Refusing Slavery Products, Eliminating Human Trafficking

Date: June 7, 2008 | By Mark P. Lagon Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State and Director of the U.S. Department of State's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons

This op-ed originally appeared in the June 7, 2008, Opinion Page (民意論壇) of United Daily News(聯合報)

In every country around the world, including the United States, there is evidence of trafficking in human beings. Men, women, and children are held in domestic servitude, exploited for commercial sex, forcibly recruited as child soldiers, or abused in factories and sweatshops. This year, America commemorates the bicentennial of the outlawing of the transatlantic slave trade. However, the same lie which underpinned the transatlantic slave trade of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, namely that some people are less than human, is the very lie that fuels human trafficking in the 21th century.

There are numerous examples of trafficking victims. Aye Aye Win is a perfect example. A young Burmese woman who dared to search for work beyond her own tortured country, together with some 800 Burmese migrants, many children, Aye Aye was "placed" in a shrimp farming and processing factory. But it wasn't a job. It was a prison camp for her.

When she was caught trying to escape, she was dragged back to the camp, refused food or water, had her head shaved, and was beaten. Beaten. Tortured. Starved. Humiliated. Is this not slavery?

Human trafficking is a crime that steals peoples' freedom and dignity. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice released the 2008 annual Trafficking in Persons Report to raise the level of awareness and to stimulate action to address this crime. It is an invaluable tool in drawing the world's attention to the existence of modern-day slavery. Millions more people are aware of human trafficking as a result of U.S. efforts to eliminate human trafficking and warn potential victims.

This year's Report highlights the issue of demand, and the role it plays in perpetuating the phenomenon of trafficking. With respect to labor trafficking, companies can play an important role in prevention by working to ensure that the products they provide for consumers are not derived from forced labor. Whether sugar cane produced with slave labor in Brazil, shrimp processed with the forced labor of Burmese migrants in Thailand, or apparel made in Jordan by migrant workers under debt bondage, consumers need to be aware of the tainting of production chains with this modern-day slavery.

The field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has expanded over the last several decades with over 3,000 corporations having signed the UN Global Compact committing themselves to its ten universal principles focused on human rights, labor, the environment, and anti-corruption.
Non-governmental organizations with a mission of promoting CSR have been created. College and universities have added courses on CSR, and some have even launched Centers for Corporate Citizenship. Religious organizations have promoted faith-based investing. Websites and online resource guides have been established to enable the public to research corporate philanthropic donations or to view information on companies' CSR activities.

Just as the transatlantic slave trade was abolished many years ago, so too can this form of modern-day slavery be abolished today. Let us remain committed to act as a voice for the many voiceless victims of this crime. Their bondage demands our attention and action. Let us together restore the human dignity of all those affected by this dehumanizing and horrific crime.