Companies banned from selling goods produced by child and slave labor in Africa

The New York Times reports that President Obama has signed legislation that will effectively ban “American imports of fish caught by forced labor in Southeast Asia, part of a flurry of recent actions by the White House, federal agencies, international trade unions and foreign governments to address lawlessness at sea and to better protect offshore workers and the marine environment.”

After 85 years, the United States finally stopped the flow of products that was produced by the work of enslaved people.

“The old system that leaves the door open to child or slave labor if it’s used to make a product that isn’t made here in the U.S. — that system absolutely must end, and it will,” U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who spoke against the loophole on the Senate floor, said last Thursday in a statement.

The bill will also allow enforcement agencies to crack down on slave labor domestically.

In recent months, Nestlé has come under fire for using slave labor in the Ivory Coast to produce cocoa beans for chocolate production. In addition to that, the company has also used Thai slaves for “fish-farming.” Atlanta Black Star reported.

The United Nations reports that there are currently 21 million enslaved people (most of whom come from Africa) forced to do labor that mostly benefit European nations and the west. The amount of money these people have produced is estimated at $150 billion annually.

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