Ghana is the 10th biggest producer of gold in the world. A 2003 report found that the exportation of gold garners “approximately 50%” of the country’s GDP. But much of the mining industry is made up of “galamsey” operators—artisanal miners who often operate in unregulated, illegal mines. It is estimated that between 30,000 and 50,000 people work as galamsey operators. And of these, 10,000 are children who are forced to work in hazardous conditions. Slavery in the form of debt bondage and forced prostitution also occur in these communities.
In these unregulated, small-scale mines, fatal accidents occur with alarming regularity. In 2009 a landslide at a galamsey site killed about 20 miners—14 of whom were women. Last April, 10 galamsey operators were buried alive when the gold mine they were working in caved in. Exposure to mercury and other toxic chemicals threaten the miners’ health. Pollution and deforestation damage the environment.
For all the dangers, illegal mining is a source of valuable income for these communities. Many can find no alternative livelihood. But in 2009, Free the Slaves began a partnership with Ghanaian human rights NGO Social Support Foundation to launch a program to combat slavery in Ghana’s illegal mining communities. The project, titled Community Resistance to Slavery and Forced Labor (CRSFL), helps vulnerable communities to organize and create community-based action plans to eradicate slavery.
One SSF report describes the sense of empowerment gained by communities engaged in the CRSFL project:
“Prior to SSF’s engagement, most galamsey people had little or no self-esteem and confidence. They seem[ed] to feel and believe that there is nothing they can achieve and no one regards/respects them. But this perception is changing very fast. This is helping them to understand the issue of slavery and debt-bondage as well as the issue of children in mining and the fact that it is illegal and not good for them.”
The CRSFL project helps miners find alternative sources of revenue—and to ultimately “engender a collective rejection of all forms of slavery in the mining industry.” To do this, the root causes of slavery are addressed. This goes beyond the initial rescues. Miners get access to financial assistance to help them become economically self-sufficient. They are empowered to organize together to obtain mining permits, so they can operate above the law—and away from the control of slaveholders. Communities are brought together to organize their own anti-trafficking task forces. Social and psychological support helps survivors heal. And, training is provided to law enforcement, media and local government agencies to educate them about anti-slavery laws and best practices for combatting it.
The CRSFL project recently helped launch a task force to protect children from slavery in two areas of the Ashanti region. The task force is made up of 35 members, all galamsey operators themselves—and all democratically elected. Before joining the task force, some members used child labor as part of their mining work. But, a recent SSF report finds, “now they have decided to set a good example by letting the children… leave the sites and go back to school and are encouraging other galamsey people to desist from the use of children in mining and all other hazardous work.” The task force stays vigilant. When they suspect a case of child trafficking, they report it immediately to the SSF.
Your donations help Free the Slaves continue our work around the world. Find out more about our programs and donate today!
Our friends at the Superforest Blog have written a wonderful article on 2010 Freedom Award winner JEEVIKA! This is the first in a four part series of blog posts, profiling all four 2010 awardees: JEEVIKA, Tina Frundt, Roger Plant, and (yours truly) Anne Keehn. Here’s an excerpt (via Superforest):
Shivanna Puttaiah, second from left, was a bonded laborer in the Karnataka state of India. With the help and guidance of Kiran Prasad and his organization JEEVIKA, Shivanna was able to become free.
Inspiration Information — JEEVIKA
“I dream for a world and people living in total equality, freedom and fellowship.” –Kiran Kamal Prasad
A few weeks ago I attended to the Freedom Awards — an event thrown by freetheslaves.net to honor those present day abolitionists who have dedicated their lives to fighting modern slavery. I promised then that I would dedicate an inspiration post to each of the four award winners from that tonight. Today’s post focuses on the Harriet Tubman Freedom Award winner: JEEVIKA.
When talking about slavery, nowhere in the world suffers more humans in forced bondage than India. It is a problem not only of vast population, limited resources and rampant poverty, but also of a deeply ingrained socio-cultural caste system. There over 1 billion in India today. More than a quarter of them are dalits —untouchables. For centuries, this lowest caste has been subjected to extreme poverty and humiliation. Simply being born into a dalit family insure a life of hardship and oppression. Not all dalits are slaves, but a significant majority spend their entire lives trapped in debt bondage, perhaps from a small amount borrowed from wealthy farm owners to pay for a family emergency. They’ve been cheated when exploitative landlords claim the debts have never been repaid. Often these debts are passed down by generation, with sons and daughters inheriting the bondage from their fathers fathers. It is a form of illegal and unquestionable slavery without many outlets for recourse.
And that’s where Kiran Kamal Prasad comes in. A former Jesuit priest, Kiran first discovered that the practice of bonded labor was officially outlawed in India over 30 years ago. Ever since, he has worked tirelessly to speak directly with current slaves and powerful land owners to grant their workers’ freedom.
To learn more about JEEVIKA go here.
To donate to Free the Slaves go here.
Free the Slaves Policy and Research Associate Jody Sarich is featured on Big Think today, speaking about her research on forced marriage and its relation to slavery and human trafficking in China. With FTS President Kevin Bales, Sarich is currently writing the first ever book on forced marriage worldwide.
In many cases, forced marriages subject women and girls to conditions indistinguishable from those recognized by international and domestic laws as modern-day slavery. Although the U.N. Slavery Convention called servile marriage a “practice similar to slavery” over half a century ago, the enslavement of women into forced marriages remains one of the least understood (and most misunderstood) forms of modern slavery today.
Sarich and Bales’ groundbreaking book seeks to change that. They will show how the enslavement of women can be hidden within the institution of marriage—and what can be done to stop it. Through the voices of women and girls themselves, they will show how once-enslaved “brides” have found lasting freedom.
In March, Sarich will travel to South Africa to meet with survivors and local organizations—watch this space for updates!
Here is Jody Sarich’s interview with Big Think:
As many as 24 million Chinese men will be unable to find wives in 2020, say experts. In some areas there are already as many as 130 men for every 100 women. This gender gap, just one of the many consequences of China’s one-child policy, is driving many of the country’s men to look for wives through forced marriage and human trafficking.
Jody Sarich, an anti-slavery researcher and advocate, is currently writing a book on forced marriage with former Big Think expert Kevin Bales. Sarich told Big Think that while exact numbers aren’t available, studies and anecdotal evidence suggest that slavery and human trafficking are already huge problems in China.
“There is a great demand for women, especially in poor, rural areas,” says Sarich. “Certainly the gender gap is a major factor, but it is one factor among several that work together to make it such a problem in China. Working alongside that is the fact that there’s been a great increase in women’s economic empowerment and desire for education in China. So you have fewer women overall as well as more women who are choosing to be educated and to have jobs. In many cases they don’t see it as compatible to be married and work, so the women who do exist aren’t necessarily marrying at the same rate.
“An additional pillar of what is leading this problem in China, especially for foreign brides, is China’s policy of repatriating foreign women who are discovered—even though they’re victims of trafficking,” she says. And for women from North Korea, repatriation means a sentence to North Korean labor camps, which Sarich likens to concentration camps. This fear of repatriation makes trafficked women all the more vulnerable and keeps them from coming forward, she says. And there is now a generation of children born from these forced marriages who are also illegal and must remain invisible to the government. “These children are equally vulnerable to all sorts of exploitation, especially the girls but also the boys and young men,” says Sarich.
She is a survivor of slavery. But with the help of Free the Slaves north India partner DDWS, she was able to return home with the knowledge and support to become economically independent.
In north India, Free the Slaves partner Diocesan Development and Welfare Society (DDWS) rescues men, women and children from slavery. Some of the rescued children need shelter and rehabilitation, which is provided through the Bal Vikas Ashram, where survivors are empowered with knowledge of their rights and basic education. Crucially, the older children learn vocational skills like cycle repair, carpentry or tailoring, through which they can become economically self sufficient. The ability to generate their own income is of vital importance—it can keep them from once again falling prey to traffickers.
Once survivors are ready to leave the ashram and return home, DDWS helps them start their own businesses. They either use the State compensation funds or if they are not eligible for that, FTS supports DDWS in providing equipment. The purchase of a sewing machine, a small plot of land or some livestock can help survivors and their families achieve economic independence, and out of the shadow of modern-day slavery.
DDWS Director Fr. Deepak recently returned from the state of Bihar, where he checked up on the progress of some of the children who have returned home. With FTS support, DDWS has placed local staff in the main districts of northern India where children are trafficked from. The staff monitors and supports the progress of the returned children, and helps the community come together to address the root causes of slavery—and reject traffickers. “I carry some sweet memories of meeting some of the children recently returned [to their families] from the Ashram,” Fr. Deepak wrote, in an email. “Some of them have started shops, bought fields and pursued education. But all in one voice expressed that their life has undergone change. They have become more responsible, disciplined, have more concern for society and family.”
“Freedom and Beyond”, produced by Free the Slaves:
Help Free the Slaves continue to help rescue and rehabilitate survivors of modern-day slavery in north India. DONATE TODAY!
In 2007, Free the Slaves became one of the founding members of the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST). Formerly known as the Action Group, ATEST is a coalition of diverse, U.S.-based organizations, united by our shared goal of ending modern-day slavery and human trafficking globally. Many of the most prominent anti-slavery organizations are part of the alliance. We meet regularly to plan and implement strategies to improve government policies to end slavery.
ATEST played the key advocacy role in increasing U.S. government funding to combat slavery domestically and around the world. Our successes include the successful proposal of improvements to the U.S. legislative framework, through the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008. And, we have already begun to garner support for the Act’s reauthorization in 2011.
This year, ATEST invited four new anti-slavery groups to join the alliance, increasing the number of organizations by 50 percent. The new members are the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), ECPAT-USA, Safe Horizon and World Vision. Director of ATEST Meredith Larson said in a press release, that the new members would “significantly enhance” the alliance’s ability to “create lasting change.”
Free the Slaves has connections with CIW and World Vision. We supported CIW’s Modern Day Slavery Museum, a mobile museum that allows visitors to interact with the reality of slavery in the Florida tomato industry, where CIW is breaking new ground in ending slavery. (Read more about how CIW is working to eradicate slave labor in the supply chain of Florida tomatoes.) And we worked with World Vision to develop ideas for leveraging development assistance programs to end slavery by inserting the idea of the “slavery lens” to all humanitarian work—a concept put forth by Free the Slaves President Kevin Bales in the book Ending Slavery. “Slavery can be hard to see if you are not used to looking for it,” Bales writes. But when economic, humanitarian and poverty alleviation assistance programs make anti-slavery efforts a holistic part of their work, great strides can be made in eradicating slavery.
Free the Slaves is excited to work with Safe Horizon and ECPAT-USA. Both organizations work to protect victims and assist survivors of human trafficking right here in the United States, where thousands of people are trafficked every year. Each new organization adds unique strengths—and years of experience combatting modern-day slavery—to ATEST’s work. We look forward to working together to influence government policy with the goal of eradicating modern day slavery once and for all.
These young women were trafficked into slavery in Indian circuses. Now, they don't need to leave home to earn a living, thanks to the income generation program led by FTS partner WOSCC.
As 2010 draws to a close, we have an incredible opportunity to support FTS and our Nepali partners, where you can double your impact! Our work in Nepal helps women and girls out of sex slavery, domestic servitude, and agricultural slavery.
Right now, every gift made to our Nepal program between now and December 31st, 2010 will be matched dollar for dollar by a generous foundation up to $50,000. Which means, if you donate $100 dollars, $200 will go towards combating slavery in Nepal.
Since 2007, FTS and our partners in Nepal have helped women and girls gain freedom from slavery and rebuild their lives while also addressing root causes that allow slavery to flourish, such as poverty and legal impunity. FTS focuses on developing on-the-ground strategies through which communities can rid themselves of the traffickers. We then use what we have learned to help improve anti-trafficking policies.
What has been our impact? We have piloted and documented ways to eliminate slavery in cabin restaurants and massage parlors in Kathmandu, as well as in private homes and farms. We have assisted in securing legal aid for survivors, and helped them achieve economic stability through access to education and income generating projects. We help secure funding and support for micro-enterprises, so survivors can become economically self sufficient—and never have to fall prey to traffickers again.
We have protected girls from sexual slavery by educating vulnerable communities to guard against traffickers. One of our partners, the Freed Kamaiya Women Development Forum has founded seven women’s groups through which 162 previously enslaved girls initiate rescues and educate adults to reject slavery in their community.
Working with our local partners, Free the Slaves has helped ensure that the Nepali government adopt better anti-trafficking regulations, and comply with the UN Protocol against trafficking.
We have had countless victories in the movement to eradicate modern day slavery in Nepal. But there is still much work to be done. Your donations will help us continue to do our work.
There are only a few weeks left to have your donation matched. Join us today to make slavery history. Donate today by clicking on the icon below, and selecting “Nepal Matching Fund” when prompted.
To learn more about Free the Slaves’ work in Nepal, watch “Turning the Tide: Fighting Slavery in Nepal” after the jump!
Editor’s note: Here is another blog post from Free the Slaves intern Alison Leuchtenburg, in which she gives tips on how to organize a fundraising walk for your favorite cause—which, we hope, is Free the Slaves! As a student organizer, Alison organized the first Freedom Walk at UMass, and was the leader of Team Free the Slaves for the second annual Stop Modern Slavery Walk in Washington, DC, which took place last October.
Photo by Jason Rogers via Flickr
Ever wanted to organize a fundraiser? Here are some tips! Also, be sure and let us know what you’re planning.
Find a group of committed co-organizers to help you. Come up with a time to meet regularly for planning. You probably want to meet once a week to make sure everything is going smoothly. Make sure you have both phone numbers and email addresses. If you need something the day of the walk, you need to be able to reach people by phone.
Together, choose a time and date for the walk. Consider weather, proximity to holidays and local events, and other things that will maximize the number of people who join the walk, and the number of passersby who see the walk. Make sure it’s far enough away that you have plenty of time to plan.
Choose a route for the walk. Pick a meeting place that is easy to find and easy to describe in only a few words. I used “Map My Run” to plan a route that was the length I wanted it (5 miles). If you use a program or a map to plan the route, make sure you or one of your co-organizers walks the route to make sure it’s safe and ideally handicap accessible. Be sure and check local regulations to see if you need a permit. You may also want to inform local police of your plans.
Design flyers. Once you’ve made the flyers, ask friends, family, and interested strangers to volunteer to put the flyers up around the area. The best flyers have the necessary information but are not too cluttered, so they’re easy to read from a distance. It’s also a good idea to have a website with the necessary information so people can check it if they forget the date or meeting place. This doesn’t need to be difficult or elegant. I just used Google Sites to make a very simple website.
Collect donations and pledges. If you’re shy about this, remind yourself that the money is going to a good cause. Don’t be afraid to talk to strangers. Even if they don’t pledge, they may be learning about slavery for the first time. A fundraising walk is as much about awareness as it is about funds.
Approach local businesses for donations, matching donations, awareness, and other assistance. For example, maybe a local restaurant is willing to provide free food for after the walk. Or maybe a local bookstore will prominently feature “Ending Slavery” or allow you to put up a flyer. Contact news outlets to let them know about the event and ask if they want to have a photographer present. Maybe you or one of your walkers would be interested in writing an editorial.
Make signs to carry for the walk. Invite everyone and anyone, even if they can’t participate in the walk. The goal is to get as many people as possible involved in some way. Tell people they can help, walk, donate, collect pledges for another walker, spread the word, or some combination. Allow people to walk with or without pledges to get maximum turnout.
Meet at your location, wait some number of minutes to account for stragglers, and start walking! Have some cards or leaflets to hand out with a URL to go to for more information. Feel free to sing freedom songs or chant. Have fun!
Celebrate. Thank everyone for participating. Continue to collect donations even after the walk is over. Never send cash in the mail—use a check or make an online donation. Announce the final count and congratulate yourself and everyone else for a job well done.
Let us know how it went! We’d love to hear your story and see the pictures!
In Brazil enslaved laborers work in charcoal camps. Photo by Chernush for Free the Slaves
Free the Slaves President Kevin Bales is featured in the current issue of The Friend, a weekly British Quaker magazine that has been continuously in print since 1843. (That’s a long time for a magazine. To put it in perspective, Vanity Fair has been around since 1913, but was put on hiatus for five decades before it was revived in 1983.)
In an article titled ‘Towards Freedom,’ Bales urges the Quaker community to take up the cause of the abolition of modern-day slavery. “It’s not a question of laying down other vital Quaker work,” Bales, who is himself a Quaker writes, “but of making sure that within that work we consciously bring bring anti-slavery efforts to the fore.”
Quakers were an instrumental force in the first abolitionist movement. They were the first white community to protest the slave trade, and several Quakers assisted in the underground railroad, safeguarding the passage of former slaves northward to freedom.
Here is the article (via The Friend):
One warm afternoon in May 1787, twelve people sat together in a London printing shop. None were rich or famous, there were no politicians or aristocrats, but nine were of that odd and excluded religious body called Quakers. That afternoon these twelve set out to end the slave trade. It was, by any measure of the time, a fool’s mission. The slave trade was legal, and a major part of Britain’s economy. Slavery was rationalised from pulpits and the Church of England itself owned slave plantations. Politicians were awash with the profits of slavery. Moreover, everyone knew slavery was a natural part of life. In spite of these barriers, these twelve achieved, in the words of Alexis de Tocqueville: ‘… something absolutely without precedent in history… If you pore over the histories of all peoples, I doubt that you will find anything more extraordinary.’
Quakers had taken 100 years to reach this moment, struggling with slaveholding but becoming, by 1750, the first religious body to take a unified stand against slavery. Though actively agitating against slavery, little came of their efforts because they were Quakers, a group known for their laughable ideas. The genius of those meeting that May was to invent a new form of social alliance: the first non-denominational and non-partisan human rights organisation and campaign in history. It was a tool for social change that would be astoundingly successful.
Today non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and campaigns are everywhere; so common that we forget groups like Amnesty International were products of the 1960s. In the 1780s, Friends, convinced that God in every person meant slavery was morally wrong, became the core of this first NGO. Their unity plus close internal communication made them perfect for building a campaign. That campaign was remarkable in the speed of its achievements. In a country where slavery was legal, morally acceptable and economically essential, the campaign ended the legal slave trade in just thirty years.
What’s odd about Quaker anti-slavery leadership is that Friends set the task aside when legal slavery came to an end. A handful of Friends continued, but slavery also continued and evolved. Today there are some 27 million slaves in the world, and population growth and vulnerability in the developing world have brought a collapse in the cost of slaves. For most of history slaves were expensive, averaging £30,000 in today’s money, but since the 1950s the price has dropped to around £90. Today slaves are in every country, exploited in dangerous and demeaning work. Some of that work feeds the products we buy, from shirts to mobile phones. Yet, for all the horrors of modern slavery there is also a unique opportunity that slavery can be brought to an end.
Photo by Kay Charnush. For more on slavery in Brazil, go here.
Last night was the opening event of artist Benjamin Swatez exhibition at Ortega 120 in Redondo Beach. The show features works created live during several past Free the Slaves events—including Freedom Fest in San Diego, and Freedom Rocks, the after party of last month’s Freedom Awards.
The show will run through mid January. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of Benjamin’s art will go toward funding the India Art Project.
What is the India Art Project? It is an outgrowth of Free the Slaves’ Free a Village Build a Movement campaign, in which an entire community is brought out of slavery through holistic, economic and social programs. From the proceeds of this art exhibition, Benjamin will travel to Bahari, India, where the Free a Village Build a Movement campaign has been initiated. There, he will create an art therapy program for survivors of slavery. In collaboration with the villagers, Benjamin will create a series of art works, that will be displayed by Free the Slaves in 2011.
To find out more about this project, go here. And check out the show at Ortega 120!
Ortega 120
1814 S. Pacific Coast Highway
Redondo Beach, CA 90277
(310) 792-4120
Editor’s note: A few months ago, Marti MacGibbon sent us a copy of her memoir, ‘Never Give in to Fear.’ In one section of the book, she recounts her experience being trafficked from the U.S. to Tokyo, where she was forced into the sex trade. After a long road to recovery, MacGibbon is now a motivational speaker and substance abuse counselor, guiding others to self determination.
I am Marti MacGibbon, survivor of human trafficking. That I survived places me among the ranks of the lucky. In 1985, I was an emerging standup comic with a scheduled appearance on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. I thought I had it made – but soon became entangled in the San Francisco drug scene and developed an addiction, which made me vulnerable to traffickers.
I was trafficked from San Francisco to Tokyo and held in slavery for less than two months before a “customer” helped me to escape. Although brutal, demeaning and terrifying, the experience I lived through was mercifully brief. I am deeply grateful for my rescue, but the things that I endured have changed me forever. Yet I carry the realization that the happiness I experience today is not in spite of, but because of, the things I have overcome.
Rescue was only the beginning of my decades-long search for a safe place after such trauma. I suffered from post-traumatic stress. In those days, few resources were readily available. The term, “human trafficking” was not yet a part of the popular lexicon, and abolitionists had yet to gain the legislative victories of the ensuing decades. Distrust kept me from contacting the authorities; I dreaded reprisals from the traffickers.
I suffered in silence, desperately struggling to carry the pain, shame and fear that engulfed me. Nightmares ravaged my sleep. I used drugs in an attempt to manage my distress; my addiction nearly consumed me. For ten years, I could not find a safe place within myself.
But as I said, I am lucky. I eventually found love, recovery, self-acceptance, and healing. The first step in recovery from trauma is to find a safe place—first externally, then internally. Recovery from addiction was my first step to safety. With the help of support groups I learned valuable coping skills and stepped out of isolation.
I learned how to create a safe place within by allowing myself to study and utilize gratitude and serenity, then becoming conscious of the love and trust which binds the universe together. I engaged in therapy for PTSD, where I discovered how to create a safe place to heal, and how to use mindfulness meditation to manage fear.
As my healing progressed, I obtained education, training, and certification in substance abuse treatment. I’m dedicated to helping addicts break free, and devoted to the abolishment of modern slavery in all its forms. I have begun telling my story because I believe it may help to raise awareness about human trafficking and inspire others to join the fight.
Until I recounted the trauma in my memoir, ‘Never Give in to Fear,’ I’d kept my story secret. With healing, I came to believe that I needed to make my story known. Slavery is rampant today and fear and shame are the traffickers’ weapons. I will not be silenced by their arsenal. Finally, now that my book is out, the nightmares have ceased. My life is full of joy, love, and the optimism that courage brings.
I am deeply appreciative of Free the Slaves and other grass roots organizations for establishing safe places for those who have experienced misery and terror at the hands of traffickers. The goal of recovery is not merely to survive, but to thrive. Respect, consideration, dignity, and advocacy help lay the path to full recovery, and the people at Free the Slaves work hard to provide such resources.
