From this article from “The Nation” that we found at NPR, writer Katrina Vanden Heuvel describes what is in the museum curated by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.

The bulk of the museum is housed inside of a 24-foot box truck — a replica of the one used by the Navarrete family in Immokalee to hold twelve farmworkers captive from 2005 to 2007. The workers were beaten, chained and imprisoned inside of the truck, and forced to urinate and defecate in the corners. US Attorney Doug Molloy called the operation “slavery, plain and simple.”

Inside of the truck visitors learn about seven cases of farm labor servitude in Florida successfully prosecuted by the US Department of Justice over the past 15 years. Workers were held against their will through threats, drugs, beatings, shootings, and pistol-whippings. These cases meet the high standard of proof and definition of slavery under federal laws and resulted in the liberation of over 1000 farmworkers — CIW worked with federal and local authorities during the investigation and prosecution of six of the seven cases.

Barry Eastabrook described his experience in the truck for The Atlantic: “Inside, the vehicle was stacked high with cardboard tomato cartons. The floor was chipped and scuffed. There was a plywood sorting table — which doubled as a ‘bed’ for the workers. But what stays with me was the heat. Outside, the day was chilly and overcast, but inside the truck, even with the cargo door all the way open, the temperature became borderline unbearable. The stale air was uncomfortable to breathe. Sweat soaked the back of my shirt. And I was in there for less than five minutes, not two and a half years.”

But it’s not just the contemporary slavery examples one finds inside the box truck that educates the visitors. The museum is designed to look at the history of slavery and forced labor — the evolution of it — and the fact that there has never been a period in Florida agriculture when there wasn’t some form of forced labor. The exhibit was vetted by historians, slavery experts, economists and other academics, including Nation editorial board member Eric Foner who said, “A century and a half after the Civil War, forms of slavery continue to exist in the world, including in the United States. This Mobile Museum brings to light this modern tragedy and should inspire us to take action against it.”

Before entering the truck, the museumgoer is given a booklet and sees two large exhibits which provide historical context — examining slavery from Spanish settlement through Edward R. Murrow’s acclaimed CBS documentary Harvest of Shame in 1960. Forms of slavery include chattel slavery, the convict-lease system through 1923, and debt peonage.

Another display plays a 1993 60 Minutes piece on Wardell Williams, a former crew leader in Florida who kept workers in debt while also supplying some with drugs and alcohol.

Inside of the truck the seven cases are described powerfully through the use of primary sources — court documents, indictments, criminal complaints, testimony. Miguel Flores and Sebastian Gomez held 400 workers under the watch of armed guards and assaulted — even shot — those who tried to escape. Abel Cuello held more than 30 tomato workers in two trailers in the isolated swampland west of Immokalee. Once out of prison, Cuello was able to resume supplying labor to Ag-Mart Farms in Florida and North Carolina. Michael Lee recruited homeless US citizens to harvest oranges, creating debt through loans for rent, food, cigarettes, and cocaine. Ramiro and Juan Ramos had a workforce of over 700 farmworkers and threatened with death those who tried to leave. They also pistol-whipped and assaulted at gunpoint van service drivers who gave rides to farmworkers leaving the area. Ronald Evans also recruited homeless citizens throughout the southeast with promises of good jobs and housing, then kept them in a labor camp surrounded by a chain link fence topped with barbed wire. He also made sure they were perpetually indebted to him, deducting money from their pay for food, rent, crack cocaine, and alcohol.
…

“The museum has made it possible to lay out our argument about slavery from A to Z, in a sort of irrefutable package of completely documented and totally unimpeachable facts,” says CIW staff member Greg Asbed. “And when you can see the whole history and evolution of four hundred years of forced labor in Florida’s fields assembled in one place, then all the false assumptions about what drives modern-day slavery just fall away. It’s not workers’ immigration status today, or a few rogue bosses, but the fact that farmworkers have always been Florida’s poorest, most powerless workers. Poverty and powerlessness is the one constant that runs like a thread through all the history. In short, you see, it’s not about who’s on the job today. It’s about the job itself.”

Sourced from: Poverty News Blog

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Sjaak’s gets the Easter egg rolling with their range of Organic and Fair Trade specials. Traditionalists can go for the Organic Fair Trade (and vegan!) chocolate-filled egg box or the equally Fair Trade and Organic milk chocolate bunny in a basket.

If you want to change things up a bit, check out the Spring edition of Fair Trade nuts and chews chocolate assortment. And if you really want to do it big, go all out for the full tub of 106 dark chocolate eggs, all of which are Organic, Fair Trade and vegan.

If the Easter basket is more your thing, then Sweet Earth has just the assortment for you. Their fully customizable basket comes with any combination of chocolate bunnies, both solid and filled eggs, and two decorated Easter cookies.

All of the chocolate is Fair Trade, and $2.00 of each basket bought goes towards Project Hope and Fairness to support African cocoa farmers. Sweet Earth is also offering truffle and chocolate egg boxes and a great Fair Trade wine and chocolate gift basket.

The chocolate industry has historically been one of the most oppressive and exploitative in the world, so the fact that there are now Fair Trade options for farmers is a big step in alleviating the poverty that goes along with exploitation. There are approximately 1.2 million cocoa farms in West Africa, accounting for 70 percent of the world’s production. By buying Fair Trade chocolate, you can help more and more of these farms become Fair Trade and pull themselves out of poverty by becoming environmentally and economically sustainable. And with the great options from Sweet Earth and Sjaak’s, no matter what your tastes are Fair Trade has you covered for the Easter season.

Sourced from: Fair Trade Certified ™ Blog

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In light of this recent media attention, Fairtrade Labelling Organizations (FLO), of which TransFair USA is a member, is taking the opportunity to address the ongoing reality of child labor in the cocoa industry and explain what we in the Fair Trade movement have been doing to increase our own efforts to combat it.

Scope of the problem
We agree that there has not been enough progress towards the eradication of child labor in the past 10 years.  It is an unacceptable fact that children around the world are being employed and exploited, forced to work in abusive and dangerous conditions when they should be at school or on playgrounds. Children are bought, sold and traded within and across national borders.  Those who live in abject poverty are especially vulnerable.

• An estimated 218 million children are involved in work around the world.¹
• 126 million work under the worst forms of child labor.²
• More than one million children are employed in the cocoa farming sector in West Africa.³
• Between 200,000 and 800,000 children under the age of 18 are trafficked each year in West Africa alone.⁴

FLO is aware and concerned about the continued vast scale of child labor and child trafficking.  We believe everyone has the responsibility to work to eradicate child labor:  governments, NGOs, UN bodies, trade unions, child welfare organizations, chocolate manufacturers and traders, farmers’ groups and consumers.  We take our own responsibility very seriously and believe there is still much to be done within Fair Trade and we are working to strengthen our system regarding this issue.

Fair Trade helps to detect problems, and take action on them
The Fair Trade standards for producer organizations prohibit child labor – work that is hazardous, exploitive or that undermines a child’s education or its emotional and physical health.  We follow the ILO Conventions, including Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, and our audits check compliance against this.  Qualified auditors inspect Fair Trade producer organizations on a regular basis to monitor for child labor.

In the past year, a small number of suspected cases of the worst forms of child labor were found during Fair Trade audits.  We reported these immediately to the relevant government and child protection authorities, then followed up to ensure the wellbeing of the impacted child(ren). FLO’s first and utmost concern is the safety and well-being of individual children.

In cases of unconditional worst forms of child labor, Fair Trade also suspends or decertifies the Fair Trade producer organization where these worst forms of labor are found until protective and corrective measures are put in place.  Producer organizations must set up internal systems to identify and eliminate child labor within their own communities.  Fair Trade works with producer organizations to address issues on a progressive basis rather than simply de-certifying them as a first response to findings of non-conformities. The goal is to assist in solving the problem instead of imposing harsh punitive measures that push farmers into deeper poverty, and could put even more children at risk.

Beyond audits to community support programs
Whilst auditing can help identify and uncover cases of child labor, auditors cannot be on every small farm every minute of every day of every year. Instead, Fair Trade believes we must support local communities to help them tackle child labor themselves. Through Fair Trade, farmers groups are able to earn additional Premium of $150/tonne that they can use to improve their business and build community programs, from awareness-raising on issues of child labor to helping increase the availability and quality of local schooling. Paying farmers a fairer price for their cocoa is crucial for moving away from a reliance on child labor in the long term.

Child labor is understood in the Fair Trade system not only as problems faced by individual children and their families, but also as problems perpetuated by poverty and unfair terms of trade. That’s why the focus of Fair Trade is to strengthen the position of farmers and workers in international supply chains, help them to become organized within their communities as well as to earn a better deal from the sale of their produce.

Fair Trade is committed to doing more
Over the last year we have:

• sharpened our audit tools
• improved our producer support on this issue
• started a child labor task force
• published child labor position paper
• provided input for producer organizations on developing of an Internal Control System, so that they can better track the activity of their members
• developed a child protection policy and procedures which is being implemented
• engaged local NGOs for partnerships on joint projects
• provided extra visits to train and support producers
• commenced training on child labor and child protection in FLO and FLO-CERT

United effort to eradicate child labor
Fair Trade is doing its part to alleviate poverty and prevent child labor through a strategy that enables producers to empower themselves, long term trade relations and partner engagement. Our plan of action for the future now includes:

• Building more training, tools and partnerships with expert organizations
• Improving our ongoing on-site support to cooperatives and their members, awareness raising
• Support in building partnerships between coops and experts and NGOs
• Training Fair Trade local liaison officers on child labor and child protection
• Scaling up our program of visits to Ivory Coast for child labor and child protection training at all Fair Trade coops
• Organizing multi-stakeholder discussion to inform FLO future direction and policy
• Publishing a new and improved child labor policy by the Summer of 2010
• FLO-Cert training for auditors and staff

What does Fair Trade guarantee?
At present, no one person or system can provide a 100 percent guarantee that chocolate is free of child labor. What the Fair Trade system guarantees is that if we find breaches of our standards, we will take immediate action. We will act to protect children. We will act to prevent cocoa from farms proved to be using child labor from entering the Fair Trade system. And we will act to support farming communities in tackling problems so that they can continue to trade their way out of poverty.

Fair Trade is committed to combating child labor.

• Fair Trade guarantees standards that prohibit child labor.
• Fair Trade guarantees a rigorous certification and audit system designed to detect cases of child labor
• Fair Trade guarantees that we act immediately when cases are found to protect the children involved and secure their safety.
• Fair Trade guarantees that farmers receive additional premiums that they can use to improve life in their own communities, and to develop their own programs

Interested? Learn more.
FLO’s Position Paper on Child Labor
Fact Sheet on Child Labor
Standards for small-scale producers
Producer standards for hired labor

This post has been adapted from an item posted on FLO’s website.

^{1 United Nations
2 United Nations
3 International Institute of Tropical Agriculture 2002
4 International Labor Organization ILO 2007}

Sourced from: Fair Trade Certified ™ Blog

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This post is written by Melanie Brooks, Communications and Media Coordinator for CARE. She is currently in Haiti.

Feb. 7, 2010

Night falls, and one by one, the candles flicker on in the camps — tiny pinpricks of light in a city clad in darkness. As the sun retreats, the muffled cries begin. And the women creep deeper into their flimsy shelters of bed sheets and plastic tarps, praying for the morning to come.

The women here talk of 'mauvais esprits' (bad spirits) stalking the survivors of the devastating earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people in Haiti Jan. 12. Stories of rape are spreading like wildfire through the camps, where hundreds of thousands of people are huddled together under flimsy shelters, sleeping cheek by jowl.

“It happens at night,” said Hannah, a nurse who sleeps in a makeshift tent in a crowded camp in Pacot, one of the most dangerous spontaneous camps that has sprung up in the city of Port-au-Prince after the quake. She speaks softly, tilting her head so as not to be overheard.

“Young men come with weapons, and rape the women. They haven't reported it, because the services don't exist anymore. The hospitals, the police — everything was destroyed in the earthquake.”

Cases of rape and sexual violence were high even before the earthquake, and rates of violence have increased after previous disasters. Darkened streets due to lack of electricity, crowded makeshift camps and unprotected bathing and toilet areas leave women and girls particularly vulnerable to harassment and sexual violence. Husbands and brothers try to provide protection, and women pass whispered warnings to each other.

But every night as darkness falls, the terror starts anew.

“We cry. We sleep. But it is a half-sleep; we are always waiting for something to happen,” said Hannah. “In my family, there is always someone keeping watch outside while the others sleep. I have a five-year-old daughter, and I'm terrified for her. They have no pity. There are men who rape girls as young as six months old in Haiti.”

In the rural areas around Léogâne, women talk of the added fear of escaped convicts from the collapsed prison roaming the countryside.

“At night, we are afraid. We hear stories of rapes in the camp next to ours,” said 23-year-old Rachelle, casting a furtive look over her shoulder. “There's nothing we can do. There's no protection. Men have started following us to the street to watch us bathe. We are afraid they will come back at night.”

The women have simple requests: tents to be safe, bathing facilities for women in a well-lit area, separate toilets for men and women. CARE is working to meet those needs, but it is a long-term solution to the plague of sexual violence in Haiti that is crucial.

“In the short-term, we need to make confidential clinical services available to treat survivors of rape including psychosocial support and security. Women need to know where they can get these services. At the same time we must do all we can to prevent it. Sexual violence was a problem in Haiti before the earthquake and we know it increases in these types of situations,” said Janet Meyers, CARE's Senior Advisor for Sexual and Reproductive Health in Emergencies. “After the earthquake, everyone is sleeping in camps. They have enough problems, without this fear as well.”

CARE is working to re-establish reporting procedures, and ensuring confidential, quality services, including clinical management of rape, emergency contraception and psychosocial support, are available to treat survivors of rape and sexual violence.

But for women like Hannah and Rachelle, the time needed to make those changes are measured in the slow passing of each dark Haiti night, waiting for the mauvais esprits to pass by their tent.

Names have been changed to protect identities.

via Reuters AlertNet — Bad spirits stalk Haiti camps.

Improving conditions of detention

“Detention visits are the backbone of our operations in the Philippines, a country which has experienced decades of internal armed conflicts,” said Jean-Daniel Tauxe, the ICRC’s head of delegation in Manila. “We have seen that the overcrowding of jails and prisons has serious consequences on detainees’ living conditions and health. Our usual practice of recommending improvements and providing technical support to the detaining authorities was not enough, so we developed a new, complementary strategy. In partnership with government officials and national agencies, we are planning and implementing changes for the benefit of all detainees.”

Throughout 2009, the ICRC carried out 234 visits to over 66,000 detainees held in 139 places of detention. Together with the Philippine National Red Cross, the ICRC facilitated family visits for 312 inmates held far from their homes.

Access to safe water, sanitation, health care and acceptable living conditions is a major problem in overcrowded detention facilities. Last year, the ICRC:

• carried out renovation projects benefiting more than 11,000 inmates in 22 jails;
• supplied medical items and equipment to seven prison infirmaries and provided over 120 detainees needing immediate access to health care with the help they required;
• provided instruction for over 60 people in internationally recognized standards relating to water, sanitation, hygiene and living conditions generally in jails;
• assisted almost 2,000 detainees in four prisons affected by flooding in the aftermath of tropical storm Ondoy.

Another serious concern in overcrowded detention facilities is the spread of tuberculosis (TB). “Worldwide, tuberculosis is one of the leading causes of illness and death among inmates, and this is particularly true in countries with a high TB prevalence,” said Dr Robert Paterson, an ICRC health coordinator. Overcrowding, an unhealthy manner of living and insufficient ventilation are among the factors that spread the disease among inmates. “You cannot keep TB behind bars: it readily escapes to affect the wider community, so controlling TB in jails is fundamental to protecting the general population against the illness.”

Concerns about the spread of TB have prompted the ICRC to help implement the national tuberculosis programme, involving 30,000 inmates in seven pilot jails and prisons, in cooperation with the national agencies concerned and the World Health Organization.

Legal and procedural problems, which delay the processing of cases, are the root cause of overcrowding. Bringing together those who can address these issues is essential to finding durable solutions. A pilot project guided by this principle took place in Manila City Jail at the end of 2009. Representatives of the various agencies involved in processing inmates’ files reviewed the most urgent cases, identified hurdles within the criminal justice system and provided means of overcoming them. As a result, a backlog of 250 cases was cleared. The strategy will expand to other jails in 2010.

The results of several initiatives addressing various aspects of jail congestion as well as suggestions for the future will be discussed at a national conference due to take place in Manila in March. Representatives of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, the Bureau of Corrections, the Supreme Court, the Department of Health and other national agencies will be attending.

via Philippines: protecting life and dignity in places of detention.

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By Michael Ireland

Chief Correspondent, ASSIST News Service

NASHVILLE, TN/ NEW YORK, NY (ANS) — Soles4Souls, the international charity dedicated to distributing new and gently worn shoes to those in need all over the world, will send more than 70,000 pairs of infants and children's shoes to Haiti.

The shoes are in support of Soles4Souls commitment to send more than 1.3 Million pairs of shoes to the devastated region.

They are being donated to Sole4Shoes by BCNY International, a New York-based fashion footwear manufacturer, servicing and supplying the major North American retailers with womens, kids and mens product, and Synclaire Brands, a New York-based company that is the footwear licensee for such brands as Kors Michael Kors, Stuart Weitzman, Paris Blues, True Jackson, and Garanimals.

Soles4Souls has partnered with other organizations on the ground in Haiti to transport and distribute the aid.

More than 30,000 pairs of shoes, including work boots, rain boots, children’s athletic shoes and clothing items, have already been distributed in Haiti. The shoe charity announced it will continue to send aid to the region throughout 2010 as part of their sustainable efforts to rebuild the country.

“The mission to bring hope to the people of Haiti is well underway,” said Wayne Elsey, Founder and CEO of Soles4Souls. “With the help of our friends at BCNY International / Synclaire Brands, Haitian’s can begin to rebuild their lives and look forward to a brighter day.”

“As a company and as individuals, we have always been committed to Souls4Soles in all of their global efforts and we will continue to support their generosity around the world in distributing footwear to those in need,” said Evan Cagner, President BCNY International / Synclaire Brands.

“When we saw what happened in Haiti, we knew we had to do something for the children. They are the future of Haiti and hopefully the footwear will help them,” said Bruce Cagner, CEO BCNY International / Synclaire Brands.

Soles4Souls is a Nashville-based charity that collects shoes from warehouses of footwear companies and the closets of people like you. We distribute these shoes, free of charge, to people in need around the world.

Since 2005, Soles4Souls has given away over 7 million pairs of new and gently worn shoes (currently distributing one pair every 9 seconds). The shoes have been distributed in 125 countries, including Haiti, Kenya, Nepal and the United States. Soles4Souls is a 501©(3) recognized by the IRS and donating parties are eligible for tax advantages.

For more information on how to get involved and donate to the victims in Haiti, visit www.giveshoes.org .

via Fashion Shoe Companies Donate More Than 70,000 Pairs of Children’s Shoes to Soles4souls® Inc, The Shoe Charity for Haitian Earthquake Victims.

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The 13th Amendment to the Constitution proclaimed that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude… shall exist within the United States.” Though 145 years have passed, slavery continues to flourish and more people are enslaved today than ever before. Nevertheless, Freedom Day honors an important milestone for eradicating slavery and acknowledging the fundamental aberration of the crime. The day also serves as an opportunity for anti-trafficking organizations and activists to revitalize their work.

As President Obama stated in his proclamation “The United States was founded on the principle that all people are born with an unalienable right to freedom — an ideal that has driven the engine of American progress throughout our history. As a Nation, we have known moments of great darkness and greater light; and dim years of chattel slavery illuminated and brought to an end by President Lincoln's actions and a painful Civil War. Yet even today, the darkness and inhumanity of enslavement exists. Millions of people worldwide are held in compelled service, as well as thousands within the United States… [W]e acknowledge that forms of slavery still exist in the modern era, and we recommit ourselves to stopping the human traffickers who ply this horrific trade.”

National Freedom Day is an opportunity to honor and remember the important work to eradicate slavery that has been done and to recommit efforts to deliver on the 13th Ammendment's declaration that slavery shall not exist in the United States, while expanding that promise so that slavery does not exist anywhere in the world.

Picture by Josh Nichols

via The Human Trafficking Project: National Freedom Day 2010.

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From this Associated Press article that we found at NPR, we read more about reaction to the Gates Foundation statement.

Gates said the commitment more than doubles the $4.5 billion the foundation has given to vaccine research over the years.

The foundation said up to 7.6 million children under 5 could be saved through 2019 as a result of the donation. It also estimates that an additional 1.1 million kids would be saved if a malaria vaccine can be introduced by 2014. A tuberculosis vaccine would prevent even more deaths.

“Vaccines are a miracle,” said Melinda Gates. “With just a few doses, they can prevent deadly diseases for a lifetime.”

Margaret Chan, head of the World Health Organization, called the Gates contribution unprecedented and urged governments and private donors to add to the initiative.

“An additional two million deaths in children under five years could be prevented by 2015 through widespread use of new vaccines and a 10 percent increase in global vaccination coverage,” said Chan.

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John O’Malley Burns has been volunteering selflessly in Haiti for the past four years. His commitment? Working with smallholder mango farmers to ensure they receive more of the value of their crops and are encouraged to plant and nurture more trees.

The fledgling Mouvman Moun Mango (also known as 3M) program was just starting to make progress. Thanks to farmers’ hard work and sales of Fair Trade Certified™ mangoes through Whole Foods Market, farmers throughout five different rural regions in Haiti got a bonus at Christmas time. This was meant to help them hold out for better (Fair Trade!) prices during the harvest season and avoid pre-selling their entire crop to middlemen at very low prices.

But the financial, technical, and organizational capacity of these groups was extremely fragile — even before the earthquake. Now, without help to rebuild infrastructure and train leaders, particularly where there have been casualties, the whole program is at risk of collapse.

John writes to us, describing the aftermath of the earthquake: “Downtown Port-au-Prince has been reduced in population by a third or half. Families are still trying to get in touch and find the one or two unaccounted-for people. Communities are working together to organize their own clean up. Tent cities have sprung up on all available open land and few people have gone back indoors to sleep. They construct shelter made of poles and repurposed wood from the rubble — using quilts, sheets, and cardboard as doors.”

He goes on to reflect “After so many years I continue to be amazed by the resilience of the people dealing with the worst of catastrophes. There is an extraordinary opportunity here to bring this economically and socially fractured country together around the common and uniting goal of rebuilding after the quake. How can we make the coming change a lasting change to get the country back to better than it was?”

If you would like to support the effort to build an equitable, sustainable, mango-tree-filled Haiti, please visit http://www.eco-ventures.org/content/view/108/92/ to make a tax-deductible donation via Eco-Ventures, and please remember to specify donated funds are to be directed to Mouvman Moun Mango or 3M.

Checks should be addressed:

EcoVentures International

c/o Lauren Frederic,

1519 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 200

Washington DC 20036.

Thank you for supporting the rebuilding of Haiti.

Sourced from: Fair Trade Certified ™ Blog

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