Dept. of Labor Releases List of Slave Made Goods

[Donnachaidh]

http://humantrafficking.change.org/blog/view/department_of_labor_releases_list_of_slave-made_goods

After receiving over 5,400 letters from Change.org community members, the Department of Labor released their long-awaited report on goods produced by child labor and forced labor today. Thank you all for urging DOL to release this important tool for consumers!

This list was mandated by anti-trafficking legislation back in 2005, but the Bush administration dragged their feet for years. Now, thanks to your voices and the hard work of NGOs like Polaris Project and the International Labor Rights Forum, it's finally here. This list is a huge boon for consumers who want to choose slave-free products. With this list, we as consumers can finally hold companies and countries accountable for the slavery they use in making the goods we buy, and we can decisively take action to prevent slavery in the production of consumer goods. Today, we as consumers are more powerful to end slavery than ever before. And you, through Change.org, helped make that happen.

The report tops out at a daunting 194 pages, and can be read in it's entirety here. But let's face it -- no one wants to read 194 page government report, no matter how useful it may be. So here are some of the highlights I've found in my initial read-through:

List can be accessed through the link above --

[Nikki Stone1]

1. "Christmas decorations" Good God!

Thank you for posting this.

[Nikki Stone1]

3. The problem is there are no company names

I'm looking through the report and there are no corporate names so far.

[Quantess]

4. I'm a little disappointed about that.

I didn't find the list to be particularly useful.

[Nikki Stone1]

5. It's a disappointment.

There's no way to target buying in a specific way. There are many clothing manufacturers, for example, that seem to use child or forced labor but it's hard to tell who these are.

[Donnachaidh]

8. bet most of the stuff on this list can be found in Walmart. n/t

[malaise]

2. K & R

Everyone must see this

[SpiralHawk]

6. Are 'Republicon Diapers' on the slave-made list?

Or do Republicons sew them themselves - and their beloved wide-stance eye-patch thongs -- for their Family Values Diaper-sex, um, Flings?

[Feron]

7. Thank you for posting this.

I just wish we had the names of the companies that manufacture and sell these goods.

[Donnachaidh]

9. I do too -- perhaps the group that asked for the list can go for that next. n/t

[stenwin77]

10. Sad that today

children are slaves in many countries. China, particularly.