say that again
I have 45 slaves working for me how many
work for you so no you’re saying Cameron
you’re crazy there’s no way I have
slaves working for me today and to that
I would say you’re wrong through the
products that you consume on a daily
basis you may unknowingly be employing
slave labor so how does this still exist
in 2017 well the truth is that
modern-day slavery can be found in every
corner of the earth whether it’s sex
trafficking hubs like Atlanta factories
in China or even farms in South America
this is a global issue but there’s hope
luckily we are more equipped than ever
before as individuals to fight this
injustice but before we can do that we
must first understand the complexities
of this issue it doesn’t look how it
used to but rather it has disguised
itself behind curtains of industrialism
and hotel walls though it may not be the
slavery of plantations and slave ships
one thing remains vulnerable individuals
are taken advantage of and held against
their will currently slavery is the
world’s largest growing illegal industry
with over 150 billion dollars in revenue
each year there are also 45 million men
women and children and slave today to
put that in perspective there are more
enslaved individuals in the world than
there are Canadian citizens one common
form of modern-day slavery that’s talked
about a lot is sex trafficking sex
trafficking refers to the movement of
people for the purpose of selling them
for sex now we think that this is
the foreign issue and something that
happens in other countries but it
happens in large bustling cities like
Atlanta Los Angeles in New York well
this still may seem like a distant issue
for most slavery can and does happen
anywhere including Athens Georgia last
year around this time seven men were
arrested for trafficking two underage
girls out of a local Athens motel now we
know where the demand come from any
marketing major like myself could tell
you that sex sells
but where does the supply come from well
there are some people who willingly
enter into this field the vast majority
do not quiche ahead an outspoken
advocate as well as a survivor sex
traffic shares her story finding herself
homeless she soon found the man that
told her that she was beautiful and that
he knew of a way that she can make money
Keisha goes on to say that when you have
suffered from starvation and someone
hands you bread you instantly bond with
that person now this is Keyshia story
but it’s an example of how vulnerable
individuals enter into seemingly normal
relationships only to find themselves in
sex trafficking now this is one side of
modern-day slavery but sadly there is
another side forced labor forced labor
refers to the or any work or service
that an individual does against their
will under the threat of punishment for
little to no pay so we see this in the
coffee industries in West Africa we see
this in fisheries in Thailand and we
also see this in rice mills in India
just to name a few
sadly this also is an issue that happens
domestically through a study done by the
Polaris Project they found that there
are legal immigrants who come to this
country on temporary work visas for
agricultural work who are targeted by
their
where’s their employers take away their
documentation and transport them to
unfamiliar locations and oftentimes
these emigrants do not speak English and
cannot advocate on behalf of themselves
leaving them vulnerable to violations of
fair labor practices these immigrants
are also housed in terrible conditions
and paid little to nothing even brands
we know and love can unintentionally
engage in forced labor
take for instance Patagonia through an
internal audit Patagonia found that they
are employing manufacturers that use
slave labor
now Patagonia is a company that is known
for their fair labor practices and being
a leader for that and even them they
found that in their supply chain because
this issue can hide itself in multiple
levels of the supply chain it makes it
very difficult to detect this means that
products that we buy on an everyday
basis has slavery embedded and them so
this point you may be asking what can I
do to help some of you may be telling
yourself wow this is a huge issue I’m
not sure where to start I’ll leave it to
the authorities but let me tell you as
individuals we can be catalyst for
change when I heard heard about this my
junior year of high school I started
breaking the shackles a 501c3 nonprofit
and student organization that raises
awareness and support for the frontline
organizations that are fighting against
this issue now that’s what I did but you
can make a difference too
but first you have to fully understand
where slavery hides in your life an easy
way to do this is by taking the slavery
footprint quiz so through this quiz it
asks you questions about your
consumption habits and things that you
buy to estimate how many slaves you have
working for you that’s how I found out
had 45 working for me as someone who is
aware of this issue and fights it on an
everyday basis I was unaware of how I
contributed to the problem now awareness
is key but action is greater one easy
way to take action is by downloading the
traffic-cam app this app allows you to
take pictures of hotel rooms that are
then forwarded on to authorities now
these authorities match the pictures
that you take of your hotel room with
pictures that are used on on online sex
ads this enables authorities to locate
and prosecute sex traffickers just like
the seven men who arrested here in
Athens finally you can volunteer with
local nonprofits so you can do this and
you can distribute hot lines to areas of
known trafficking you can collect
necessities for survivors of sex
trafficking or you can even volunteer to
help paint the walls of a safehouse now
these are just a few opportunities that
you can do to impact this issue but you
can find even more in your local
communities or surrounding communities
if we truly gather around this issue and
declare it the injustice that it is we
can all be a part of breaking the shackles of modern-day slavery thank you