Children Need to Be Allowed to Be Children

After receiving thousands of letters by members of Change.ORG, the Department of Labor has finally produced a long awaited, 194 page list of goods produced by children and forced labor. Slave labor in other words. Now that the list has come out and made public, what are you going to do about it? It is now up to the consumer to either buy this merchandise, making it worthwhile for the slave laborers to force people - TO FORCE CHILDREN to work under less than adequate conditions for less than competitive pay if any, while making an excellent profit at the expense of others, or are you going to avoid purchasing the goods made in this manner by people against their will? It's a simple question. It may take a little more investigation to find the product you want or need made by people who do so by choice, and it may be more expensive when you find it, but picture your own children or any children in your life being forced to toil for hours for little or no compensation so someone else can profit from their efforts. Do you really want or need that product that badly?

The most common goods made using forced and/or child labor are cotton, sugarcane, tobacco, coffee, rice, and cocoa, bricks, garments, carpets, footwear, gold, and coal. More goods were found to be made with child labor than forced labor, but is was found that 122 goods in 58 countries are produced with a significant incidence of forced labor, child labor, or both.

The breakdown of the worst offenders by country is as follows:

Bolivia: nuts, cattle, corn, and sugar

Burma: bamboo, beans, bricks, jade, nuts, rice rubber, rubies, sesame, shrimp, sugarcane, sunflowers, and teak

China: artificial flowers, bricks, Christmas decorations, coal, cotton, electronics, garments, footwear, fireworks, nails, and toys

India: bricks, carpets, cottonseed, textiles, and garments

Nepal: bricks, carpets, textiles, and stones

North Korea: bricks, cement, coal, gold, iron, and textiles

Pakistan: bricks, carpet, coal, cotton, sugar, and wheat

If there is no market for these products, there is no need to force anyone to produce them. The children can then go home and play, or rest, or just be children. Especially with the holidays ahead, please investigate the sources of your purchases before you make them. It will be the best holiday present you can give these children.