Doing the slavery footprint survey revealed that 42 slaves work for me.

Slavery is a when individuals are owned by others who control where they live and what work they do. It is when someone is deceived or coerced into a situation for someone else’s profit. Victims are forced to work under the threat of violence for little or no pay. They are afraid of walking away.

According to Made in a Free World, today over 29 million people live under these conditions with the majority exploited for manual economic labour in the private sector. The estimated profit from slavery is $150 billion a year. Shocking.

Read some of the facts and stories on Made in a Free World and they will break your heart.

Made in a Free World has developed what I thought was a a great tool to help companies protect freedom in their supply chains. Called FRDM, the tool helps companies find where there is forced labour and unfair conditions in their supply chain, compelling them to commit to using their influence to change that.

Here is a video of company owners who believe in using suppliers who treat their employees fairly, who have used this tool. The video gave me goosebumps. Watch it.

On the site there is the option to send letters to big companies demanding them to examine their supply chains to ensure that they are not indulging in any type of forced labour or slavery. I sent the letter to all the companies on the list. It takes 10 seconds to do it, and I urge you to do the same. If you want to go further, there are many ways to support the movement that you can find here.

Doing something can be as easy as shopping responsibly. What we buy is a reflection of us. We can create a significant impact just by buying from and supporting companies that are doing the right thing.

#startwithsomething

-A