Products of Slavery

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• Slavery has been linked to the supply chains of many everyday products and commodities, including shoes, electronics, cocoa, and cotton. 

• Nestle, Mars, and Hershey all source cocoa from West Africa, where cases of child labor and forced labor have been discovered and still persist. 

• Modern slavery is connected to crisps, ice cream, and lipstick through palm oil. The palm oil industry employs over 6 million people. Many are promised high-paying work in another country, only to suffer conditions of forced labor upon arrival. 

• Cotton is in 40% of all textiles and is known to have people enslaved at every stage of the industry, from germination, harvesting, and spinning to manufacturing the clothes. 

• It would cost consumers as little as 1.8% more per item to double the pay of a sweatshop worker. A study showed that consumers would be willing to pay up to 15% more for slavery-free clothing. 

• As many as one in three foreign workers in Malaysia’s electronics sector may be working under conditions of forced labor. 

• Coltan and other “conflict minerals” present in electronic devices often come from forced labor in illegal mining whose profits support armed forces. 

• Forced labor is big business, with profits estimated to be at least $236 billion, or around £194 billion. 

• Some countries have been making efforts to force companies to take steps to ensure their supply chains are slavery-free, including Brazil’s  “Dirty List,” the U.S. Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act and the E.U. has passed legislation banning the import of goods made with forced labor. 

Take Action: End child exploitation in cocoa