Nowadays, shopping is so easy. You can buy anything you’ve ever wanted in a beautifully-decorated retail store with friendly personnel. Better yet, you can even have almost anything delivered to your home in under 24 hours. With these modern conveniences, it’s easy to forget where the stuff you use every day comes from.
No, not everything you use on a daily basis is produced by slave labor, but the fact that even one thing might be is cause for concern — and it’s a lot more than just one thing.
1. Coffee
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There are 13 countries where coffee beans are harvested using slave and/or child labor. Are you awake now?
2. Chocolate
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For you, chocolate might make you think of fond childhood memories. For many others, chocolate will bring back haunting memories of working all day and night, trying to carry giant bags of cacao seeds.
3. Clothing
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If you ever wondered how a piece of clothing could be so inexpensive, it’s probably because they didn’t pay the people who made it.
4. Electronics
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Many electronics factories have prison-like conditions, but the people who work there didn’t do anything wrong to get there.
5. Counterfeit Handbags
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If they’re willing to lie about their product and steal from the brands they copy, just think about what they’ll do to people who don’t have teams of lawyers to help them out.
6. Rubber
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Countries like Liberia, where rubber is sold at a low price, may offer a bargain. However, they do not have much by the way of regulations to ensure the working person’s safety.
7. Diamonds
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No, it’s not just cheap things that support slave labor.
8. Shrimp
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The shrimp industry is actually one of the biggest supporters of slave labor.
9. Carpet
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Carpets are produced in five countries that use slave and/or child labor.
10. Palm Oil
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While you may not know what palm oil is, it can be found in many of the cosmetics that you use.
11. Cannabis
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You may not be able to buy it in a store, but those who do purchase cannabis are often unwittingly supporting slave labor.
12. Pornography
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Sexual slavery isn’t exclusive to brothels. These people who were traded against their will can be in these online videos, too.
(via Listverse, nativevillage)
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That’s really hard to swallow. If you want an in-depth analysis of how much your lifestyle supports inhumane working practices, you can enter some basic information on this website and find out how big your slavery footprint really is. For reports on slave labor and industry ratings, check out Free2Work.
