What blows my mind about this kind of thing is that we could definitively end this as consumers by just not purchasing products engaged in child labor, slave wages, etc. But these issues are so pervasive (across multiple industries) that we’re either unaware of them or accept them as inevitable.
This a major failing of our societal development and we need to start treating it like one asap.
Every electronic device you own is made from slave labor, the rare-earth elements needed are mined by slaves in Africa, bought by Chinese Slave Owners and then manufactured in China to send to the west
Agreed, that’s a problem too. Like I said, we need to start treating it like a societal failure (not an individual one). I’m not trying to lay out a detailed roadmap here, I’m just complaining online.
Or in this case, actual child slavery - a lot of these children have been kidnapped (sometimes from neighbouring countries), trafficked to a plantation, and made to work for free.
I think people like to imagine that these are all kids working alongside mum and dad for subsistence wages for their families but the reality is often much, much bleaker than that.
Any legal experts here that can offer some insight on how potent this lawsuit is? I haven’t heard of “International Rights Advocates” before this article, but according to the article they lost a Supreme Court case related to this in 2021. That suit was filed on behalf of several former workers, and was dismissed on grounds that their injuries occurred in another country. This suit seems to make more sense to me - there is a federal law banning the import of goods produced with child labor, and that is the law that they are hanging this suit on.
