Trafficking in everyday products

Much of what drives human trafficking is demand: for inexpensive clothing and electronics, for cheap commodities, and for higher profit margins. Companies in the chocolate, clothing, fishing, and coffee industries have all used trafficked labor in recent years.

The U.S. Bureau of International Labor Affairs keeps a list of goods produced with child or forced labor. As of 2021 it included 156 goods from 77 countries, from gold and bricks to coffee, sugar, and cotton.

How workers get trapped

• Deceptive recruitment: promises of fair wages and a better life hide the reality.
• Debt bondage: workers borrow to pay recruitment fees and cannot work the debt off.
• Isolation: documents are taken and workers are cut off from help.

In the TEDx talk above, Bryan Bessette explains how every purchase supports not just a product, but the way it was made.