No product should be tainted by slavery
Help us stop slavery at source.
50 million people are trapped in slavery, a business that generates $150bn a year.
These are just a few of the everyday products that can have slavery in their supply chains.
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Clothing
What is the true cost of cheap fashion?
The International Labour Organisation estimates that 152 million children—more than twice the population of the UK—are engaged in child labour. In the worst cases, these children are living in slavery in desperate conditions. Many child labourers are making textiles and garments to satisfy the demand for cheap fashion in the West. Corners are often cut, making serious injuries and fires commonplace.
Chandramma was trafficked to a silk factory. When local officials and IJM found her, she had been locked away in a tiny, dark cell of the silk factory - her son suffering beside her - for 6 months.
Read Chandramma's story here. -
Jewellery
Was the price of your earrings the price of someone's freedom?
Slave owners in the mining industry have trapped entire families in slavery for generations with no hope of freedom. The work in mines and rock quarries is so dangerous that the use of children in gold and diamond mining officially falls under the worst forms of child labour. -
Mobile Phones
Even the technology industry isn’t immune to slavery in its supply chains.
On average we check our smartphone every 12 minutes. Our addiction to smartphones has led to an increased demand for cobalt, an alloy used in rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. Traffickers are meeting that demand by enslaving children as young as seven to mine cobalt. Every year thousands of young bodies are exposed to toxic dust and mining accidents as a result.Most people don’t know if someone trapped in slavery helped make their smart phone.
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Makeup
Everyday thousands of women across the UK purchase make-up. And everyday thousands of children in South Asia mine mica in rock quarries. But what exactly is mica?
Mica is the mineral that adds shimmer to make-up like eye shadow and lipstick. There are entire families trapped in bonded labour slavery, mining mica in extremely dangerous conditions.
Check if mica is an ingredient in your blusher.
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Roses
Nothing says 'I love you' more than roses. (Except maybe chocolate.) But of the 50+ million people trapped in slavery today, as many as one in four are children—some are forced to work on rose farms until their tiny fingers bleed.
Read about government and IJM operation to bring four boys to safety from slavery on a rose farm. -
Coffee
We drink around 70 million cups of coffee in the UK every day. The unpalatable truth is that some of that coffee has been produced by people in forced labour slavery. Children are denied access to education, starved and abused.
Do you know where your morning caffeine fix is coming from? -
Rice
The world's most common food staple is causing a world of pain. Was the rice in your cupboard produced by sleep-deprived, starving families like Gopi's, working 15-hour days in paddy fields?
Organisations like IJM are on the ground every day helping find people like Gopi and partnering with local police to bring them to safety.
This is what freedom looked like for Gopi's family. -
Chocolate
Arguably one of the most delicious sweet treats in the world!
But there can be a bitter side to the chocolate industry. Cocoa beans used to make chocolate are harvested by farmers who often live on less than $1 a day according to the International Cocoa Initiative. Splitting open cocoa pods with machetes is dangerous work without protective clothing. This work can be done by men, women and children who have been denied their freedom and livelihood.
*Brands photographed are taking steps to help prevent slavery and exploitation
IJM is one of the largest international anti-slavery organisations in the world.
We stop slavery at source by working with local governments and police to find out where slavery is happening, bring people to safety, support survivors to heal, and hold traffickers to account. We’ve helped bring over 100,000 people to safety from slavery and violence worldwide.
Three ways that you that you can help stop slavery in supply chains:
01. Buy Ethically
There are some inspiring brands that are working hard to create a world where all are free. Join us in championing these brands!
We have incredible power as consumers—if you're unsure whether or not there is slavery in the supply chains of brands you love, just ask them. Check out our blog that will give you tips on how to buy ethically and write to brands that you love.
02. Stop Slavery at Source
Slavery and exploitation in supply chains needs to be stopped at source. IJM finds out where slavery is taking place, brings people to safety and helps to hold criminals to account. Through our work with local authorities, we've seen dramatic reductions in slavery in the places where we work of up to 86%.
You can take action to end modern slavery by becoming a Freedom Partner now.
03. Raise Your Voice
Nothing happens just because we are aware of modern slavery, but nothing can happen until we are.
Your voice matters. Use it to let people know that slavery still exists and it's closer to home than people think by raising your voice on social media.
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We all have a part to play in building a world where all are free.
