There is also this video about bonded child labor in India.  You can read the story here.  Check out what our friends at the Rugmark
Foundation are doing to address child labor abuses in the carpet industry in India, among other countries.

REMINDER: There is one week
left to enter the Fair Trade Chocolate Essay & Art
Contest!

These crimes are often not properly investigated and there
is a general sentiment of government condoned impunity. According to a
Washington Post article, “Labor Rights in Guatemala Aided Little by Trade Deal”, the root of the problem is that
employers can manipulate labor inspectors to rule in their favor thus
nullifying the purpose of having inspectors. As conditions worsen in Central America, more will look to the North as a place
to better their lives and the lives of their children.

The AUC is listed by the US State Department as a
terrorist organization and US law clearly states that it is illegal for
any person knowingly to provide material support or resources to an
organization on that list.  The problem is that enforcement of this law
is very weak.  Way back in 2001, four Congressmen sent a letter to
former Attorney General John Ashcroft calling for increased scrutiny of
multinational corporations and their support for armed groups who
threaten human rights activists.  However, Chiquita is just one of many
corporations around the world with ties to paramilitary groups.  This