez-Stehle relied on grants to develop this computer game. Game developers Codewalla committed to produce a prototype on a pro bono basis. Alvarez-Stehle hopes to raise enough money to bring the prototype to life in time to showcase it at the upcoming festivals in New York and Delhi, India.
“The beauty of a trans-media [documentary and game] project is that we can get this critical message to the youth,” Alvarez-Stehle said. “Let's all join together to break the silence and change the game of human trafficking.”
For more information, go to http://www.indiegogo/sands-of-silence.
By Bibi Jordan / Special to The Malibu Times
Malibu filmmaker Chelo Alvarez-Stehle is bringing focus to a delicate, but all-too real problem that most Americans assume no longer exists: slavery. She is one of a group of Malibu activists determined to educate teens about human trafficking, the most pervasive modern form of slavery.
To this end, she is currently producing a transmedia project that combines a documentary film, “SANDS OF SILENCE: A Personal Journey Into the Trafficking of Women,” and a social impact, web-based game, “SOS_SLAVES: Changing the Trafficking Game.”
This is a timely campaign given that January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Evidence of this global problem can even be seen on the local level. The Los Angeles Times ran an article in December about the naturalization of a 22-year-old girl from Egypt who had been smuggled into the United States and enslaved in domestic servitude for ten years by a wealthy couple living in Irvine. In 2010, a Beverly Hills recruitment agency was indicted in the largest human trafficking case in U.S. history.
“My first encounter with sex trafficking took place fourteen years ago in the Himalayas,” Alvarez-Stehle said. There she met a young girl named Anu Chari Maya Tamang who, as a teenager, had been trafficked by fellow villagers to India. Dumped in a brothel and forced to work as a prostitute, she attempted to end her own life. Thankfully, she survived the suicide attempt and 22 tortuous months as a sex slave.
“Two weeks ago, I had the chance to visit Anu Chari Maya Tamang again in Kathmandu,” Alvarez-Stehle said. “She is no longer the shy girl that I interviewed in 1997, but a fearless woman.”
In June, Tamang received the 2011 Hero to End Modern-Day Slavery award from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Tamang was chosen from among thousands of other survivors because she became, in 1996, the first victim to personally file a police report against her traffickers.
Alvarez-Stehle's current project, “SANDS OF SILENCE,” is a film inspired by the filmmaker's own experiences and those of the many other women like Anu. One of only five documentaries chosen from hundreds of submissions in a competition by the PBS/CPB Producers Workshop, “SANDS OF SILENCE” is currently in post-production.
Alvarez-Stehle's documentaries concentrate on human slavery cases abroad, but this is also a national problem. The United States Department of Justice estimates that more than 300,000 American children are at risk of being recruited into the sex slavery trade.
“The Internet has changed the way we live, mostly for the better, but it has given criminals new means to prey on their victims,” said Chris Kelly, the Silicon Valley attorney who was previously Chief Privacy Officer of Facebook, in November. Kelly was one of the founding members of the 2012 ballot initiative Californians Against Sexual Exploitation Act (CASE). The initiative was launched in Malibu this past October at an event hosted by actress Stephanie Romanov-Wechsler and producer Nick Wechsler.
While CASE seeks to curtail predators' abuse of online sites, Alvarez-Stehle is capitalizing on the popularity of computer games to educate the youth on this sensitive issue. SOS_SLAVES is a role-playing computer game in which players find ways to help victims escape a slavery situation/scenario. In the process, players become aware how, as consumers, they may be unknowingly abetting child slavery by buying chocolate from West African cocoa farms or T-shirts from sweat-shops in the U.S.
Given the sensitive subject of the game, Alvarez-Stehle relied on grants to develop this computer game. Game developers Codewalla committed to produce a prototype on a pro bono basis. Alvarez-Stehle hopes to raise enough money to bring the prototype to life in time to showcase it at the upcoming festivals in New York and Delhi, India.
“The beauty of a trans-media [documentary and game] project is that we can get this critical message to the youth,” Alvarez-Stehle said. “Let's all join together to break the silence and change the game of human trafficking.”
For more information, go to http://www.indiegogo/sands-of-silence.
Monday, January 9, 2012
How to End Sex Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery - Forbes
Rahim Kanani, Contributor
Writer, Advocate, Strategist, & Entrepreneur for Global Social Change
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rahimkanani/2012/01/08/how-to-end-sex-trafficking-and-modern-day-slavery-with-siddharth-kara/
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In a recent interview with Siddharth Kara, fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and one of the world’s foremost experts on human trafficking and modern day slavery, we discussed the evolution of his effort, the current landscape of these issues, challenges and opportunities to making progress, and much more.
Kara is also the author of the award-winning book, “Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery,” the first of three books he is writing on the subjects of human trafficking and contemporary slavery. “Sex Trafficking” was named co-winner of the prestigious 2010 Frederick Douglass Award at Yale University for the best non-fiction book on slavery. The Award is generally regarded as the top prize in the field of slavery scholarship, and Kara’s is the first book on modern slavery to receive the award.
Kara currently advises the United Nations, the U.S. Government, and several other governments on antislavery research, policy and law. In addition to several nonprofit board positions, Kara serves on the committee founded by Kirk Douglas that is lobbying the US Congress to provide an official apology for pre-bellum slavery. In 2009, he was selected as a Fellow for the acclaimed TED India conference. Kara has also written an award winning feature film screenplay on human trafficking set for production in 2011. Kara’s ongoing research into slavery around the world has been covered regularly by CNN.
Rahim Kanani: How would you describe your first encounter with modern day slavery?
Siddharth Kara: I first came across child labourers and bonded labourers in various sectors, such as agriculture and brickmaking, when I was a child in India. These early encounters made an impression on me, but it was probably my encounters in a refugee camp in the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990’s that catalyzed my efforts in this area as an adult. As an undergraduate, I spent one summer volunteering in a Bosnian refugee camp near the Slovenian-Croatian border and heard numerous tales of genocide and sex trafficking. A few years later I decided I needed to understand how and why these crimes were occurring, so I set aside my corporate career and commenced what has now become more than eleven years of almost entirely self-funded research into all forms of contemporary servitude around the world.
Rahim Kanani: As you survey the landscape of these issues, what does slavery and human trafficking look like today?
Siddharth Kara: Slavery today functions for the same purpose it has throughout history: to maximize profit my minimizing or eliminating the cost of labor. Having said this, there are several key differences with modern slavery that make it in many ways more expansive and pernicious than ever before. First, slaves today can be exploited in dozens of industries that are intricately woven into the global economy, as opposed to just agriculture and domestic servitude as centuries ago. The costs of acquiring a slave and/or the time of transporting him or her from the point of acquisition to the point of exploitation are miniscule today as compared to Old World slavery. These and other dynamics make slaves more accessible, expendable, exploitable and profitable than every before. Whereas the average slave two centuries ago could generate a 15% to 20% annual return on investment for his or her exploiters, that same “ROI” today is several hundred percent per year (over 900% per year for sex trafficking). This is perhaps the primary reason why there is such demand among exploiters today to acquire more slaves through the practice of human trafficking, or what we used to call “slave trading.”
Rahim Kanani: What are some of the biggest challenges to ending trafficking and other forms of contemporary slavery?
Siddharth Kara: A lack of detailed understanding of how and why slave-like exploitation functions in various sectors of the global economy is a primary barrier to a more effective response. Much effort in the field of combating modern slavery has focused more on anecdote and sensationalism than on actual analysis of the problem. A paucity of resources deployed to understanding and combating slavery is another primary barrier. The US government spends 350 times more money each year to combat drug trafficking than slavery. This does not mean that we will end slavery by simply throwing money at the problem, but it gives a sense of the anemic level of resources that have been allocated towards this issue. And by the way, the US government spends more money to combat slavery than most any other government in the world, so that gives you a real sense of how big the gap is globally. Another primary challenge has to do with the inability of activists in the field to catalyze a more unified grassroots movement to combat the issue. The antislavery movement remains highly fragmented, and as a result, its ability to mobilize social opinion and lawmakers on the issue has been hampered.
Rahim Kanani: Have we made any progress in the last decade and if so, what’s changed?
Siddharth Kara: Without question we have made progress. The primary area of progress relates to a massive increase in awareness of the issue. When I started my research in 2000, very few people knew about human trafficking and contemporary slavery. Since that time, there have been many films and TV shows about the issue, many new organizations created to combat slavery, many new laws passed around the world to do the same, and an overall increase in general knowledge of the issue. However, not all awareness is good awareness, and at times the awareness raised has been sensational, inaccurate, and more focused on personal or organizational gain. Another area of improvement has to do with the engagement of the commercial sector on the issue. More and more companies in several industries have become aware of human trafficking and have taken modest steps to understand and combat the issue. This is a good sign that, if continued, promises to be very beneficial to the field. Finally, charitable foundations and governments have been providing more funding to research and combat human trafficking, and while the gap between supply and demand of resources remains very wide, at least it has closed somewhat in the last decade.
Rahim Kanani: As one of the world’s foremost experts on modern day slavery and human trafficking, what are some of the leadership lessons you have learned over the years?
Siddharth Kara: The main task that I have taken upon myself has been to continue providing the best analysis I can of various aspects of contemporary human servitude. I believe that my work has helped shift the needle away from the anecdotal and towards the scholarly, which has been an important shift in the field as we try to move beyond general awareness and towards actual detailed analysis and understanding of how to combat these crimes more effectively. In particular, recognizing that sex trafficking is different from labor trafficking is different from debt bondage is different from organ trafficking, and analyzing how these sectors functions as businesses in the context of the global economy has provided interesting insights into the kinds of policies, laws, and tactics that can be more effective at combating each type of slave-like exploitation more effectively.
Rahim Kanani: With respect to influence and pressure, what have you learned about the world of advocacy?
Siddharth Kara: In a crowded global human rights agenda, the primary lesson for antislavery advocacy has been to base that advocacy on sound research and analysis. Anecdote is not sufficient to secure adequate resources and move high-level policy. Many governments that I have met with have expressed a keen interest to do more about the issue and have regretted that lack of reliable knowledge and analysis on which they can base persuasive arguments that certain laws needs to be passed or certain resources need to be allocated, especially during challenging economic times.
Rahim Kanani: If you could point to a few organizations that are truly making a difference and moving the needle on this issue, who would you point to as great case studies of impact?
Siddharth Kara: Some of the most exemplary organizations that operate with integrity and are making a genuine and unique impact on human trafficking and modern slavery include Apne Aap International (New Delhi), the American Himalayan Foundation, Humanity United, HopeNow International (Copenhagen), Maiti Nepal (Kathmandu), Bandhua Mukti Morcha (New Delhi), the New Life Center (Chiang Rai, Thailand), Nomi Network, the Frederick Douglass Family Foundation, La Strada, The Cuff Road Project (Singapore), Girls Power Initiative (Nigeria), and a handful of other local organizations in several countries from Mexico to Malaysia that are doing tremendous work.
Rahim Kanani: Lastly, and looking ahead, what is the way forward, and how can ordinary people contribute to this cause?
Siddharth Kara: The first thing ordinary people can do is to inform themselves of the issue by reading as many books that focus on some level of actual analysis as possible (admittedly, there are not many). it is also important for ordinary citizens to understand that many products they purchase everyday may be tainted by slavery or child labor somewhere in their supply chains on the far side of the world. These products could be frozen shrimp and fish, rice, tea, coffee, electronic devices, apparel, salt, matches, cigarettes, sporting goods, and numerous other products. Catalyzing a consumer awareness campaign around tainted goods and demanding that companies do more to certify that their supply chains are untainted by slave-like labor exploitation are important steps individuals can take today.
Rahim Kanani is a writer, interviewer, advocate, strategist and entrepreneur for global social change. His articles, opinions, and interviews with global leaders can be found at www.rahimkanani.com. In addition, you can follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
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