The shoes you're wearing, the smartphone you're using to check your email, the cup of coffee you're sipping — they're brought to you by slave labor.
That's according to a new Web site put out by the State Department and the anti-slavery organization Slavery Footprint. SlaveryFootprint.org calculates how many slaves it takes to support your lifestyle. An accompanying smartphone app lets consumers find out on the go which products use slave labor.
Using an 11-question survey, the site delves into your closet, takes an inventory of your electronics collection and gets the run down on your eating and personal hygiene habits. If you eat shrimp, you could be supporting slavery in Southeast Asia, where laborers under the threat of violence or sexual assault work 20-hour days. Child slaves in India might have had a hand in mining the mica that makes your makeup sparkle. Slaves in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are heavily involved in the minding of Coltan, a superconductor commonly used in electronics. Cars take 9.0 slaves, according to SlaveryFootprint.org. Smart phones take 3.2. Diapers 1.9.
The average survey respondent has 25 slaves working for them.
Slavery is illegal everywhere but persists all over the world, according to the International Labour Organization. With an estimated 12.3 million to 27 million people around the world trapped in forced labor, there are more slaves today than at any point in human history.
To calculate the slavery footprint, site developers researched slave labor usage in the supply chains of more than 400 of the most popular consumer products. A slave was defined as someone who is "forced to work without pay, being economically exploited and is unable to walk away."
By informing consumers, the site aims to inspire corporations to begin auditing their supply chains for slave labor.
"Brands have done a good job battling sweatshops in developing nations," said Justin Dillon, president of Slavery Footprint. "But many brands and consumers don't know where the supplies, like the cotton in t-shirts or metals in smartphones, come from. Slavery is rampant in all these supply chains and brands will find out where it all comes from when consumers begin to demand that they do."
EMAIL: estuart@desnews.com