Fast forward
to this week. I was on a panel
discussing human trafficking when an audience member asked why we just don’t do
something about the men who buy girls.
Excellent point! Human
trafficking is an economic crime. People
don’t do it to be mean to people…they do it to make a profit. Not only is it a horrific crime, but it is a
fundamental violation of human dignity.
New awareness campaigns exist and new laws are being written, but as
long as there are those who purchase sex or products made from slave labor what
are the real deterrents for the traffickers?
Take away the demand and you go a long way to eliminate the issue. Makes perfect sense. But there is a twist – and this one is not so
good. You see, I am guilty of being on
the demand side of human trafficking.
And guess what? You are too.
We know that
children as young as 5 years old are forced to work in coco fields and that
many, by the time they are 10- or 12-years old, have hands that are permanently
deformed from arthritis…but that chocolate is soooo good! We’ve all heard about slave labor in the
garment industry…but did you see how cheap that shirt was? Prostitution is the oldest profession. What’s the harm? It’s a victimless crime. But here is the truth- my organization serves
prostituted women. It is a crime that
hurts a person in every way that they can be hurt: physically, emotionally,
economically and psychologically. I see
the pain, guilt, shame, anger and trauma.
I have yet to see it as a victimless crime.
You could
say that you didn’t know your products were made using slave labor. You could, but not anymore. The website http://slaveryfootprint.org/ will ask you a series of questions about the products you
own and then tell you how many slaves you have, in essence, working for
you. So, now that you know you are part
of the demand side of human trafficking what will you do? I’m not saying you have to give up chocolate
(yikes!) – but you can purchase fair trade products as often as possible and
you can write to your favorite companies and tell them that you will stop
buying their products if they don’t commit to purchasing from vendors that do not use slave labor. And you must still call for harsh penalties
for those on the demand side of this crime.
When I train
I often end the session with a challenge to participants to complete the
sentence, “If I do nothing…” But
instead, I am going to challenge you to complete a second sentence, “When I do
something…” You have the opportunity to be part of a historic movement that
helps to end this horrific crime.
No comments:
Post a Comment