Scavenger Hunt: Compassion Calling

Compassion Scavenger Hunt

 

Assignment: 

Take a photo of a flip phone.

 

Reason:

According to the World Bank, three-quarters of the world’s inhabitants now have access to a mobile phone. To recognize this, take a photo of a flip phone, assuming you can find one. Nielsen reports that smartphone owners now make up the majority (61%) of mobile subscribers in the U.S. 

 

This is a picture of my daughter and her Disney Princess toy flip phone.  Finding an actual flip phone is hard to do these days.  Electronics are changing and evolving at an extremely fast pace.

I was shocked when I recently learned that our cell phones have most likely been made with slave labor. The problem lies in the minerals that are used to make our electronics. 

Tantalum, Tin, Tungsten (The 3 T's) and Gold

Actually, the minerals themselves are not the problem, but in how and where they are mined.  These minerals are located mostly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) - an area wrought with conflict.  To give you an idea of what is going on there and the terrible abuses of human rights:

• The war in the Congo is the deadliest since World War II (More than 5 million have died)
• The rebel forces are abducting boys as young as 7-8 years old.  They arm them with machine guns and train them to be child soldiers.  They are forced to  perform brutal acts of rape and warfare to support the cause of the rebel forces.
•  DR Congo is considered the worst place to be a woman.  An estimated 400,000 women are brutally raped annually.

The minerals mined under such war torn conditions are referred to as conflict minerals.  The sale of these conflict materials are used to fund this ongoing war in the DR Congo and to keep control of the mines.
 

I have a smart phone, but I was very slow in getting one.  In fact when I took my flip phone in for an upgrade the sales person laughed and told me he hadn't seen my style of phone in a long time.  That was 2 years ago and I am already eligible for another upgrade.  About 6 months ago, I was excited about the prospect of upgrading my phone.  But after reading about conflict materials it doesn't seem all that important any more.  I find it sad that we live in such a disposable society when so many others have much, much less than we do.  I have a phone that works and does everything I need it to do.  Do I really need to trade it in for an upgrade just because my provider tells me I'm eligible?  Now that I know what goes into making my cell phone, I'm thinking now that an upgrade can wait.  Maybe even until the salesperson will tell me they haven't seen my style of smart phone in a long time.

If you want to learn more or take action on this issue, please visit Raise Hope For Congo.
You will find a lot of great information on their website along with tools for you to contact electronics companies and ask if their minerals are conflict-free.

Not So Fun Fact:  Nintendo scores ZERO on the list of electronic companies and their efforts to use conflict free materials.  This means they have done next to nothing to shift their practices.


For more information about the contest visit:  Compassion Scavenger Hunt

Labor Trafficking: 7-Eleven Human Trafficking Bust Nets 9 Arrests

When I first heard about human trafficking, I thought it was something that happened "over there."  I imagined it as something that only happened in a third world country.  Someplace far from where I lived.  As I began researching, I was shocked to learn that it happens right here in the United States as well.  It is estimated that 100,000- 300,000 children are sexually exploited annually right here in the United States.

 

The majority (roughly 80%) of trafficking that occurs is sex trafficking. But what about labor trafficking?  Roughly 20% of human trafficking is labor.  And it too is happening right here in the United States.  The recent case involving 7-Eleven franchise stores shows that labor trafficking is occurring right in our own backyards. 
 

7-Eleven Human Trafficking Bust Nets 9 Arrests

—By Jonathan Dienst and Greg Cergol, NBC New York

 

Nine owners and managers of more than a dozen 7-Eleven stores on Long Island and in Virginia were charged Monday in a scheme to traffic in workers from Pakistan to work their stores, provide them with identities stolen from U.S. citizens and steal a substantial portion of their wages, prosecutors said.

 The workers were allegedly forced to live in housing provided by the franchise owners and pay them cash rent, in addition to the funds that were skimmed off the top of their paychecks when the store owners received payroll from corporate headquarters, authorities said.

 More than a dozen workers believed to have been brought to the country illegally were taken into immigration custody, though the scheme involved the hirings of at least 50 illegal immigrants since 2000, according to court documents.

 Investigators executed search warrants at about 30 7-Eleven stores across the country as part of the probe, including 10 on Long Island. Suffolk County police, federal Homeland Security investigators, IRS and NYPD officers were seen entering several of the store locations in New York Monday.

 Officials said investigators were checking more than 40 additional 7-Eleven stores across the New York area to see if there were similar abuses.

 The suspects taken into custody Monday face charges of wire fraud conspiracy, harboring illegal immigrants and aggravated identity theft. Federal authorities have also moved to forfeit the franchise rights to the 14 7-Eleven stores owned by the suspects, as well as the five homes where the illegal immigrants were allegedly forced to stay once they were brought to the United States.

 The stolen identities they were equipped with belong to victims from seven states, ranging in age from 8 to 78, and include three dead people and a Coast Guard cadet, officials said.

 In a statement, 7-Eleven said the company is aware of the raids and has been cooperating with federal authorities.

 "In bedroom communities across Long Island and Virginia, the defendants not only systematically employed illegal immigrants, but concealed their crimes by raiding the cradle and the grave to steal the identities of children and even the dead," U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement. "These defendants ruthlessly exploited their immigrant employees, stealing their wages and requiring them to live in unregulated boarding houses, in effect creating a modern day plantation system."