Dressed It is a little known fact that men and women, boys and girls are trafficked to work in the cotton industry. It is also a fact that most people do not consider this when buying their clothes. Lured in by fashionable clothes do we stop and think about how the cotton is spun, dyed and woven in factories? Likewise are businesses aware of the unethical and at times criminal behaviour of their suppliers? A report by LexisNexis® and STOP THE TRAFFIK to investigate the link between cotton and human trafficking. Contents Definition of Terms _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3 Facts & Figures on Human Trafficking _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 4 The LexisNexis® Human TraffickingAwareness Index™ _ _ _ _ _ _ 5 Fast Facts on the Textile Industry and Cotton _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 6 What is the Link Between Cotton and Human Trafficking? _ _ _ _ _ 7 Cotton Seed _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 8 Cotton Harvesting _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 10 Ginning _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _12 Spinning and Weaving _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _14 AUTHOR Cut-Make-Trim _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 16 Jantine Werdmüller von Elgg Towards Change _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 22 Jantine is Global Project and Development Coordinator at STOP THE TRAFFIK, an NGO which exists to prevent human trafficking by building As a Consumer You Have a Powerful Voice _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 28 resilient communities across the world. Jantine joined STOP THE TRAFFIK in 2010 and has designed and implemented projects in the UK, Brazil, What Steps Can a Business Take? _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _31 Slovakia and the US. Jantine also works with the private sector on the development and Endnotes _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 32 delivery of STOP THE TRAFFIK’s Finance Against Trafficking initiative. 2 HUMAN TRAFFICKING " Human trafficking is defined as the trade in humans including by use of threat or the force, or other forms of coercion, for the purpose of exploiting those humans, such as for sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, and extraction of organs or tissues. As reported in The Human Trafficking Handbook (edited and collated by award-winning human rights barrister Parosha Chandran) it is, along with arms dealing and the illegal drugs trade, one of the three largest criminal industries in the world, with an estimated $32 billion in annual profits." Definition of Terms Tessa-Jane Beaumont, Legal Director for LexisNexis® International Forced labour Child Work Child Labour The Worst Forms “Forced or compulsory labour shall In some developing countries around The International Labour Organisation of Child Labour mean all work or service which is the world it is seen as normal for (ILO) characterises the term ‘child The Worst Forms of Child Labour exacted from any person under the children to engage in work e.g. helping labour’ as work that deprives children of (WFCL) is defined by Article 3 of menace of any penalty and for which on their parents’ farm. Child work their childhood, their potential and their ILO Convention 182: the said person has not offered remains a means of socialisation and dignity, and that is harmful to physical himself voluntarily.”1 education, and skills development and mental development. Љ all forms of slavery or practices prepares children for their future adult similar to slavery, such as the sale It refers to work that is mentally, life. Parents, relatives or community and trafficking of children physically, socially or morally dangerous Bonded labour/Debt members may be involved in training Љ the use, procuring or offering of a and harmful to children and interferes the child in a particular trade. child for prostitution bondage with their schooling by depriving them The “status or condition arising from Љ the use, procuring or offering of a That said, it should also be noted that of the opportunity to: child for illicit activities a pledge by a debtor of his personal children have rights as stated in the Љ attend school; Љ work which, by its nature or the services or of those of a person under UN Convention on the Rights of the Љ obliging them to leave school circumstances in which it is carried his control as security for a debt if the Child, “which include rights to adequate value of these services as reasonably prematurely; or out, is likely to harm the health, food, shelter, clean water, formal 4 Љ requiring them to attempt to safety or morals of children. assessed is not applied towards the education, primary health care, leisure combine school attendance with liquidation of the debt or the length and recreation, cultural activities and excessively long and heavy work.3 and nature of those services are not information about their rights.” respectively limited and defined”.2 The ILO Minimum Age for Employment Convention (C138) delimits the age at which children are allowed to work as age 15. Light work, as long as it does not hamper school attendance, is allowed at 13 and 14. 3 Facts & Figures on Human Trafficking " In 2013 there “Traffickers range from opportunistic individuals to criminal were 4,746 organisations to employment recruiting companies, experts say. Victims don’t fit a single profile, varying in gender, age, education level, origin and other factors. The control exercised over a victim by a trafficker is convictions sometimes physical and always psychological. Many times the trafficker is keeping them in a state of limbo and hope, that this will somehow get better if they just comply with a set of demands or requirements or obligations,” says Gary of human Haugen, a former Justice Department official and founder of International Justice Mission.5 Due to the hidden and illegal nature of human trafficking, trafficking gathering statistics on the scale of the problem is difficult. Profits from human trafficking are estimated by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to be $32 billion annually.6 The estimated amount of money spent on 7 worldwide, addressing human trafficking is just US$350 million. According to the International Labour Organisation 2012 Global Estimate of Forced Labour, there are some 20.9 million people in forced labour, bonded labour and which was an commercial sexual servitude at any given time, which is echoed in the 2014 Trafficking In Persons Report by the US State Department.8 upward trend The 2013 Global Slavery Index estimates that there are 29.8 million people in modern slavery globally.9 Matt 11 Friedman, an international human trafficking expert, says that “there are 1.1 million new victims a year, which is from 2012.” 3,000 victims a day, 125 per hour”.10 These statistics could represent an underestimation, but are the most credible Luis CdeBaca, Ambassador-at-Large, Office to Monitor numbers available. and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the US government 4 The LexisNexis® Human Trafficking Awareness Index™ The Index is intended to support the work 2013 until 31 March 2014. Representing a Using a licensed collection of campaigners and other organisations tiny fraction of the articles within the Nexis in understanding perceptions of human database they nonetheless provide deep of the most influential news trafficking in its various forms. This report insight into this issue with 294 of these was developed in partnership with STOP THE articles directly mentioning cotton. sources from more than TRAFFIK as part of this Rule of Law initiative. We examine the link between cotton and STOP THE TRAFFIK (www.stopthetraffik.org) ® human trafficking by analysing: 120 countries, the LexisNexis is a global campaigning organisation working to prevent human trafficking. For further Љ the different tiers in the fashion supply Human Trafficking Awareness information on the LexisNexis® Human chain in which trafficking occurs Trafficking Awareness Index™ please visit Љ media coverage of countries involved in the Index™ measures media bis.lexisnexis.co.uk/blog or email fashion industry across the world related [email protected]. to the issue Љ how Non-Governmental Organisations coverage of human trafficking This report focuses on the 2,618 English drive media awareness and influence key language articles identified in the LexisNexis® initiatives for change Human Trafficking Awareness Index™ directly to highlight key trends at Љ the role companies have to play in establishing relating to human trafficking and the global a traffik-free fashion industry national and global levels. garment supply chain in the period 1 January 5 1. COTTON SEED Fast Facts on the The planting and cultivating of the cotton plant. This part of the cotton Textile Industry producing process requires long hours of cleaning, weeding, and Cotton seeding, hauling water to fields, then standing and individually cross-pollinating each flower by hand.13 Worth over US$ 1 trillion worldwide 2. COTTON harvesting 3. GINNING This is where the cotton is picked from Separating the fibre from the seeds. Contributes to 7% of the plant.