Is there no global agency that acts like a global police department to investigate these matters. If not then one should be formed even by private citizens simply creating an online forum that promotes and deals with the issue.

I’m a big fan of the Stop the Traffik campaign.

Thanks for the link, it should prove to be very helpful since our purchasing of chocolate is one of those things we can change relatively easily.

http://www.stopthetraffik.org/chocolatecampaign/

I’ve also posted a link to where peeps can download a list of non-traffiked chocolate for their part of the world over at my blog.

Like you say, this needs to be tackled at all ends of the production chain. consumer choice is a great way to influence the market.

Where do we start? That’s a good question and action is something I’m sure I will address as I delve into the issue.

Some quick thoughts though. The trafficking ‘industry’ as with any trade, depends on a few things to thrive – supply, demand and ease of provision of that supply to those with the demand.

Crippling any industry is about intervention in any point along that process. The supply (of slaves) is all about poverty – people selling their children to save other siblings; people getting caught in debt they can never pay back etc. The increase in the slave trade relates very closely to rates of poverty – thus poverty prevention can decrease supply.

A perfect example of action that can be taken here is child sponsorship. I sponsor a little girl in the Philippines. Her and her family have options they would not have otherwise had because of it. The chance of her ending up in a trafficking situation has been negated.

There are many programmes connected to poverty reduction – take your pick.

On demand, being more educated on the products we are using is making a difference in this area – I will address this soon.

Ease of provision from the point of acquiring a slave to the point of sale of that slave can be messed up in many ways. This is where the brave actions of a few abolitionists engaged in direct intervention is important. For those with the conviction to do so, it is here that some have rolled up their sleeves and are getting their hands dirty – literally intervening to get people out of trafficking situations.

Organisations like IJM (TEAR Fund helps the work of IJM) are engaged in this sort of direct intervention. World Vision I think, is involved in helping to finance safe houses for children brought out of slavery. They work alongside abolitionists to help provide what they need for direct intervention.

Then there is our own government. At the moment our government is putting together a plan of action on Human Trafficking. We signed on for the U.N Protocol on Human Trafficking, so we have an obligation to have policy and plans directed towards it. That is in process at the moment.

More pressure can be put on this though. One of Labour’s politicians recently floated the idea of a private members bill directed at stopping the importation of goods produced via slave labour. I’m not sure if she pursued it, but that sort of policy needs to be discussed and letter writing to politicians can be effective.

Mostly, it’s a matter of looking into those areas of supply, demand and ease of provision and working out what can be done in each area.

We’ll address these things more as the discussion continues.

Fiona,

It can feel overwhelming when trying to address our purchasing and the sheer ambiguity of trying to work out how different products were produced.

I had a conversation with someone about this straight after writing this article and suggested that they start small. I suggested changing what chocolate they buy and making sure they only buy chocolate with the Fair Trade certification logo on it – Scarborough Fair in New Zealand is a good chocolate that’s available in many supermarkets.

Gift’s for others can be a good place to work as well – use stores like Trade Aid.

If you don’t mind it – buying second-hand clothing is smart as well, on many levels. A lot of developing nation’s textile industries have been killed by developing nations flooding their clothing markets with all our second-hand clothing. We can decrease that by buying second-hand ourselves. If not, then looking for labels that use Fair Trade products is good.

My household still has a long way to go, and to a point, I think it’s near on impossible to escape questionable goods in our country – but starting small is better than doing nothing.

James