Modern Slavery Myth Busters 3
Join Fuzz and Carolyn Kitto in this episode as we continue the exploration of modern slavery by debunking common myths.
MYTH #6: There’s no chains or barbed wires keeping victims of modern slavery trapped. Surely they can leave if they want to?
FACT: People caught in modern slavery are tricked, coerced and threatened with violence against them and their families. Their identity papers may have been seized so they can’t leave. Others are tricked into accruing large debts. In the case of children they may not know where they are or where their home is.
MYTH #7: The problem is overwhelming! It can’t be solved.
FACT: It’s true that modern slavery is complex and invasive. It is what we call a wicked problem, full of deeply entrenched complex systemic inequalities. It’s not impossible to solve, but we need to tackle it together; as government, civil society, business and individuals.
MYTH #8: There’s nothing I can do about Modern Slavery
FACT: Everyone has a crucial role to play in helping end modern slavery! We value human life and human dignity and the right for everyone to be free. So we all have a responsibility to put those values into practice in the way we care for others. We can do this by supporting companies that are addressing modern slavery. We can advocate to government.
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In the last podcast, we looked at the myths that are around things like modern slavery is mostly in sectors like the sex trafficking, and found out there's only 9.7% estimated of all the people in modern slavery. Myth number four, slavery doesn't impact me. Well, it does, because of the things that we buy, and the things and services that we use, could well have a modern slavery in the supply chain. And myth number five, modern slavery only impacts poverty stricken, unskilled, desperate people. And we saw that No, it's not just those people, as vulnerable as they are. They're also now stunned the big trends of people that are trying to improve themselves or get a better life, maybe even having master's degrees, or going into things like stem centres and are being used and abused, in many places, and in many commodities that we use. And we looked at how pervasive modern slavery is, and the things that not only we buy, and the services that we have, that might be in also the the entertainment that we watch, and the other areas that we use, for sport and for other areas as well.
Carolyn Kitto
So, let's be reminded again, what modern slavery is a good metaphor to think of the definitions is to think of modern slavery as an umbrella term. And the Modern Slavery Act of Australia describes it as an umbrella term, an umbrella of crimes, where people are recruited. They, the offenders use coercion, threats or deception, and they exploit those victims and undermine their freedom. So there's recruitment, coercion, threats and deception, exploitation, and undermining of freedom. Practices that constitute modern slavery can include human trafficking, slavery, servitude, forced labour, debt, bondage, forced marriage, and the worst forms of child labour, as well as forced organ removal. modern slavery is a term used to describe incredibly serious exploitation. It's not just about sub-standard work practices, or work conditions or underpayment. These are harmful practices, and may be present in some situations of modern slavery, but in and of themselves are not modern slavery. modern slavery can occur in every industry and sector and has severe consequences for victims. modern slavery also distorts global markets, undercuts responsible businesses and can pose significant legal and reputational risk to entities.
Fuzz Kitto
So myth number six: there's no chains or barbed wire keeping victims of modern slavery trapped. Surely, they can leave if they want to? People call it modern slavery of tricked, coerced and threatened with violence against them and their families. Their identity papers may have been seized so they can't leave. Others are tricked into accruing large debts, and many with an interest rates and many have no idea about interest rates, and therefore it accrues higher and higher debts, and they find themselves trapped. We have seen in some countries in some places, third and fourth generations who are paying off grandfather, great grandfather debts. In the case of children, they may not know where they are, or where their home is. And was like that for Obed.
Obed was born up on a farm in a family in Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso sits above, Cote d'Ivoire and the West Coast. Most of Africa, and a bit was the eldest of seven children. And his father sadly died. He left the mother and a farm to look after. And the seven children. A neighbour came to her and said, Oh, this is a very, very sad situation that you were in, if she agreed, I don't know what we're going to do. He then said, you know, I could get a job for your eldest son obit. They're in a cocoa farming Cote d'Ivoire. And she said that he is only 11 years of age. Yes, he said that, that you're desperate. What else do you think you can do? She could not think of anything else. She said, Well, I'll speak to him, at least when she talked to open that night, and explained the situation. Obed being the eldest and feeling responsible, said, Of course, he would go and work on a farm, then he could send money back and help out his mother and help her to manage the farm and also look after the six other children. So the neighbour was contacted, and he contacted an agent. And Obed was picked up and taken from Burkina Faso, across into Ghana, and then then across into the soft border with Cote d'Ivoire, and taken right across to the eastern side of the Cote d'Ivoire in the jungles by the Liberian border. Now, Obed had never been out of his village. And it did not even know the name of the village. In fact, it was just the “village” and “home”, the place where we lived. So as he was taken away into two other countries, he was quite confused about where he was and what was happening. He was on a cocoa farm. And with other young boys, they were having to cut the weeds with big machetes, they had to prune the trees, they had to look after the grounds and the family who own the cocoa farm. And he was paid nothing apart from a few sweets now and then, and had only the clothes on his backs, which, because of the work they had soon turned to rags. The owner of the farm, said that if they tried to escape, there were wild animals out in the jungle, and they would be killed and eaten. What's worse, there were geurrilla fighters, who are trying to have a new government in Cote d'Ivoire. And they were extremely dangerous and would take people like him and conscript him into being a child soldier. Obed was absolutely terrified any of those things, and did not even contemplate leaving. One day, some people came on to the farm, and they saw the amount of young boys that were there and asked the farmer about them. They did further investigation to find that they were trafficked from Burkina Faso. They were able to come back and free the boys. But Obed didn't know where it came from, did not know and the country was called Burkina Faso, did not know the name of his village. And it took a long, long time for them to actually find his way back home. And when he did, his mother cried and was terrified because she thought that he had died, no money had been given back. And she thought that yes, he was dead.
This is a typical example of what we have come across in children that are trafficked in these sorts of ways.
Carolyn Kitto
And then there are stories closer to home. And this again, is a fairly typical story.
A woman from Fiji came to Australia to work as a domestic worker. She kind of knew the people who had brought her over. And part of the promise was that they would help her to get a permanent visa. And then she would be able to save enough money and apply for her family to join her in Australia. It was a dream come true. But like many situations if it sounds better than it is it probably isn’t. So, they said to her when she arrived and she trusted them. Give us your passport, then we can apply for a permanent visa and your family can come and join you. Well, of course, she worked, didn't receive money, didn't have a visa so she couldn't leave or report the situation, nothing was done about her permanent residency. And her family was never unable to join her.
Fuzz Kitto
So myth number seven is the problem is overwhelming, and it can't be solved! Well, it's true. The modern slavery is complex and invasive. It is what we call a wicked problem. It’s full of deeply entrenched, complex systemic inequalities. It's not possible to completely solve them all. But we need to and can tackle it together, and manage it in all the sectors that make up our society. For instance, as a government. What can the government do? Well, they can create effective policies, strategies, and also pass robust legislation with a good guidelines and good ways of explaining and strategising how it can be effectively used. They can uphold international laws that they've signed up to on modern slavery. Government can protect individuals within his territory or jurisdiction or against human rights abuses committed by non-state actors, including businesses. Governments can also resource remediation. That's what you do when you find someone slavery, and to get them back to a situation that they were in before with freedom, and with dignity, and create access to these for those people who are victims of modern slavery. Also, there's a role for civil society, to prevent, to protect and to remediate, to raise awareness, hold governments and companies accountable, ensuring trauma-informed practices of aftercare of survivors, and work with businesses and government to prevent, protect, and remediate as well.
Carolyn Kitto
There's also a role for business. What can businesses do? Well, they can use a due diligence approach to all of their supply chains and their business practices. And then address adverse impacts of human rights. It is their role to not only identify their risk, but they have a duty to prevent, they have a duty to protect workers in their supply chains, and they have a duty to participate in the remediation of those who have their human rights and their freedom violated. And then there's roles for individuals like you and me, perhaps the most important thing is to get informed. Choose what you buy, support companies who are trying to do the right thing. We call this a buy cot rather than a boycott. A bicarb means you support those who are doing well. And get involved in campaigning work that may be as simple as telling your friends what you've learned on podcasts like this, sharing the links, or signing up to the mailing list of an NGO or charity that works on ending modern slavery.
Fuzz Kitto
Myth number eight: there's nothing I can do about modern slavery. And Carolyn has already mentioned some of the things you can do as an individual. And also to put pressure on government and to talk and write to businesses to ask them what they're doing about their supply chain checking. It is one of the most powerful thing that we can do. Because we're a consuming country. Because those of us in consuming societies, it means we've got incredible power. We can choose what we buy. And what we say to businesses is check your supply chain, and see if this slavery there, and don't give up on those that may have inadvertently found themselves with goods and services that have slavery in supply chain, but help them to change. That's what the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights refers to as the key way forward in the ways that we respond. But it means that if businesses do that, then they say, Look, we can't buy from you if there’s slavery in the supply chain. What it means is, we cut down the demand for slavery and for slaves and for slavery practices. And that means that we starve the supply of slaves. And it means that those who are trading and people, the slave traders, work have any place to be able to put slaves. They're not there because they get jollies from that, they do it because they're making money. If we can stop them making money is one of the most effective things that we can do as individuals, and to do something about it. We can advocate, as I've said, to governments, and to businesses to actually make checking out what we buy are a key part of who we are, and the values that we have as a society.
Carolyn Kitto
Let's talk about our Chocolate Scorecard as an example. We've been producing this Scorecard with a number of other organisations and are currently up to the fifth edition in this format. Sometimes when people look at the Chocolate Scorecard, which rates companies and what they are doing in traceability and transparency in their supply chains, human rights issues, such as contributing to ending poverty and child labour, and environmental factors, they are a bit overwhelmed. And they say, “Are you saying that I should stop eating chocolate?” And our response is “Not at all! In fact, we want you to eat chocolate, we want you to eat more chocolate, but we want you to eat the right chocolate!” This sends a message to business that consumers care where their chocolate comes from. And there's a whole range of other things that you can do. When you choose to buy from a company that is undertaking the right practices, either tell them in the store, or jump on their website, and tell them why you bought their chocolate. You will find on our website, that we have some campaigns, specifically targeting certain companies that we believe should be doing better in this area. (Starbucks!)And you can sign on and send your name as part of that petition. If that sounds complicated, well, that's why we're here. We do the deep work, gather the strong evidence to connect you to the information, resources and opportunities that you can act to be slavery free. You can subscribe to our email list to get ways to act on modern slavery straight to your inbox. Email us at australia@beslaveryfree.com You will also find us on Facebook, X and LinkedIn and Instagram.
Fuzz Kitto
And of course, looking at the website, www.beslaveryfree.com. We'll take you through to our contacts and show you what's there. We not only tell you, the companies that we think need to hear that they need to be doing better. But we also highlight the companies that are doing good things so that you get to see what good looks like as well as the bad things that are there. And what we're seeing in both governments and societies, businesses the scrutiny of bad we need to see both of them and we need to change the bad and work towards the good. Well, we hope this has helped dispel some of these myths and unravelled slavery, just a little bit more for you.