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Proposed CSAI—Ending Slavery

Issue

Modern slavery [see footnote 1.] is among the most pervasive human rights violations. Approximately 27 million people worldwide [see footnote 2.] are enslaved, more than ever throughout history. Their stolen labor creates products consumed every day [see footnote 3.] . However, this egregious violation is not inevitable [see footnote 4.] . We can finish the work begun by our abolitionist forebears [see footnote 5.] .

Grounding in Unitarian Universalism

Slavery is an affront to our principles, stripping people of their dignity and the worth of their labor. It is intrinsically violent, unjust and degrading. Through our faith and history, we have affirmed that all people have inherent worth and dignity, and that freedom is a fundamental right for everyone.

Topics for Congregational Study

• Slavery has been part of many cultures throughout history. Do you know your own family’s ancestral history? Were they enslaved? Were they slave holders? How does this impact how your feelings and actions regarding slavery today [see footnote 6.] ?
• Many products we use every day are manufactured using slave labor [see footnote 7.] . How do our culture and lifestyles contribute to allowing slavery to exist, and how can we change this?
• In America, slavery and human trafficking are often hidden in plain sight. We can all learn the warning signs of slavery and trafficking. If you saw the warning signs of slavery what actions would you take and who would you contact [see footnote 8.] ?
• Can you imagine the feeling of being emancipated? What does one need after experiencing enslavement? Does emancipation alone eradicate the culture that allows for human enslavement?
• What are the local organizations or services in your area that support victims of trafficking and slavery?
• Many experts believe that we have never been closer to ending slavery [see footnote 9.] . What can you do to end slavery?
• How does US foreign policy play a role in facilitating trafficking and slavery [see footnote 10.] ?
• How does our faith tradition’s commitment to healthy sexuality impact our understanding of commercial sex, sex trafficking, and the wellbeing of those involved in both systems?

Possible Congregational/District Action

• Most Americans are unaware of the prevalence of modern slavery. Contact other local faith leaders, communities and local media to let them know your congregation is addressing modern slavery.
• Incorporate information about ending modern slavery via book discussions [see footnote 11.] , DVD showings [see footnote 12.] for youth [see footnote 13.] and adults.
• Support local, national and international organizations that address societal level factors that contribute to the enslavement of human being, including reducing poverty and empowering marginalized groups.
• Purchase Fair Trade products at your congregation. Where Fair Trade options aren’t available, urge companies to take responsibility for labor practices in their product chains.
• Contact local law enforcement and other authorities to find out if they have policies, protocols, and training in place.
• Look at the capitalistic system that allows for a culture where human beings can be rendered disposable [see footnote 14.] .

Related Prior Social Witness Statements

The last time modern slavery was addressed as a General Resolution was in 1965 [see footnote 15.] and in 1967 [see footnote 16.] [see footnote 17.] . Modern slavery was also proposed as a study action area at the 2010 GA.

Footnotes

1. Experts in modern slavery define a slave as a person who is forced to work without pay beyond bare survival, and who is not free to leave, either through violence or through threat of violence. See Free The Slaves or Anti-Slavery or any of the books referenced below.
    
2. Bitter Harvest, UU World, November/December, Kimberly French. See The Slave Next Door: Human trafficking and slavery in America today by Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter (Berkeley; Univ. of California Press, 2009) or the FBI Human Trafficking website.
   
   Additionally, in 2010 the United States was for the first time ranked in the Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report with the finding that within the US women, men, and children were forced into slavery through “forced labor, debt bondage, and forced prostitution.” The report ranks 177 countries based on “the extent of government action to combat trafficking,” with Tier 1 as the highest ranking. A Tier 1 ranking indicates that a state government has recognized the problem of human trafficking, has made efforts to address the issue, and meets the TVPA’s (Torture Victim Protection Act) minimum standards. A country with a Tier 2 rating has not met the standards but has made efforts to do so, while a Tier 3 rating means the country has not met the minimum standards and has not attempted to do so. The United States received a Tier 1 rating.
    
3. For example, Free the Slaves has a 25 year plan for ending slavery, detailed in Ending Slavery: How We Free Today's Slaves by Kevin Bales (Berkeley; Univ of California Press, 2007).
    
4. There is a strong and vibrant movement to end slavery. Free the Slaves is an organization with a mission of ending all forms of slavery globally through support of grassroots liberation and rehabilitation actions. Anti-Slavery International, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1839, also works to eliminate all forms of slavery. There are also countless organizations that deal with specific regions or aspects of eliminating slavery, some of which have a specific focus on putting our Unitarian Universalist (UU) principles into action.
   
   The Unitarian Universalist Holdeen India Program works with key leaders and organizations of India's most marginalized and disadvantaged peoples in their struggle to secure human rights and economic and social justice. Part of their focus area is working to eliminate debt bondage in India. Shramajivee Mahila Samity, one of their partner organizations, is the recipient of the 2009 Harriet Tubman award given to a community-based organization working to dismantle slavery. SMS goes undercover to expose traffickers, helps slavery survivors return home and raises awareness within villages to slave-proof their communities.
   
   The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) advances human rights and social justice in the United States and around the world. UUSC works by partnering with grassroots organizations, including those whose work prevents slavery. For example, one partner, the Rock Women’s Group, educates at-risk youth in Kenya who are vulnerable to trafficking. UUSC also helps UU children throughout the country participate in Reverse Trick-or-Treating, which educates children about child and slave labor in the cocoa industry.
   
   Unitarian Universalists Against Slavery is a small organization focused on educating the UU community about slavery. It brought speakers to the 2003 General Assembly to speak about slavery. This organization is now dormant.
    
5. Unitarians and Universalists have a strong history of opposing slavery. William Ellery Channing wrote a book entitled Slavery, where he stated that to enslave a person was an insult to God. He was accused of encouraging slave insurrection. Theodore Parker hid and defended fugitive slaves and was indicted for obstructing a federal marshal for defending Anthony Burns, a fugitive slave in his congregation. A list of biographies of Abolitionists and Civil Rights Unitarians and Universalists is available.
    
6. Resources for uncovering your family history with slavery are available from many sources. Some resources are listed below:
   1. The documentary Traces of the Trade follows Katrina Browne as she and her family uncovers their history as descendents of a wealthy slave trading family.
   2. Inheriting the Trade: A Northern Family Confronts Its Legacy as the Largest Slave-Trading Dynasty in U.S. History, by Thomas Norman (Boston: Beacon Press, 2009)
   3. Listen to family history and review genealogical records for clues to your family history.
   4. The Passover holiday celebrates the Jewish people’s liberation from slavery in Egypt. This time of year can be used to draw connections between the Passover holiday and modern slavery.
       
7. The steel in our cars may be formed using charcoal created by slaves. Our clothing could be cut or sewn by forced slave labor.
    
8. Resources include local police or FBI office, the 24-hour National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or the U.S. Department of Justice Hotline at 1-888-428-7581 (during business hours).
    
9. See references cited in Endnote 4.
    
10. It is well documented that a U.S. military presence abroad often results in women being trafficked for prostitution. Diplomatic immunity awarded to foreign officials exacerbated the potential for this abuse. See the book Barracks and Brothels: Peacekeepers and Human Trafficking in the Balkans by Sarah Elizabeth Mendelson for review.
     
11. Suggested reading about modern slavery
    • Ending Slavery: How We Free Today's Slaves by Kevin Bales (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, 2007)
    • A Crime So Monstrous : Face-to-face with modern-day slavery by E. Benjamin Skinner (New York: Free Press, 2008)
    • Sex Trafficking: Inside the business of modern slavery by Siddharth Kara (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2009)
    • The Slave Next Door - Human Trafficking and Slavery in America Today by Kevin Bales and Ron Soodalter (Berkeley: Univ of California Press, 2009)
    • To Plead Our Own Cause: Personal Stories by Today’s Slaves by Kevin Bales and Zoe Trodd (Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 2008)
    • Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy by Kevin Bales (Berkeley: Univ. of California Press, revised edition 2004)
       
12. (12) DVD titles available from Free the Slaves that address modern slavery and human trafficking include:
    • Slavery 101 – a video introduction to modern day slavery. (12 minutes)
    • Slavery: a global investigation – accompanies the book Ending Slavery, can be used by book groups (88 minutes)
    • Freedom and Beyond – Rehabilitation of boys recently freed from slavery in northern India.
    • Dreams Die Hard – The stories of four women enslaved in the U.S.
    • Celebrating the Heroes of the Anti-Slavery Movement: Freedom Awards 2008
    • Includes Slavery 101 (12 minutes) and stories of Award winners in Ghana, Brazil, Philippines, and Uganda
    • [to come] Freedom Awards 2009
      • Includes stories of Award winners in Pakistan, India and Cambodia
13. Teaching Packets available at www.freetheslaves.org.
     
14. According to Kevin Bales’ book Ending Slavery, the enslaved fieldworker who cost the equivalent of $40,000 in 1850 costs less than $100 today.
     
15. Human Rights Conventions—1965 General Resolution: “BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED: That the Unitarian Universalist Association urge the United States Senate, with all possible speed, to ratify the Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery; the Convention on the Abolition of Forced Labor; and the Convention on the Political Rights of Women;”
     
16. Strengthening the United Nations—1967 General Resolution: “URGES: That the United States Senate advise and consent to ratification of the following Human Rights Conventions: 1. The Supplementary Convention of the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, prepared under the direction of the United Nations in 1956, to which 61 nations are now parties; 2. The Convention on the Abolition of Forced Labor, adopted by the International Labor Organization in 1957, to which 74 nations are now parties;”
     
17. More recent Social Witness Statements reference the successes of 19th Century Abolitionists: The New Abolitionism—1982 General Resolution: “BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED: That this Assembly urges all Unitarian Universalists to recognize and support solemnly and with hope the great new historical movement known as The New Abolitionism, ‘a worldwide moral and religious movement which says ‘no’ to the nuclear arms race and nuclear war as the old Abolitionism launched a crusade to say ‘no’ to slavery. The New Abolitionism against slavery...can be a winning crusade’ because it must;”
    
    There are also Actions of Immediate Witness: (Support for the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women— 2007: “ The Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office to continue to monitor and advocate for CEDAW as part of follow-up to the 2007 Annual Intergenerational Spring Seminar, ‘Stop Modern Day Slavery: Breaking the Web of Human Trafficking’; and…”
    and, The Alien Tort Claims Act And Accountability For Multinational Corporations—2004: “The Alien Tort Claims Act is the only United States law permitting multinational corporations with significant assets in the United States to be held accountable for their unethical behavior elsewhere in the world. Passed in 1789 by the First Congress of the United States, it enables victims of torture, slavery, ethnic cleansing, and other crimes against humanity to put the corporations that are responsible on trial in American courts.”) a Business Resolution (Women’s Rights Anniversary—1998: “Therefore be it resolved that the Unitarian Universalist Association shall within this two-year period 1. Make effort to note the milestones in the critical anti-slavery efforts of women and the women’s rights struggle, from the 1848 Convention to the present…”) and a Responsive Resolution (Truth, Repair, and Reconciliation—2007: “President Sinkford asked, ‘What are our truths? To whom must we be reconciled?’ We have many stories to uncover—genocide, slavery, oppression. Only by knowing our truths can we act boldly on our spiritual journey of healing.”) that express our opposition to slavery.

Contact

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Santa Cruz County, CA

For more information contact socialwitness @ uua.org.

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Last updated on Thursday, November 3, 2011.

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