HOPE&RESQ traveled to Jamaica for a week in October on the first of a series of trips to the Caribbean.

The visit was primarily a fact-finding trip for HOPE&RESQ to establish relationships and assess the future possibilities.  With sights on a documentary and solutions to trafficking on the island, Founder Joel Sheagren networked with professionals and locals, getting to know the land and the faces behind the need in Jamaica.

During his visit, Sheagren gained significant factual information from Jamaican sources, who explained that historical slavery still plays a large role in the breakdown of the family.  Currently, about 80% of children are born out of wedlock and 300 children go missing each month with little resources to track them thereafter.  The Caribbean is also ranked 7th in the world for homicide.

HOPE&RESQ was honored to financially support Hear the Children’s Cry, a child advocacy group in Kingston, during this trip.  Sheagren also secured support from educators and government officials to develop anti-trafficking workshops for February 2012 in Jamaica.  HOPE&RESQ established connections with the National Taskforce Against Trafficking in Persons Committee and the Jamaican Diaspora advisory board as well.

After one week, Sheagren saw “wonderful momentum” toward networking goals, with invitations for short and long term collaboration.  HOPE&RESQ plans to return to Jamaica for a few days in September to follow up with the National Task Force,  meet with a local safe house, develop workshop curriculum, develop stories for our documentary, and plan outreach to the public schools.

Thank you for supporting us and we look forward excitedly for HOPE&RESQ’s relationship with Jamaica!

HOPE & RESQ met with Hear The Children’s Cry, an outstanding child advocacy organization based in Kingston, Jamaica a few weeks ago. They offer programs for children and youth, also speaking out on behalf of the 200 children who go missing every month in Jamaica. They are a great resource for children and family in trafficking and slavery prevention.  We were honored to financially seed into their efforts during our time in the Caribbean in October.

Please review their website to learn more: http://hearthechildrencry.com

Eyes on Cote D’Ivoire

In conjunction with coffee and oil exports, cocoa is keeping Cote D’Ivoire financially afloat and aiding the country in paying interest on external debts in excess of $11 billion, according to The World Factbook.

Cote D’Ivoire is on the Tier 2 watch list for the third consecutive year, a destination country for incoming slaves according to the State Department’s 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report.  Farmers in the cocoa nation use slave labor to offset low selling prices, purchasing young men from trafficked from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ghana, according to the report.

Two-thirds of the world’s cocoa, two-fifths of it coming from Cote D’Ivoire, is consumed by North America and Western Europe, according to 2005 The Cocoa Industry and Child Labour report.

Political unrest, inadequate infrastructure, and debt have created a nest for slavery in Cote D’Ivoire.  The government has not been stable for years, with multiple recent coup attempts and now a bloody battle for the presidency. Traffickers and buyers are safe from detection and consequence while the government deepens wounds that need to heal.

Many cocoa farms are inaccessible by road, as shown by the BBC documentary, further preventing accountability to anti-slavery laws.  Without government leadership, poverty prevails in driving young men and women into slavery and horrible working conditions.  Children from surrounding countries are drawn to the possibility of work in the countless Cote D’Ivoire cocoa farms, some unaware of the slavery that awaits them.

Responsible Action

Our initial reaction to news that our cocoa passed through the hands of a slave might be to boycott chocolate altogether. This is not a solution, however, for two reasons.

Firstly, since slave labor is a result of low chocolate prices, consumer boycotts are counterproductive. Secondly, Professor Kevin Bales, another voice in the above mentioned BBC Documentary, revealed that widespread use of slave labor in the cocoa fields of Cote D’Ivoire creates difficulty in making a “slave free guarantee,” especially as cocoa enters the global market and its origins are lost.

Chocolate lovers can affect the global market by purchasing slave-free chocolate. Consumers have the power of persuasion on their side because chocolate producers pay attention to purchasing trends. When the cocoa industry understands its consumers are committed to slave-free product, they will be motivated toward change.

As for Cote D’Ivoire, most of us will not set foot on its cocoa-growing soil in our lifetime. After reading this article, you may be more informed and aware, but knowledge that sits in the brain and never reaches the will becomes stale. Cote D’Ivoire has a place in your life now, whether suffering Ivoirians and slaves move you to vote differently, or whether you decide to study economic development to aid in restoring West Africa. There is no bulleted take-away list, but now you have the opportunity to ask, what can I do? A good place to start might be making a commitment to buy slave-free chocolate now that you know the truth.

If you would like to take action, you can buy slave-free chocolate by visiting our store. (still need to set up vendors)

Amy Ritter is studying international journalism at Biola University in Southern CA and has written extensively on the issue of child slave labor and has interned with Hope & Rescue, helping raise awareness of trafficking.

The following resources were used in the writing of this article:

Future of Africa Plan

Cote D’Ivoire Country Profile

Child Exploitation in Cote D’Ivoire

CIA World Factbook

Trafficking in Persons Report

Slavery: A Global Investigation

The World of Child Labor

West Africa Summary, Barry Callebaut

Fighting forces abuse, threaten civilians

Human Rights and Development

The Cost of Coercion: A 2009 Report

World Bank Profile: Cote D’Ivoire

Constance, is an all to real story of how the internet is used globally in the trafficking of youth into the commercial sex industry. We applaud Mr. J Medeiros in speaking out through music in a synchronic and heart-wrenching hip-hop song and video story of a young Filipina girl who is boldly exploited and sold online to another “john” in the U.S. who watches her on his computer.

Credit http://mrjmedeiros.com

Have you ever looked into a child’s eyes? The eyes of a child are mesmerizing. They are so full of emotion, so clear and brimming with life. Look into the eyes of your son or daughter, your nephew or niece, your little brother or sister. Their eyes truly are the windows to their souls. Childhood is such a precious time, and there is nothing more beautiful than seeing a child enjoying the life God has given them.

I have seen many children, however, whose eyes portray a very different kind of life; children whose eyes are dark with pain, whose beautiful eyes have nearly lost the life God put in them. There are children, both overseas and here in the U.S., whose lives and freedom have been stolen from them. They have known more pain in their short lives that many of us will experience in our lifetimes. They are children who have become victims of sex trafficking.

Every year, an estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked or otherwise forced into sexual slavery (UNICEF). 1.2 million! It pains me to even write that figure. Precious children, robbed of their childhoods, their rights, their dignity, their lives. I have seen children like this, and the pain in their eyes has broken my heart. I have hugged and played with small girls who are being sold every day by their own parents. Such a thing cannot continue. God has put children in our care to love and protect them, to fight for their lives and their destinies.

We have a responsibility to keep the children of the world safe. We cannot ignore their suffering. Ask yourself what you can do to speak out on behalf of trafficked children. If we work together, we can help bring life back into the eyes of the suffering children of the world.

Ahna Boyum and her family have been working with children globally for over 20 years. She currently lives in northern Thailand and works with TawSaeng and is reaching out to children at risk of exploitation in a red light district.

Andrew Hanson of MATTOO (Men Against The Trafficking Of Others) has a powerful message that begins to level things in the uphill road for changing the statistics downward in human trafficking—a message to men for shifting the demand side.

They are educating and engaging men (and the general public) to decrease the demand for commercial sex by uniting the male and female anti-human trafficking movements as a united front against the selling of human beings.

“The valve needs to be turned off” as Andrew states. Men need to be engaged against trafficking if we are to turn the corner in the abolitionist movement.

Check out their efforts at www.mattoo,org