MEDIA VOICES VOLUME IV
WE DO KIDS’ RIGHTS.
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MEDIA VOICES MAGAZINE
FROM THE EDITOR “We have ignited the fire of change.” -Kailash Satyarthi 2021
PHOTO FROM ROBIN ROMANO PAPERS, ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UCONN LIBRARY
Let it burn.
Let it spread.
COVER IMAGE BY MELISSA KNOWLES
Let it ignite a spark in each of us that drives us in our fight for children worldwide. The fight to give them a childhood. The fight for their right to be a kid.
This edition of Media Voices Magazine comes in the midst of a continued global pandemic. It follows a deadly insurrection in the United States and political upheaval in countries worldwide. It is published in a time of distrust, of polarization, of sickness, and of heartbreak. And yet here I am again, talking about hope.
WINTER 2021
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CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS Kehkashan Basu Fernanda Mora Brenes Melanie Forti The Kailash Satyarthi Foundation Melissa Knowles Petra Lent McCarron Georgia Morris Len Morris Shaquanna Sebastian Jake Skryzpiec Kaela Soltoff ART DIRECTOR AND EDITOR Morgan Keyt
Maybe it is the eternal optimist in me, but I sense a spark of hope in this dark time. I see it in the faces of activists on zoom calls with a renewed commitment to their cause. I feel it in knowing that every person who wrote for this magazine is actively fighting for the voices of youth and for the rights of children around the world. At the kick off of the UN Year for the Elimination of Child Labor, Kailash Satyarthi said “We have ignited the fire of change.” That statement? Gave me hope. And also chills.
It is our responsibility to feed the spark that is within each of us and fight for the good that is in this world. We need to renew our commitment to one another and to systems and policies that work for everyone. We must ignite the fire in all of us. Feed it with knowledge. Let it grow. So the entire world can feel its warmth. MORGAN KEYT Morgan is the Art Director and Editor for Media Voices Magazine and an MVC Board member
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WHEN A LITTLE GIRL TAKES YOUR HAND and calls you Auntie, pulls you along a path and turns around flashing a toothless grin, the randomness of life dissolves. You are on a path together. You are the adult, she is the child. You both laugh. Language is unnecessary. She wants to show you something. The hard dirt, the snotty fingers, the acrid smoke are washed away. She takes you to her “family” of older street kids. You wonder why you think of safety and then let it go. She is proud. Her prize is holding your hand. The kids talk and you cannot understand. You laugh when they laugh, probably idiotically. You see them and remember what you passed a street before and tell them to follow - you will get them french fries. They become shy, mistrustful, wary. You’ve ruined it. You shouldn’t have spoken. You lead the little girl away and motion for the others to follow. They do not but she is emboldened with her prize. They slowly follow at a distance - they see the fry vendor and finally understand. They stand
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quietly and wait till the fries are purchased. They help to hand them out fairly. They sit on the hard ground, each with his greasy bag. They are serious and eat slowly and silently. No one prods them for a thank you with, “What do you say?” No adult sees. They are alone, so loving a potato. The fries are random. You are random. Life is random. Your anger roars up and has nowhere to go. It is then that you go off across the street, behind the empty van and sob, hard and fast. And then come back, quickly, with an unforced smile. This could be anywhere on earth right now, where humanity need not be lost. There is so much wealth hiding from the children, so little financial precision to cure the randomness of that bag of fries.
*excerpt from Rescuing Emmanuel, A Memoir, Georgia Morris GEORGIA MORRIS is a member of the Writer’s Guild of America and a Media Voices for Children Board Member
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FOR THE FUTURE WUYEEKEESUK (greetings) I am Shaquanna Sebastian. I am from the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, located in Mashantucket, Connecticut. I’ve lived on the reservation since I was about five years old and have been involved ever since. Growing up, we took great pride in being Indigenous. We celebrated our culture by dancing, singing, speaking our native language, and being with family. As I got older and ventured out, attending public school for the first time in eighth grade, I realized people held many misconceptions about my being Pequot. “You don’t look Indigenous,” they would say. “Do you live in teepees and ride on horses?” I never let the teasing or stereotypes get to me, I was so proud of who I was, I still am. I was taught to be a proud and strong Pequot woman.
BY SHAQUANNA SEBASTIAN MEDIA VOICES MAGAZINE ART BY KAELA
SOLTOFF
Pequot women are resilient, smart, and powerful. Born out of a tradition of Matriarchal power structures and the legacy our ancestors have left behind, we know what it means to stand up for each other and what we believe in. The women I look up to have molded me into the activist I am today. I can take on any obstacle because of them. My aunt Maureen raised me and therefore is more like my mother, my cousins Michelle and Larissa taught me to speak up and stay true to myself. They are the epitome of all the traits I have learned, they always made sure I was on top of things, always told me the truth, and never led me in the wrong direction. Many Indigenous children suffer from an identity crisis growing up. We struggle between being proud of who we are and where we are from while still having to conform to this new world and its expectations. That’s why I believe it is important to have role models, people to look up to and turn to when you need a reminder of who you are and the great places you’re going to go. I was always taught to be proud of the fact that I am an Indigenous woman of color, a powerful Pequot, because that is what we are, powerful.
a youth council. Within the last four years, we have built an extremely strong one and I couldn’t be prouder of us for all we’ve accomplished and for what’s still to come. We continue to break barriers and be the voice for our young people. Our youth are our future and we should invest as much time, effort, and love as we can in helping them to grow and learn to utilize their voices and their power. That’s exactly what Youth Council has been doing.
our Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day. The Youth Council has also been able to use our collective voice to help push the initiative on racist mascots in Connecticut and advocate for Native American studies to be taught in schools statewide. Those initiatives have led us to partner with the UConn Native American Cultural Programs department and start to create a great relationship between them and our tribe. It’s been a busy but productive three years as Chairwoman that I am beyond grateful for.
I was elected Chairwoman of the MPTN Youth Council in 2017 and it has been the best experience to be able to learn firsthand how to best support our youth and our people. I have been able to care for our community and strengthen my bond with my cousins who serve alongside me. We have facilitated celebrations within the community on Halloween and Valentine’s Day and created new events like Pequot Challenge Day and our Cultural exchange where we create bonds with our Eastern woodland sister tribes. We have created these events to bring us all together. We host them annually and they’ve been a great success in our community. We were also able to start and fund our own Mentor Program that bridges the gap between three generations of Pequots!
Aside from serving on the Youth Council, I am the secretary on the tribe’s Health and Human Services Committee, a part of our 2020 Complete Count Census Committee, a board member for our Good Medicine Project grant and our Vocational Rehab grant as well! As I finish my term of being the Chairwoman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation Youth Council, I am excited for where my future leads as I will continue to serve and make my people proud! I will be transitioning to serve as the advisor to the Youth Council and I know it will be in great hands as our newly elected Chairman of the Youth Council, Phyllip Thomas will do phenomenal things because after all, that’s what Pequots do.
MVC People want you to fit a certain stereotype when they hear you’re Indigenous, however, that is only because they are misinformed. Growing up, I knew the history of my tribe. The Englishmen coming and forcing us into slavery, changing our names, and stripping us completely of who we are. They tried to get rid of us, but we are still here and prospering. We need to educate people about our real history, about the truth. I believe the best way to do that is by empowering young people. My cousins and I have always been passionate about starting
We’ve partnered with different departments and grants as well, hosting Narcan trainings to combat the Opioid crisis taking place on reservations nationwide, organizing a voter registration event, and volunteering for
By giving youth a chance and a voice, we are able to affect real change in our communities and beyond. Kutaputsuh, thank you. SHAQUANNA SEBASTIAN now serves as the advisor, Events Coordinator for the Office of Tribal Council Secretary, Matthew Pearson and as a Mashantucket Pequot Tribal member. She also serves as Secretary to the Health and Human Services committee. VOLUME FOUR / 7
BY KEHKASHAN BASU
ENDING ECOCIDE role
The r h t u o y f o
The Sunderbans are the world’s largest tropical mangrove forest of several thousand square kilometers spanning eastern India and Bangladesh. An amazingly rich ecosystem, it serves as a natural barrier to coastal communities who for centuries have survived symbiotically in these dense forests that has provided them with both food and shelter. However, pollution, infrastructure encroachment and urbanization over the last three decades have depleted large areas, exposing the local rural population to nature’s fury. My first trip with the Green Hope Foundation team to these villages was in the summer of 2017, and the level of degradation and deforestation that we witnessed was unimaginable. Just a few years earlier, Super Cyclone Aila had killed hundreds and rendered thousands homeless. Our immediate action was to regenerate the mangroves with the involvement of the local community. The threats to the mangroves were two fold – plastic pollution that choked the roots & killed the plants and indiscriminate felling to make way for human settlement. Through our workshops, we educated the youth as well as their parents on how to segregate their waste, to stop littering and to avoid plastic usage. PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE GREEN HOPE FOUNDATION MEDIA VOICES MAGAZINE
Together we started a mangrove replanting program with the aim of regenerating large
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It is a similar story in the nearby Indian state of Jharkhand – home to the country’s largest deposits of coal. For over a hundred years, underground fires have been burning here that have polluted and killed thousands MEDIA VOICES MAGAZINE
– invisible people whose fate is inconsequent to the economic benefits of this fossil fuel. These fires have caused devastation of greater magnitude that those in the Amazon or in California, yet the western world doesn’t even know of this tragedy. From across the developing world, innumerable such instances of environmental degradation occur every day with just one end goal – to feed the economic behemoths of the West, while ignoring the immense misery it causes to the local human population and the environment. It is the human impact of this degradation that is defined as ecocide. The greater tragedy lies in its unequal and unjust impact, because communities and
regions that suffer the most from the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are the ones who are least responsible for it. It is, therefore, imperative that we look at the situation from a human and planetary lens. Rather than protesting about climate change, we should be concerned about climate justice. In addition to marching on the streets decrying the California blazes, we should push for laws that punish ecocide and most importantly, we need grassroots, communitydriven actions by localizing the Sustainable Development Goals. The role of young people in driving this agenda is critical. It is our future that is at
INDONESIA stake. Whether or not we rename the current epoch as Anthropocene, the scale and magnitude of the human footprint on every part of our planet is undeniable. Our generation has a tremendous responsibility. We are the last generation that has the opportunity of taking remedial actions before it is too late. History will either laud us for our actions or vilify us for our complacency. We do not really have a choice because our survival and that of future generations depends on it. KEHKASHAN BASU is an iconic youth leader, global influencer, environmentalist, and champion of children’s rights. A Forbes 30 Under 30, TEDx speaker, Climate Reality Mentor, author, musician, peace and sustainability campaigner and a passionate advocate of women’s rights, Kehkashan Basu is a trail blazer who has been challenging the status quo and breaking social strictures and taboos which impede the progress and rights of future generations.
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tracts so that it would again serve as a natural barrier to future storms. Over the last three years, a lot of the devastation in our target zones have been regenerated to an extent that the recent cyclone Amfan caused significantly less damage to these areas. It is the young people in these villages who are now driving sustainable change, trying to reverse the damage caused by indiscriminate modernization.
SYRIAN REFUGEE CAMP
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THE BAHAMAS
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reorganize and repair historical injustices to the most vulnerable populations, while including nature and all its beings in the equation. As individuals and as a collective, we have finally realized the urgency of answering the question “what kind of world do I want to live in?” The need for action is urgent.
MVC
A POST-PANDEMIC WORLD BY FERNANDA MORA BRENES
IT IS THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR FOR THE ELIMINATION OF CHILD LABOR. With this declaration, the United Nations General Assembly seeks to revitalize coordinated actions and global partnerships to ensure the eradication of forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and child labour. We celebrate this decision as it brings attention to the current context and challenges that the pandemic has brought. Since the year 2000, child labor has diminished by 94 million children, which is an immense achievement.
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To give some perspective, imagine those 94 million children filling the entire population of California, Texas, Florida and Connecticut combined. It has been an immense effort of civil society, governments and even private actors. The Covid-19 pandemic is reversing decades of improvement on this matter. As of now there are 152 million children working, and, due to the pandemic, the World Bank is estimating a total of 150 million people will be in extreme poverty by the end of
this year. That means a probable increase of child laborers as direct consequence of the pandemic that has caused school closures, leaving kids out of school and at risk of falling into labour. Moreover, there is a strong correlation between adverse economic conditions and an increase of child labour due to the economic insecurity of families, according to the ILO and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. In order to address this multidimensional challenge, we face the opportunity to come together in solidarity to
Although there is not one and only answer, there seems to be consensus around the fact that we need to focus our attention on redefining the social contract and take responsibility for the conditions on the planet and the societal systems future generations will inherit. This reminds me of the concept of the seven-generation stewardship drawn from Indigenous people’s wisdom. This principle serves as a compass guiding decisions on how we live, as it will impact the future seven generations. For this, we need to release centuries of negative and outdated colonial beliefs and embrace diversity as a marvelous tool for all sorts of advancements. One of the remedies for child labor, and its root cause, poverty, lies in tackling the task of accelerating the decarbonization of our economies, and with de-carbonization the consequent creation of adult jobs around our most critical necessities for the survival of humankind. We need to focus on solutions to work with nature and use creativity to draw inspiration from her billions of years of accumulated knowledge in order to be able to cope with and possibly reverse some of the effects of climate change that directly impact our children’s rights, the possibilities of a dignified childhood and ultimately our next generation’s survival.
In order to tackle the threat of more kids falling into child labor during the pandemic and in a post-pandemic world, the adult work force has to focus on re-wilding, regenerating and restoring nature while using technologies that facilitate human lives and their survival in the planet. In this sense, the use of technology also needs to come out of the anthropocentric perspective and in service of a more eco-centric view.
diligence, and require businesses to comply with their legal obligation to establish measures to prevent and mitigate the risk of environmental and human rights and abuses, positively impacting local economies open to broadening cooperation and accountability. Job and training skills and access to financial services is key to strengthen stability and accountability in the promotion of inclusive and steady economical growth.
Economic emergency responses within the governmental structure will be necessary in order to mitigate the worst financial shocks of the pandemic. Such quick solutions could be cash transfers, or stimulus checks and emergency unemployment compensation that help the most vulnerable groups to source their otherwise unmet basic needs. This also reduces the need for children to work to provide for their families. Social assistance and a clear spending plan for the long term could be the strategy to prevent this crisis turning into a catastrophe.
We can all be co-creators of a fairer, cleaner, smarter, and safer world for our children through building resilience in individuals, families and communities working hand in hand with local governments to ensure the access and creation of safety nets through adequate fiscal systems and coordinated actions. The last 20 years are proof of what is possible and with preventive measures more children will be able to live free and to their fullest potential. Even through the adversities of the pandemic, this declaration will certainly help bring awareness, resources and action to the efforts towards the eradication of child labor.
This plan has to go in hand with businesses operating in compliance with labour protections, as well as informed adult workers aware of their own rights for the sake of their own and their family’s quality of life and dignity. There will be a benefit to businesses operating in a socially responsible way towards the prevention of child labor and fairer conditions for their employees, who would be able to contribute to the revival of the economy with their spending. In order to prevent and tackle already existing child labour during and after the pandemic, there is a need to imbue the creative and innovative force of entrepreneurship with established procedures of due
FERNANDA MORA BRENES
is an intern with Media Voices for Children and has studied international human rights law specializing in women’s and children’s rights. She has worked for the Arias Foundation of Peace and Human Progress, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) and she was Coordinator of the Human Rights Commission of the Costa Rican International Law Association. She hails from Costa Rica.
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BOLD REFORMS
2020 HAS PROVEN DISTURBING ON MANY LEVELS. As the coronavirus swept across the globe in defiance of geographic borders, schools closed, shops were shuttered, and families took refuge in their homes. When governments began prioritizing aid, the world’s most vulnerable children were left out. Of the $8 trillion in fiscal relief packages, less than ¼ of 1% went to the most marginalized communities. In May, 88 Nobel Laureates and leaders released the Fair Share for Children Joint Statement calling on the world’s governments to allocate 20% of COVID-19 relief funding for the poorest 20% of the world’s most marginalized families and children. This approximate $1 trillion would be enough for: • • •
•
PHOTO FROM ROBIN ROMANO PAPERS, ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UCONN LIBRARY
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•
Funding all outstanding UN and charity COVID-19 appeals Canceling two years of all debt repayments from low-income countries Covering the manufacture and supply of a global COVID-19 vaccination program Closing the funding gap for the health Sustainable Development Goal in all low and lower-middle-income countries for 10 years Providing the funding for two years of the global gap to meet the SDGs on water and sanitation
•
Providing two years of the external funding gap to achieve good quality universal education from pre-primary to secondary education in all low and lower-middle-income countries, and funding social safety nets focused on ending child labor
These actions would save more than 70 million lives.[1] This call to action became the foundation of the Laureates and Leaders Fair Share for Children Summit, which convened in September. Nobel Laureates, leaders and youth activists called for governments to honor their commitments under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and provide a “Fair Share for Children.” Child laborers remain the face of the most vulnerable and most marginalized. Before the pandemic, 1 in 10 of the world’s children were forced to work in fields, mines, factories, and strangers’ homes. Some are slaves, others are soldiers, or part of the commercial sexual exploitation of children. The vast economic impact of COVID-19 on the world’s poorest families and the unequal allocation of the $8 trillion in COVID-19 support has meant those who needed the most help have received the least support. This has made the situation even more critical
and, in some countries, a one percentage point increase in poverty could see at least a 0.7% increase in child labor. As UNICEF and ILO have already warned, we now think we could see a rise in child labor, slavery, and trafficking for the first time in two decades. Facing generations of marginalization, child laborers are the same children who are discriminated against, are out of school, hungry and have no access to healthcare, clean water or sanitation. 2021 presents us all with an opportunity — not only to prevent this potential reversal in progress — but also to reinvigorate the fight against child labor. The UN has designated 2021 the “International Year for the Elimination of Child Labor.” Notably, UN SDG 8.7 eliminating all child labor has the earliest deadline of 2025 and thus this designation impels countries to increase awareness, prioritize and accelerate actions towards eliminating child labor and keep their promise of leaving no one behind. Great calamity can lead to bold reforms. The U.S. Fair Labor Standards Act, enacted after the Great Depression, established a national minimum wage and prohibited children under 16 from work in mines and manufacturing. The coronavirus can be the catalyst for global
reform. The Fair Share to End Child Labor campaign calls for a fair share of resources, laws, and social protection for vulnerable children and their communities around the world. By placing the voices of survivors at the forefront and building a broad coalition – governments, businesses, faith leaders, student groups and the general public – the campaign will unite all who want to see an end to child labor in support of policies that deliver lasting change. Until the world eliminates child labor, none of the other childrelated SDGs will be achievable, for the one in ten children working around the world are one of the clearest examples of those we are leaving behind.
[1] Fair Share for Children: Preventing the loss of a generation to COVID-19 (https:// laureatesandleaders.org/summits/a-fairshare-for-children-report/)
THE KAILASH SATYARTHI CHILDREN’S FOUNDATION was founded by Nobel Peace Laureate Mr. Kailash Satyarthi. The organization envisions a world where all children are free, safe, healthy, receive quality education, and have the opportunity to realise their potential. Multiple people representing the KSCF had a hand in writing this article.
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WHERE ARE WE GOING? A CALL FOR HOPE AND HEALING THINK ABOUT YOUR FIRST MEMORY OF SCHOOL. What did it feel like, what did it sound like? Were you nervous about what school would bring and what challenges you might face? Or were you excited about the new landscape before you, a bountiful new world of seemingly endless possibility? This dichotomy is something every young person experiences. It is something they go through on their first day of school when they are very young, and can emerge again and again each passing year, even until they are on the cusp of adulthood as seniors in high school. It’s real, it’s raw and it’s perfectly human. It’s a feeling that we’ve all undergone at some point, akin to wading into a cool swimming pool at the beginning of the summer.
way, many did not. Instead, what many of our children were met with was a newfound sense of confusion, panic and discouragement. For months in the spring of 2020, kids had undergone a messy, cobbled together, re-written version of their education. They transitioned completely online, had to learn how to navigate our digital spaces, and dealt with a seemingly never-ending stream of email updates from their teachers and administrators asking them to stay to course. This, all amidst the backdrop of economic and social collapse happening across our country and global community.
MVC This year, that natural feeling was upended. Kids came back to school in late August expecting that bubbling nervousness, seeking that excitement. Some felt that
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BY JAKE SKRYZPIEC
It sounds almost dystopian, right, an Orwellian narrative set in our modern digitized world. Yet this was the reality for so many of our young people worldwide. There was an underlying expectation that things would be better come the new school year. When that
expectation did not come to pass, many young people have been left wondering, “what’s next? where do I head from here?” As a teacher, I’ve seen this first hand. My kids are there, they’re present and “doing school”, but altered and fractured. I’m not alone, my colleagues have seen it too - a glazed melancholy that can only be compared to the likes of a soldier who has just suffered immense hardship in a warzone. Maybe that simile is not that far off. Not everyone wants to admit it, but the facts speak for themselves. Our kids have and are indeed suffering from trauma, a trauma that is widespread and stems from many roots. Scholars and pundits will point to a variety of causes: the literal function of school being radically transformed by distance learning, health concerns drastically increasing social isolation, family and friends personally impacted by shocking diagnoses, social media “doom-scrolling” and the seemingly non-stop
restriction of regular kid-life. For some American kids in particular, they have to reckon with the fact you could be systematically murdered in this country simply as a result of the pigment of your skin. We could point to any and all of these as key indicators of the trauma that has emerged across our young people. I think it’s something deeper though, wrapped up into one singular quandary. I would argue, kids are struggling with a most simple question: “Where am I going, what will my future hold?” Our kids are pondering this real and honest question as they perceive a world that gives them less hope and optimism each passing day. They struggle through the seemingly menial tasks of school and home life with a burning desire to tackle this question. And yet an answer lies right before all of us.
PHOTO BY MELISSAVOLUME KNOWLESFOUR / 17
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Here’s the hard truth: we are lost in a wilderness of our own creation. We have the means to help our kids tackle this challenge head on. Education is the only way to do so. As we head into a new year full of change and renewal, re-imagining how education looks, feels and what it aims to accomplish has to be our North Star. This is no easy task; the “reform” of education has been an enduring American project that has sputtered and faltered from decade to decade. Take it from someone who has seen it firsthand. As a student educated in an era of high-stakes, lowbenefit testing, then teaching in an era of myopic national standards re-creation, I share in the disappointment of that failed cycle of change, and am wary of “experts” telling us what they believe education should look like. As a teacher who has seen my students struggle with this question of “what will my future hold?”, I suggest three adaptations that could be made to re-imagine our schools in order to help our kids tackle this challenge before them
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1. BUILD REAL SPACES OF HEALING WITHIN OUR SCHOOLS
2. ACTIVATE YOUTH VOICE Many of the challenges facing students today seem to be beyond their control, brought on by outside forces. Despite this, the kids get it, and understand what is at stake, sometimes in stark contrast to the adults. Young people want to speak, they want to be heard, and we need to give them the opportunity to do so.
Many schools are beginning to introduce restorative practices and socio-emotional learning into their daily mission. It’s not enough to tangentially bring these forms of education in, it does and will take more. Our kids have suffered something akin to psychological and social warfare. They’ve watched as their friends and family have suffered tremendous anguish, and our nation has been brought to its knees through economic, political and social strife. It’s one thing to add a circle discussion into your daily lesson, or provide check-ins as a starter to class (those are great and keep using those if you are), but we have got to go farther than additions. It has to be part of an educator’s DNA, something they strive to do every day in their instruction, in their student interactions, when they come to school and when they go home to those “beyond contract hour” work sessions (teacher readers: you know what I’m talking about).
3. PROMOTE POSSIBILITY
It might take a bit of strategy work to find what will work best for a certain kid. I’ve found however, it can be done with the simplest of moves: recognizing their struggle, taking time to sit down with a student to have an open and honest conversation, and approaching the child with dignity, understanding and humanity. Healing also does not and should not mean extra burdens on the educator; the focus cannot be on reinventing the wheel, but leveraging existing resources and people in that child’s life to set forth a plan. Small steps can create big changes, and can provide renewed hope for a child.
Apathy and hopelessness are so easy to come by, especially as kids evolve into young adults. We as adults (teachers, community leaders, parents) have an obligation to cut through that, and show our children that life provides more than a darkened alley of despair. Can we as educators do more “calling-up”, recognizing the human behind the grade point average for their unique talents, skills & insights, and giving them a vision of the possibility that lies before them? Can we as parents re-orient ourselves beyond the role of “authority”, and build new relationships with our kids as encouraging, caring support nets. Can we do more to pave a path of possibility for our young people? It relies on our willingness to do so.
Re-centering our spaces of learning around the voices of youth is critical. Educators can do so by setting aside their egos, taking a more humble role, and providing opportunities for youth to stand up and speak out. I’ve seen this work; we as adults just need to have faith in letting go. Whether it’s students working side by side with educators on creating and evaluating curriculum, working to develop school policies and rules, leading dialogue sessions on issues of race or gender, or planning student-led school-wide changes for justice, young people can find a deeper purpose and sense of hope for the future if they authentically are at the table to create it.
Our kids have to find hope again. They have to be able to turn the trauma they have suffered through into a force of empowerment and motivation (to be real, we probably ALL could use some of that these days). By making small steps to re-imagine what education looks like, can we again spark that same sense of wonderment, excitement and optimism they felt on their first day of school? Children need to be able to see in themselves the ability to take on a world that despite its deep flaws, provides limitless opportunity, if they seize upon it. One of my favorite artists, Dave Matthews, provides a lyrical anecdote to this journey I believe we must help all our children navigate: “Where are you going? Where do you go? Are you looking for answers To questions under the stars? Well, if along the way You are grown weary You can rest with me until A brighter day and you’re okay” (Dave Matthews Band, Busted Stuff, 2002)
JAKE SKRZYPIEC
is a human rights educator based in Connecticut
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THE COCOA CASE BY MELISSA KNOWLES
PHOTO FROM ROBIN ROMANO PAPERS, ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UCONN LIBRARY MEDIA VOICES MAGAZINE
ON DECEMBER FIRST, the Supreme Court heard consolidated oral arguments brought on behalf of former child slaves accusing two American corporations of knowingly helping perpetuate slavery at Côte d’Ivoire cocoa farms. Nestlé USA, a subsidiary of the giant Swiss multinational food and beverage company, and commodities trader Cargill, the largest privately held U.S. corporation, asked the nine justices to essentially toss the lawsuit. The widespread use of child labor in cocoa production, as well as slavery and child trafficking, throughout West African plantations, on which Nestlé and other major chocolate companies rely, surfaced as early as 1998. An Ivorian newspaper reported the widespread practice of importing and indenturing Malian boys for fieldwork on Ivorian plantations. The 2000 British television documentary Slavery: A Global Investigation, catapulted the issue into the global spotlight, prompting an international intervention known as the Harkin-Engel Protocol. U. Roberto Romano and Miki Mistrati’s 2010 documentary, The Dark Side of Chocolate, continued to expose the slave trading of African children, usually 12 to 15 years old, including those trafficked from nearby countries. This came ten years after the cocoa industry pledged to end the worst forms of child labor — neither Nestlé or Cargill are strangers to this practice. The Fair Labor Association (FLA), says it found “numerous violations of Nestlé’s labor code,
especially with regard to child labor.” It was reported that Nestlé hadn’t carried out checks against child labor and abuse, including injuries caused by machetes which are used to harvest cocoa pods. The FLA criticized Nestlé for doing little to improve conditions, when they were fully aware of where their cocoa was coming from and under what conditions. Cargill also has frequently been the subject of criticism related to the environment, human rights, finance, and other ethical considerations. The six plaintiffs in the case allege that as children they were trafficked out of Mali, and sold to cocoa plantations in Côte d’Ivoire, where they were forced to work long hours without pay, beaten if they didn’t work quickly enough, and kept at night in locked shacks. Nestlé and Cargill, they claim, aided and abetted this forced labor by buying their cocoa from, and providing other support to, plantations in Côte d’Ivoire despite knowing that the plantations used child slavery. The case was brought under a 1789 U.S. law called the Alien Tort Statute, which gives federal courts jurisdiction over lawsuits filed by foreign nationals for torts committed in violation of international law. Although one of the oldest federal laws still in effect in the U.S., it’s been rarely used for nearly two centuries. But since 1980, courts have generally interpreted the ATS to allow foreign nationals to seek remedies in U.S. courts for human rights violations committed outside the United States. The business community has long sought to limit corporate liability under the ATS. Nestlé and Cargill’s lawyer Neal
Katyal urged justices to throw the lawsuit out based on three reasons. The first, the ATS applies to natural persons, the traffickers in this instance, and does not apply to U.S. corporations setting a dangerous precedent for corporate liability. Second, the ATS does not apply when there has been no U.S. injury - these were Malian children where injury occurred halfway across the world. And lastly, the victims could sue in African courts or Congress, even though this case has been shuffled around for the past fifteen years. Despite justices initially appearing wary of barring lawsuits against American companies over alleged human rights abuses, it seems these food giants will likely prevail albeit with a slim victory this summer. Justices questioned whether the lawsuit actually made clear company officials knew that the farms involved used child slavery. Paul Hoffman, the plaintiffs attorney, said the companies should have better monitored their cocoa suppliers in West Africa. But Justice Samuel Alito slammed on the brakes, sharply answering if it was too much that in the fifteen years since the plaintiffs first filed their complaint, they allege specifically that the companies knew – rather than merely “should have known” – that forced child labor was being used on the cocoa plantations with which they did business. Children engaged in hazardous child labor in cocoa production in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana cocoa growing regions has increased by a staggering 14% over a tenyear period (from 2008-09 to 2018-19), signaling a broken
commitment to the HarkinEngel Protocol. Signed in 2001, the Harkin-Engel Protocol, sometimes referred to as the Cocoa Protocol, partnered governments, the global cocoa industry including Nestlé and Cargill, cocoa producers, cocoa laborers, and non-governmental organizations to commit the industry to ending the worst forms of child labor in cocoa production by 2020, with particular attention paid to West Africa, which produces about two-thirds of the world’s cocoa. Senator Harkin and congressman Eliot Engel wanted to introduce the eradication of the worst forms of child and forced labour in the cocoa industry as legislation but after intense lobbying by the cocoa industry it became a voluntary code. Nestlé and Cargill have pledged countless times to stop using cocoa harvested by children, yet complaints about child labor and deforestation in their cocoa supply chains have plagued the large chocolate companies for years. Today, about 1.56 million children —many as young as five—are engaged in the backbreaking work of harvesting cocoa in these regions. MELISSA KNOWLES is a photographer, curator and arts educator, who has worked with MVC for the past three years. Her exhibits encourage creative solutions, providing a powerful platform for advocacy and healing. VOLUME FOUR / 2 1
THE TRACES WE LEAVE BY LEN MORRIS
PHOTOS FROM ROBIN ROMANO PAPERS, ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UCONN LIBRARY
WE WILL FOREVER BE REMEMBERED BY THE TRACES WE LEAVE -Kickapoo Elder When I met Mariela Montez, age ten, she was working with her father picking onions for a penny a pound outside Eagle Pass, Texas. She had the flu and could barely speak. She’d risen at 4am and would work twelve hours in the shade-less heat, without water or a portable toilet, for $2 an hour. Christina Lima, 9 years old, just wanted to go to school. Jesus Perez dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player. MEDIA VOICES MAGAZINE
Benito Calderon hoped to be a writer. Their dreams had been put on hold to work to help their families survive. Today, little has changed in the fields for America’s three million seasonal and migrant workers. They earn minimum wage, families less than $10,000 a year. Half of a million children as young as ten work unpaid with their families. These children miss up to four months of school migrating to pick crops in virtually every state. 60% won’t finish high school and will remain as low paid workers, like their parents, unable to break
the generational cycle of poverty. Migrant farm work is particularly dangerous for children who absorb pesticides at 3.5 times the rate of adults. They suffer exhaustion, heat stress, respiratory problems and injuries from handling sharp tools. The Wall of Honor jumps out at you when entering the classroom at MET (Motivation, Education and Training) in downtown Eagle Pass, Texas. The certificates attest to the students achieving the near impossible; they have graduated high school and earned their GED.
Taught by former migrants who understand the challenges they face, the students are paid a minimum wage to study and go to school instead of working in the fields. Most share that small stipend with their families. With the Biden Presidency, it’s time for us to improve the lives of migrant families who work under the most extreme conditions: threatened with deportation, working without health care or protections from COVID, exposed to hundreds of pesticides that have been steadily deregulated by the Trump Environmental Protection Agency. Pending legislation to protect farmworker children has
languished for decades in the Congress. Ensuring protections and opportunities for these children should be priority number one. Increased funding for education, youth programs and health care are urgently needed.
the House, The Care Act for Responsible Employment. It deserves debate and a full vote at long last.
The 1939 Fair Labor Standards Act exempted Depression-era farmworker children from the same protections we apply to all other children working in America. This is long overdue to be revised. Legislation has waited decades for Congress to act. The United States Senate in particular has prevented adoption of a simple bill to keep children in school instead of picking crops. A bill has been introduced in
A child’s future is our best investment and a gift to this country.
As taxpayers and voters, our role is to support migrant children and see them as individuals.
LEN MORRIS is the co-founder and Editorial Director of Media Voices for Children, a documentary filmmaker, lecturer and advocate for children’s human rights.
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AFOP Children in the fields BY MELANIE FORTI
SINCE 1997, AFOP’s Children in the Fields Campaign (CIFC) has been dedicated to ensuring that farmworker children are protected and given an opportunity to succeed in life by educating the public, advocating for educational programs for farmworker children, and supporting fair living wages for all farmworkers. The Campaign focuses its work on behalf of farmworker children in the following three areas: EDUCATION/PREVENTION: We give pesticide safety training to farmworker children through our interactive story-telling bilingual curriculum Jose Learns About Pesticides. We also focus trainings towards farmworker parents about take-home exposure and exposure to pesticides while pregnant. If parents don’t know the harm of pesticide exposure, they won’t protect their children properly either.
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AWARENESS AND ADVOCACY: CIFC advocates for federal policies to strengthen the U.S. child labor safeguards in agriculture by educating the public, advocating for educational programs for farmworker children, and supporting a fair living wage for all farmworkers. This is possible through our work with Child Labor Coalition and through our
impact on multiple social media platforms.
EXPRESSION: We believe farmworker children have a story to tell. We offer that platform through our annual Essay and Art Contest. The stories are used to help advocate for farmworker children’s rights. Each year we are able to collect hundreds of essays and works of art from students across the country, giving farmworker children the opportunity to showcase their heartwarming and compelling stories on the national stage and to empower them through our contests as they find the power in their voice. The voices of farmworker children are rarely heard and their struggles are rarely understood. Through the Campaign we are able to share their stories and become leaders in their own communities, and encourage policy and lawmakers to bring justice to this young community. Over 450,000 children work in agriculture in the U.S. Unfortunately, this summer, Children in the Fields Campaign estimates this number to have risen due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the closure of migrant educational programs and migrant and seasonal head start centers.
Farmworker children face many dangers: pesticide poisoning,
valley fever, green tobacco sickness, sharp tools, heavy equipment, heat stress and, most recently, exposure to coronavirus and wild fires. Yet our weak child labor laws for agriculture allow children to work long hours for wages at age 12 and permit 16-year-olds to perform hazardous work—reserved for adults in every other industry. It is important to recognize that children are still developing and their immune system might be weaker than an adult. Farmworker children are exposed daily to multiple factors that can further weaken their immune systems from the exposure of numerous health hazards as listed below. The combination of these quickly become a recipe for disaster. Pesticide Exposure: Constant exposure to pesticides can result in different types of cancers, skin rash, respiratory disease, and more. Farmworker children are still developing therefore their bodies are not able to break down the particles that may enter their bodies. As a consequence, farmworker children can develop many health issues at an early age. Heat Stress: Heat is another factor that migrant and seasonal farmworker children face in the fields, and it’s especially concerning since children and adolescents are more susceptible to heat-related illness than adults. Ergonomics: Bending, kneeling, carrying heavy equipment and baskets of produce can take a toll on one’s body. A child’s body is still in development and their strength can be weaker than an adult. In a CIFC recent survey, 87% of the farmworker children mentioned that they suffered
from back pain after long hours of work. Covid-19: There is still much unknown about the coronavirus. What we do know is that it can be deadly for those with a weak immune system, and that prevention is key to avoid exposure to this potential deadly virus. Children working in the fields are at a higher risk because they live in migrant housing where multiple families live under the same roof. Also, it has been discovered that children that suffered f rom covid-19 can develop MIS-C at a higher rate if a child is Latino or African American. Valley Fever: Farmworker children working in the vines, may be at risk of suffering from Valley Fever. This is a potentially deadly disease caused by fungus grown in the soil that gets into the air when the ground is broken and the dirt and dust spread into the air, and into the body through the lungs. Green Tobacco Sickness: Farmworker children working with tobacco are at high risk of suffering from green tobacco sickness which in long term can develop into health hazards such as cancer. GTS is a form of acute nicotine poisoning that is caused by nicotine that has seeped from tobacco leaves into rainwater, dew, even sweat, covering the leaves. When tobacco is harvested under wet or moist conditions, for example in the early morning, nicotine is absorbed through the skin of workers- many of whom are child laborers- who harvest the leaves by hand. In a single day, a laborer can absorb as much nicotine as there is in 40 cigarettes. This level of nicotine is frequently toxic to workers, especially children. The toxicity to the cardiovascular
system and carcinogenicity of chronic dermal nicotine exposure means non-smoking tobacco harvesters show similar cotinine and nicotine levels compared to active smokers in the general population. Wildfires: Children working in the fields can potentially suffer from chronic respiratory disease if exposed to low air quality in the fields during wildfires. Add to that exposure to pesticides, extreme heat, high physical labor, and COVID-19. Mental Health: Farmworker children may face mental health issues for various reasons including: financial pressure, constant moving following the crops, falling behind in school, having to make new friends every time they move, and more. Various studies show that a person suffering from a mental health issue can lead to suffering from other physical health issues. MELANIE FORTI is the Health & Safety Programs Director and the Children In the Fields Director for AFOP. She has over 10 years of experience and knowledge of farmworker health and safety issues and has been an active farmworker advocate for over 12 years.
The Children in the Fields Campaign holds an annual art and essay contest Read about the winner of the 14-18 age group on the next page!
MY DRAWING has various objects that represent different things. The girl in the field is me, you can see her tired look, with dark circles in the eyes, and a red nose. These represent the challenges of being a farmworker, which are getting up early, traveling long distances or being sick and still going to work. Especially now that, despite being in the midst of a pandemic, our work is essential. The purple road symbolizes peace and calm, the feeling of having to constantly move after the crops and the satisfaction generated by seeing a finished harvested field. The types of crops I work on are chili, onion, and watermelon, which are represented in the drawing by the plants around me. What I like about working in the fields are the ties that are formed with the people who work there; learning about their stories and seeing where they come from. What I dislike is working in the sun, with very high or low temperatures and the fact of waking up very early, just like in the drawing, which shows that it is barely dawn.
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What motivates me to continue working is my desire to get ahead and the support of my loved ones. Also, the pride of earning money based on my own efforts. I have several dreams for my future, to continue making art and to influence in the best way possible the life of the people. Work shows me real people with real needs and, as I grow up, I want to be able to help everyone. I want to help motivate young people who are in the same situation as me. For my family I wish harmony, peace and economic stability so that they do not become too stressed. The bright sun at the end of the road represents the bright and promising future that awaits me if I remain motivated and happy.
Alexa Gonzalez Leaños
WORKING IN THE FIELD requires sacrifices and is accompanied by various challenges but at the same time likes and dislikes. Personally, I feel good working in the field and I am very satisfied with finishing the crops. Working in the field motivates me to be a better person, to know other people’s stories and thus be able to follow my dreams. I am fighting for a promising future based on my own efforts. My wishes are great and I have great ambition to get ahead. I see myself transforming and succeeding in the future in a positive way, helping and trying to motivate others.
motivate young people in my same situation to get ahead and to show them that everything is possible with a good attitude. I dream of being someone important and recognized, someone who changes the world in a good way and whose name becomes eternal.
I wish good financial stability for my family, to avoid more worries and stress. I want to influence the lives of others in a good way and for people to recognize me for being a good person and someone positive. I see myself transforming and succeeding in the future as someone who uses her achievements to help others. As I mentioned earlier, working Leaving self-centeredness aside in the field requires sacrifice and focusing on being someone and effort. Examples include great who contributes to the getting up early, traveling long community and helps people distances, and tolerating extreme in vulnerable situations. I want temperatures. Personally, to be someone great, to be working in the fields satisfies remembered for my good deeds, me. I like to feel the fresh air and and to continue doing what I to be outside instead of on my love. phone. But sometimes I feel bad I know that the place I am in and I would like to be working now requires a lot of sacrifice. on something that I really like, That working in the field is like creating art. I work in crops not easy. But I know that, with cleaning chili and onion, when in perseverance and attitude, I will truth I would like to be making face all these challenges and be paintings and selling them in able to get ahead. I want a better museums. But all this motivates future for myself and others, me and helps me believe that and that is something I do not the more effort you put into intend to give up on. Because, things, the better the results. by working hard, I will be able to transform and succeed in the What motivates me to go to work future. is the desire to get ahead. Being able to offer a better quality of ALEXA GONZALES was the life to both my mom and me. My 2020 winner of the Association dreams are to continue making of Farmworker Opportunity art and to make a positive mark Program’s Children in the Field’s on people’s lives. To help people Art and Essay contest. to see the good in life and
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UNEQUAL BURDENS BY PETRA LENT MCCARRON
IT IS A TRUISM THAT THE COVID PANDEMIC HAS BEEN HARD ON EVERYONE. But recently a story by Anuradha Naguraj for Thomson Reuters crossed the transom that underlines how much harder it is for migrant workers cut off from the usual support networks. The garment industry in India relies heavily on migrant labor for its workforce. When the pandemic hit in March, scores of buyers cancelled contracts for apparel that was already in production. Factories were abruptly closed; suppliers were out the costs of the raw materials; workers were sent home. But for many migrant workers, getting home was just not in the cards. Too far away, no means of travel, no money to get there.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued an advisory asking employers to pay workers their full salary during the lockdown. “Be kind” to the workers, he advised. Kindness is lovely, of course, but it is also discretionary. A disturbing number of employers are now docking workers’ pay for the salary, shelter and food provided during lockdown, blackmailing them to work unpaid overtime or the factory will fail and the workers will be out of a job. A worker in Tamil Nadu state, who requested anonymity, said the salary cuts swallowed nearly 20% of her take home pay. “It has become almost impossible to pay school fees or
the installments for the loans we took during lockdown,” she said. Naguraj, A. (2020, November). [1] Kindness has its limits, it seems. The effect on the children of these workers is devastating. The UNHCR estimates that we are likely to have thirteen million more child marriages in the next ten years as a direct result of the immiseration due to Covid. There’s plenty of shame to go around, to be sure. The Worker Rights Consortium at the University of Pennsylvania has an excellent tracker tool for identifying companies that elected to skip out on their obligations. By the way, though
ordering apparel and deciding not to pay feels highly illegal, in fact, it isn’t. Cancellation clauses in the supplier’s contracts reflect the brutal imbalance of power between the brands and the suppliers. They do it because they can. Well-known brands like TJX (parent company of TJMaxx), Kohl’s, Urban Outfitters (Anthropologie), American Eagle, The Children’s Place, etc. etc. etc. have been shoveling money at their shareholders, while stiffing their suppliers or exacting huge retroactive discounts. God forbid the wealthiest links in the chain should suffer. But the Worker Rights Consortium also identifies
brands that are doing the right thing, either paying in full for orders that were in production when the pandemic hit, or providing low-cost bridge loans to keep suppliers afloat for the duration. Levi Strauss, adidas, The Gap, H&M, Target, Lululemon and many other companies have decided that bare-knuckle capitalism may not be the best strategy for their brands after all. As You Sow, a non-profit focused on shareholder advocacy, agrees with that notion. Their thinking is that investors who do not pay attention to social justice in their investing strategy are running the risk of brand destruction when slavery or forced labor is found in the supply chain, or sexual harassment or racism cases
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DONATE expose an engrained workplace culture of inequality. As Patience Marime-Ball of Women of the World Endowment pointed out in a recent As You Sow webinar, DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) is measurably good for business. For example, companies that give generous family leave, retain many more of their workers and thereby save money. As You Sow is developing a risk assessment tool with Whistle Stop Capital that scores the companies of the S&P 250 (the largest ones) on metrics like workplace diversity, equity and inclusion. Using data from Know The Chain, they evaluate companies on commitment and governance, traceability and risk assessment, purchasing practices, recruitment, worker voice, monitoring and remedy. Why remedy?
PHOTO FROM ROBIN ROMANO PAPERS, ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, UCONN LIBRARY
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According to Robyn Ormerod of the International Organization of Migration (IOM), there are 25 million people worldwide in forced labor. Recruitment fees paid by migrants to labor brokers can equal a person’s annual salary. No worker should pay for a chance at employment ever. But many have, and if companies are to clean up their supply chains, then repaying the workers for fees expended to migrate and fill those positions is an essential first step. It’s also the law – at least in Australia. The recent passage of the Modern Slavery Act requires companies to
remediate if they have caused or contributed to slavery and forced labor. [2] Aditi Wanchoo, Senior Manager, Social and Environmental Affairs for adidas Group, has twenty years of experience working on corporate social responsibility and worker issues. Companies are generally good at identifying Tier 1 labor conditions (their own manufacturing plants), but extending that knowledge and training to Tier 2 suppliers (fabric, leather) is the current effort. For Tier 3 (raw materials), adidas performs risk assessments by region, so as to better focus their effort. Know the Chain tells the company where the pressure points are, and they use the benchmarks to drive improvements. Wanchoo stresses the critical importance of collaboration between brands or with the Better Cotton Initiative. Such work is far more effective when a coalition of brands imposes standards. She stresses the importance of a robust grievance mechanism to identify risks and abuses early and resolve issues before they can fester. New technologies are making this easier. Starting with SMS messages, workers now use WhatsApp to anonymously send grievances to the factory. A grievance dashboard is monitored by companies to ensure that grievances are responded to and resolved in a timely manner. 90% of workers have access to a grievance mechanism, and
the suppliers are seeing the benefits. Complaints can range in severity from sexual abuse, to illegal termination to dormitory conditions to not liking the music piped in to the factory floor. It all matters.
“Better to build a fence at the top of the cliff than to run an ambulance service at the bottom.” -Fuzz Kitto
(Be Slavery Free) Having suppliers pay broker’s fees actually ends up saving money because the supplier has a lot more leverage than the individual worker when negotiating recruitment fees. Remediation is relatively expensive. It is infinitely preferable to avoid the injustice in the first place. Monitoring supply chains is labor-intensive and exacting and very much requires local staff on the ground. Aditi Wanchoo was on a visit to a factory with only about 20 minutes warning to the factory owners. When she asked the workers whether they had access to their passports, every single one showed her the passport in their pocket. Wanchoo questioned them why they had the passport with them, and was told, oh, it’s safer than leaving it in the dorm. Only when chatting with the workers off the factory floor in the dormitory in
the evening, did they let on that the owners had given them their passports back just before the visit. Max Pottler, IOM Regional Project Manager based in Vietnam, also stressed the importance of the United States’ List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor. Nothing brings companies to heel quite as effectively as being unable to reach the world’s largest market. Know the Chain still gives fairly dismal scores to most companies when it comes to freedom of association (in other words, unions). We still have much to do in the field of worker’s rights. But it is heartening to see people coming at it from so many different directions, from companies, to shareholders, to NGOs and the workers themselves. It is difficult to correct a grotesque imbalance of power. But it is not impossible. Keep at it! Pressure from investors and - yes! -consumers does work.
[1] “Indian garment workers cover bosses’ lockdown losses” Thomson Reuters Foundation. Retrieved from https:// news.trust.org/item/20201022110355s0ic1/?utm_campaign=coronavirus&utm_ medium=newsletter&utm source=mainListing&utm_content=link4&utmc ontentItemId=20201022110355-s0ic1 [2] (Be Slavery Freewebinar on Addressing Modern Slavery in Business Operations and Supply Chains)
PETRA LENT MCCARRON
is the associate editorial director of Media Voices for Children.
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