Select Page

How Your Consumer Choices Can Help Stop Human Trafficking

How Your Consumer Choices Can Help Stop Human Trafficking
Advertisement

The Influence of Consumer Choices on Trafficking

Human traf­fick­ing is a com­plex prob­lem that is influ­enced by laws, poli­cies, eco­nom­ics, pri­vate and pub­lic agen­cies, and cul­ture. There’s not an easy fix, and con­sumer choic­es alone can­not change the plight of mil­lions of vic­tims. But many coun­tries, includ­ing the Unit­ed States, have begun look­ing at supply/demand eco­nom­ics as a source of influ­ence. The hypoth­e­sis is that reduc­ing demand for traf­fick­ing vic­tims (through a mix­ture of harsh­er penal­ties for the traf­fick­ers and increased aware­ness by con­sumers) will begin to reduce the sup­ply over time.

Here’s what you can do as a con­sumer to reduce Unit­ed States demand for mod­ern-day slaves:

  1. Know Your Sources. When pos­si­ble, under­stand the sources of the prod­ucts and ser­vices you enjoy. Prod­ucts of Slav­ery fea­tures an inter­ac­tive map that helps you under­stand which goods are most like­ly sourced by slaves, so you can find ways to avoid them. Exam­ples include rice pur­chased from India, blue­ber­ries and straw­ber­ries from Argenti­na, and even fire­works from the Philippines.
  2. Reduce Risk. When you don’t know your sources, you can at least reduce your risk. Avoid the indus­tries asso­ci­at­ed with human traf­fick­ing, such as sex­u­al­ly-ori­ent­ed busi­ness­es, inter­na­tion­al­ly-sourced gar­ments, and inter­na­tion­al­ly-sourced pre­cious met­als. Most human traf­fick­ing vic­tims are held for sex­u­al exploita­tion, so indus­tries that sup­port the traf­fick­ing of vic­tims for sex­u­al pur­pos­es bear spe­cial atten­tion. Con­sumers can­not always know if they’re watch­ing porn fea­tur­ing minors, if they’re watch­ing strip­pers who were traf­ficked into the busi­ness, or if they’re pur­chas­ing a sex act from a woman with a pimp who threat­ens her life. If you can­not know the source of your sex­u­al grat­i­fi­ca­tion, then you can at least reduce your risk by not par­tic­i­pat­ing. Remem­ber that the demand for pur­chased sex­u­al­i­ty is what dri­ves sex traf­fick­ing in the first place.
  3. Under­stand Your Slav­ery Foot­print. If you live in the Unit­ed States and con­sume goods and ser­vices, there’s a strong like­li­hood that a mod­ern-day slave has worked to pro­duce the goods and ser­vices you enjoy. Slave labor is often in the sup­ply chain for pop­u­lar goods, such as inter­na­tion­al­ly-sourced seafood, make­up, dia­mond jew­el­ry, and fash­ion­able gar­ments. Go to Slav­ery Foot­print to deter­mine which of your habits and pur­chas­es are most like­ly tied to human traf­fick­ing. This knowl­edge, in turn, can influ­ence your choic­es as you move forward.
  4. Boy­cott Goods Pro­duced by Slaves. Although you like­ly can’t know every­thing about your sup­ply chain, take action on the items you can. Boy­cott those goods that you know are like­ly touched by slav­ery, and replace them with prod­ucts that are cer­ti­fied Fair Trade. Not every indus­try uses the Fair Trade cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, but you can start with small pur­chas­es, such as cof­fee, body care, cocoa, and garments.
  5. Find Out More, and Act. There’s a wealth of infor­ma­tion about human traf­fick­ing, and many pub­lic and pri­vate agen­cies are tak­ing strong action against this gross vio­la­tion of human rights. Check out the Polaris Project for more infor­ma­tion about human traf­fick­ing and how you can help pre­vent and reha­bil­i­tate vic­tims in the Unit­ed States. You can also look for local agen­cies that are doing the hard work of address­ing the needs of vic­tims as they exit the industry.

FEBRUARY 8 — SAINT BAKHITA

ADLAUDATOSI INTEGRAL ECOLOGY FORUM WEBINARS

FABRICE HADJADJ — VIRTUAL AND REAL WORLDS: HOW TO INHABIT THE DEVASTATED EARTH?

OUR MISSION:

THE PURPOSE IS TO SHARE BEST PRACTICES AND PROMOTE ACTIONS AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING.

WE MAKE AVAILABLE TO YOU GUIDES AND RESEARCH ON TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS FROM THE MOST RECOGNISED LEGAL AND OPERATIONAL ACTORS.

AN EXAMPLE FOR CATHOLIC ENTITIES TO FOLLOW: ERADICATE MODERN SLAVERY IN ALL ITS FORMS FROM THE OPERATIONS AND SUPPLY CHAINS OF CATHOLIC ENTITIES IN AUSTRALIA — PROPOSAL OF ACTION PLAN – MODERN SLAVERY RISK MANAGEMENT PROGRAM FROM 2021 TO 30 JUNE 2023

HELP OUR ORGANIZATION BY MAKING A DONATION TODAY!

Adlaudatosi Webinars Videos VIMEO

Videos of the speakers’ interventions adlaudatosi VIMEO

Adlaudatosi Webinars Videos YOUTUBE

Religious Helping Trafficking Victims along the Road of Recovery (ON-DEMAND VIDEO WEBINAR)

Religious Working In International Advocacy Against Human Trafficking (ON-DEMAND VIDEO WEBINAR)

Impact Of Human Trafficking On Health: Trauma (ON-DEMAND VIDEO WEBINAR)

Impact Of Human Trafficking On Health: Healing (ON-DEMAND VIDEO WEBINAR)

International Prosecution Of Human Trafficking — Where Are We Now? (ON-DEMAND VIDEO WEBINAR)

International Prosecution Of Human Trafficking — What can be done? (ON-DEMAND VIDEO WEBINAR)

International Prosecution Of Human Trafficking — Best Practices (ON-DEMAND VIDEO WEBINAR)

Demand As Root Cause For Human Trafficking – Sex Trafficking & Prostitution

Human Trafficking — Interview with Prof. Michel Veuthey, Order of Malta — 44th UN Human Right Council 2020

POPE’S PAYER INTENTION FOR FEBRUARY 2020: Hear the cries of migrants victims of human trafficking

FRANCE — BLOG DU COLLECTIF “CONTRE LA TRAITE DES ÊTRES HUMAINS”

Church on the frontlines in fight against human trafficking

Holy See — PUBLICATION OF PASTORAL ORIENTATIONS ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING 2019

RIGHT TO LIFE AND HUMAN DIGNITY GUIDEBOOK

Catholic social teaching

Doctrine sociale de l’Église catholique

Register to our series of webinars adlaudatosi on Human Trafficking

You have successfully registered !