The women recently rescued in Cleveland aren’t the first victims of kidnapping, abuse, and human trafficking, and they likely won’t be the last. But they can learn from the lessons of survivors of similar crimes like Elizabeth Smarth, Jaycee Dugard, and Shawn Hornbeck, according to CNN:

What can [the women from Cleveland] learn from the paths followed by Smart, Dugard, Hornbeck and others that led them from darkness to brighter lives?

The resiliency of these survivors is nothing short of remarkable. Smart, now 25, is married. She formed a foundation to battle child abuse and travels the country as a public speaker. Nearly four years after regaining her freedom, Dugard, 33, heads her own group aimed at helping victims like herself. She wrote a book about her ordeal and has learned to ride horseback. Hornbeck, 21, works full-time and wants to finish his education.

Experts credit much of their recovery to access to important health care resources and strong family support.

There’s another factor: faith. These survivors likely were more confident that they would re-emerge into a safe world.

“Some of these people have had a considerable amount of faith, and they’ve entered into a community that has been very accepting and welcoming,” said Dr. Wynn Schwartz, a Harvard Medical School psychologist.

Also: time. Smart, Dugard and Hornbeck initially walled themselves off from pesky news reporters, says Dr. Bonny Forrest, a San Diego-based psychologist and attorney. Being “very selective about their interviews allowed them to avoid having to immediately relive and retell” their traumatic experiences. It “allowed them to decompress or let go of their stress in a time period that was appropriate for them.”

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Smart reminded them to “take as much time as they need” to recover before going public with the details of their ordeals.  “And if they decide never to share their stories, that would be OK, too.”

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“You can endure tough situations and survive,” [Dugard] wrote in her book. “Not just survive, but be okay even on the inside, too. I’m not sure how I did endure all that I did. … I’m beginning to think that I have secretly known all along.”

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“My life right now is actually pretty normal,” [Hornbeck] told the Post-Dispatch. He’s living with his parents in Richwoods, Missouri, and working a full-time factory job. He’s waiting for the right time to return to college and finish a degree in criminal law. He calls the survival of the Cleveland victims a “miracle.”

Speaking out to offer them support through the media “makes me feel better as a person,” Hornbeck told the paper. He said he wants to “help as much as I can.”

The hardest part of their recovery, Hornbeck said, will be reconnecting. “They’re going to be scared to go out in public for a while.”

“They just gotta know that their family is going to be there for them and there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Find out more about human trafficking.
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In the wake of the deaths of hundreds of factory workers in Bangladesh, some retailers are beginning to hear and respond to the outraged cries of consumers. Use your voice and your money to be part of the shift toward ethical fashion that this New York Times article describes.

Some retailers are doing what was once unthinkable, handing over information about exactly how, and where, their products were made.

Everlane, an online boutique, last week added paragraphs to its Web site describing the factories where its products are made.

Nordstrom says it is considering adding information about clothes produced in humane working conditions.

An online boutique breaks down the number of workers involved in making each item and the cost of every component, while a textiles company intends to trumpet the fair-trade origins of its robes when Bed Bath & Beyond starts selling them this month.

And a group of major retailers and apparel companies, including some — like Nike and Walmart — with a history of controversial manufacturing practices overseas, says it is developing an index that will include labor, social and environmental measures.

New research indicates a growing consumer demand for information about how and where goods are produced. A study last year by professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard showed that some consumers — even those who were focused on discount prices — were not only willing to pay more, but actually did pay more, for clothes that carried signs about fair-labor practices.

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Labor advocates note that consumers’ appetite for more information may put competitive pressure on retailers who are less than forthcoming. In recent weeks, government officials, including Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, and labor and consumer advocates have cited the Bangladesh collapse in calling for the adoption of fair-trade standards or labeling.

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Lush Cosmetics, a company based in Britain, has added video from its factories and photographs from buying trips to places like Kenya and Ghana to its Facebook page. Simon Constantine, head perfumer and ethical buyer, said he would like to add links to the factories Lush buys from, to encourage other cosmetics companies to support them.

Nordstrom said it had provided factory information in response to shoppers’ calls, and was considering going a step further, said Tara Darrow, a spokeswoman. The Nordstrom Web site specifies eco-friendly products, “so how can we do the same with people-friendly?” Ms. Darrow asked. “Hearing from customers and knowing they care definitely compels us to want to do more.”

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Neeru Paharia, an assistant professor at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown, recently completed a study on consumers’ attitudes toward sweatshop labor. She found that the complex supply chain in retailing made it easier for consumers to justify poor labor practices.

“Most people probably would not hire a child, lock them in their basement, and have them make their clothes,” she said, “but this system is so abstracted.”

She also found that consumers were concerned with labor practices — as long as they were not that interested in buying a product like shoes. But “if the shoes are cute — if they like the shoes — they actually think sweatshop labor is less wrong,” she said.

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The Sustainable Apparel Coalition, which includes big names like Nike, Walmart, Gap, J. C. Penney and Target, has been testing an index called the Higg Index. It started last year with environmental goals, but the new version due this fall will include social and labor measurements.

Learn about ethical fashion.
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Kidnapping survivor, Elizabeth Smart, sheds light on the mentality of shame that can overtake victims of trafficking:

Rescued kidnapping victim Elizabeth Smart said Wednesday she understands why some human trafficking victims don’t run.

Smart said she “felt so dirty and so filthy” after she was raped by her captor, and she understands why someone wouldn’t run “because of that alone.”

Smart spoke at a Johns Hopkins human trafficking forum, saying she was raised in a religious household and recalled a school teacher who spoke once about abstinence and compared sex to chewing gum.

“I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m that chewed up piece of gum, nobody re-chews a piece of gum, you throw it away.’ And that’s how easy it is to feel like you know longer have worth, you know longer have value,” Smart said. “Why would it even be worth screaming out? Why would it even make a difference if you are rescued? Your life still has no value.”

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Smart says children should be educated that “you will always have value and nothing can change that.”

Find out more about human trafficking.
Shop ethical fashion made by survivors.
Be a part of the solution: Be part of Stop Traffick Fashion.

Last week, we wrote a bit about the garment factory collapse in Bangladesh (which is now said to have killed more than 700 people). As consumers we can be part of the solution by being willing to spend more for fashion that is ethically produced. The chart above shows just how much more it costs to make a shirt in the US as compared to Bangladesh.

But what if you’re on a limited budget? The tips below from our ethical fashion page can help you make ethical choices no matter how much money you have. For me, the best method is to simply buy less. I have far more clothes than I need. Focusing on fewer, higher quality pieces helps me appreciate what I have and support ethical conditions for workers around the world.

Many of us want to make a difference but can’t afford a $200 sweater to wear with $185 jeans. Here are some ideas to help you make the most ethical choices with your budget. It can be easy to use money as an excuse for making unethical purchases, but with creativity and planning you can use our purchase power to help make the world better.

Buy less. This simple truth is that we all have more clothes than we need. By committing to buy one ethical shirt instead of two cheaper ones, for example, we can make a positive impact on the supply chain and reign in our consumption. If you’re really ready to rethink your consumption, you can look over your whole budget for places to cut or redirect your spending.

Shop thrift. It takes a little work and a bit of commitment, but you can find fashionable, very affordable clothes at thrift stores. Even if your thrift store treasures were made by exploited people, you’ve saved them from the trash and reduced the consumer demand for new clothes.

Try your hand at homemade. This is for the really adventurous. It may be a challenge to find ethically sourced fabrics, but if you sew your own clothes, you always know exactly how the seamstress was treated. Plus, your stuff will be one of a kind.

While ethical products will always be a bit more expensive than less ethical ones, increased demand will help lower the costs. You likely won’t be able to totally revamp your spending all at once, but that’s okay. Positive progress is a process. Do what you can and don’t be discouraged.

Learn about ethical fashion.
Shop products made by survivors of human trafficking.
Be a part of the solution: Be part of Stop Traffick Fashion.

Recently tragic news made headlines in ethical fashion: “More than 85 people are dead and scores injured in Bangladesh after the collapse of an eight-story building on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka.”

When companies and consumers choose cheap clothes over ethical practices, factory worker pay the price—sometimes with their lives. Here’s more on the collapse from NPR:

Mohammad Asaduzzaman, in charge of the area’s police station, told Reuters that the factory owners appeared to have ignored a warning not to allow their workers into the building after a crack was detected in the block Tuesday.

quotes one worker rescued from the building as saying “factory owners had told workers on Wednesday morning ‘not to worry’ and that ‘they said they had examined the crack.’ ”

Photographs show rescue workers and the army frantically searching through the rubble, looking for survivors as onlookers dig with their bare hands. The Associated Press reports that “tens of thousands of people gathered at the site, some of them weeping survivors, some searching for family members. Firefighters and soldiers using drilling machines and cranes worked together with local volunteers in the search for other survivors.”

Consumers can make a difference in the lives of factory workers. Another NPR article suggests one of the most important things consumers can do: be willing to pay more for ethical fashion.

Ian Robinson of the University of Michigan and his team . They placed identical socks side by side on display. Some were labeled as coming from factories with good working conditions. Half of the customers noticed the choice and bought them. When the researchers started to raise the prices on the ethical socks, however, there were fewer takers.

“As soon as we introduced a small price difference, just 5 percent different, it dropped down to about 33 percent,” Robinson says.

When prices were 20 percent or as much as 50 percent more than the regular socks, about a quarter of shoppers chose to pay more, “at least in part motivated by ethical concerns,” he says.

Michael Silverstein of Boston Consulting Group says many retailers do actively monitor their suppliers, but consumers have to demand ethical products. The Bangladesh disaster could help change that.

Learn about ethical fashion.
Shop products made by survivors of human trafficking.
Be a part of the solution: Be part of Stop Traffick Fashion.

Last fall we shared with you about Sister Aziza and her work protecting victims of human trafficking on the Sinai Peninsula (click the links for more info!). This article from Think Africa Press gives a more in-depth look at the problem and what surrounding countries, especially Egypt, are (and aren’t) doing to help.

Most of the victims of human trafficking and kidnapping in the region are from Eritrea. Thousands reportedly escape the repressive regime of Isaias Afewerki each year, some ending up in Ethiopia but more tending to find themselves in refugee camps in eastern Sudan. Eastern Sudan’s Shagarab camp, for example, reportedly houses nearly 30,000 refugees.

But the likes of Shagarab are often unsafe and some refugees do not stick around for long. Many put their lives in the hands of people-smugglers promising safe passage to Israel or Egypt, but instead are kidnapped and held hostage.

Those believed to be responsible for most of these kidnappings are groups of Rashaida tribesmen, mostly located in Eritrea and north-eastern Sudan. However, these gangs are usually assisted by intermediaries inside camps, and allegedly even the Sudanese military, especially those at border checkpoints. Later on, criminal elements within the Bedouin community ‘buy’ hostages from the Rashaida, transporting them to Sinai and subjecting them to torture, forced marriage, rape or bonded labour.

Many former victims have recounted horrific tales of being held for months and repeatedly raped, of having plastic melted over their back and legs, and of being electrocuted and burned. Many have died at the hands of their tormentors.

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Sinai’s lawlessness is a largely a result of its turbulent past. The peninsula was under Israeli occupation from 1967 until 1982, when the Israeli government returned it to Egypt as part of the Camp David Peace Accords. However, under the agreement, only a limited contingent of the Egyptian army is permitted in the region, despite Egypt’s implorations for permission to deploy armoured equipment to secure the area.

Though international aid and investment has been sent into Sinai since Egyptian-Israeli peace, the Bedouin have continued to feel marginalised. The relationship between the Egyptian government and the Bedouin is one of mutual distrust.

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In 2012, some Bedouin took advantage of the power vacuum in the wake of the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak to kidnap tourists, using them as bargaining chips for the release of their incarcerated kinsmen. With the country’s economy in free-fall, and beach tourism a key source of foreign currency, the government worked tirelessly to secure the release of each batch of kidnapped tourists as quickly as possible, demonstrating Egypt’s capacity to react effectively when it wishes to. Furthermore, in August 2012, Egypt’s new president, Mohammed Morsi, ordered security forces to “impose full control” over Sinai following an attack on a security post on the Israeli border which left 16 Egyptian soldiers dead.

However, similar efforts to protect or free enslaved Eritreans in the region have failed to materialise.

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On paper, Egypt has explicit laws to deal with human trafficking, but according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), as yet “there have been no known prosecutions of traffickers and other criminals responsible for abuses against African migrants and asylum seekers in Sinai”.

In fact, Egypt has previously deported asylum seekers back to Eritrea, against protestations from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Trafficked Eritreans have also been the victims of unprovoked arrests and disappearances, while many have been detained and denied access to the UNHCR. Eritrean asylum seekers also remain particularly vulnerable to organ theft.

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Given the apparent reluctance of Egypt and Israel to resolve the problems of human trafficking in Sinai, action from the international community could prove necessary. Firstly, Western powers could use their leverage on Israel and Egypt to push them to abide by their international legal obligations. Secondly, the entirety of the international community could share the burden of resettling migrants in third countries, relieving Israel of some of the burden. Thirdly, these countries have also considerable influence on Ethiopia, whose refusal to accept the international verdict on Eritrean independence is among the causes of these patterns of crime.

Find out more about human trafficking.
Shop ethical fashion made by survivors.
Be a part of the solution: Be part of Stop Traffick Fashion.

Got an old cell phone that you’re going to trash? You can donate it through Hope Phones to help doctors and patients in developing countries. Ethical fashion can extend past your clothes and jewelry to also include your phone—and you can help treat and prevent illness around the world, especially in places where healthcare for women and girls is particularly lacking. Find out how you can donate a phone or start a phone collection drive. Here’s more from Hope Phones:

We created the Hope Phones campaign in 2009 as an innovative way to fund the global efforts of Medic Mobile, our parent organization that advances healthcare in 16 countries with mobile technology. Half a million cell phones are discarded in the United States every day and pollute the environment with tons of plastic and persistent toxins like lead, nickel, beryllium, and cadmium. Cell phone recycling through Hope Phones reduces hazardous waste in our communities responsibly, while providing a real public health benefit abroad.

We are looking for individuals, organizations, and companies interested in giving their old phones a new life on the front lines of global health. The process is free and simple whether you are donating a few phones from a drawer at home or organizing a drive. When you recycle a used mobile through Hope Phones, our recycling partner transfers the value of your phone to our account so we can acquire appropriate new technology for the field. The current average value per used phone is $5.00, but smartphones are regularly valued at $80.00.

If Hope Phones can recycle just 1% of disposed phones each year, we can outfit 1 million health workers, improving the lives of 50 million people.

This graphic explains how mobile technology can give people in remote locations ethical access to quality healthcare.

Learn about ethical fashion.
Shop products made by survivors of human trafficking.
Be a part of the solution: Be part of Stop Traffick Fashion.

MTVU’s Against Our Will campaign has some compelling media and resources about human trafficking, especially in the United States. While much of the site is geared toward college students, the messages resonate with anyone who wants to do something to stop human trafficking. See all their videos here.

In the video above, P!nk reads a poem by a survivor of trafficking named Jennifer. The full text of the poem is below. Experience more survivor poetry here.

I Remember
by Jennifer, age unknown

I remember who I really am
The gentle and caring person that lives deep within
The one afraid to come out, for fear of being used again
I wonder when they day will come when I can let the “image” go
The day when I will no longer care if someone called me ‘hoe’
The day I can truly be me, and let my spirit free
So the world can see me for who I really am
The side of me that shines
The friendly and compassionate person I used to be
The choices I have made have shaped who I have become
Never will I regret anything I have ever done.

In the video below, Katrina, a survivor and advocate, shares her story and her journey toward healing.

In this video, a college student named Chinny shares how she’s helping fight human trafficking.

Learn about ethical fashion.
Shop products made by survivors of human trafficking.
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We’ve shared many times about the work of Polaris Project and their Human Trafficking Hotline (1-888-3737-888!), but now there’s even more power at Polaris Project:

1. You can now text the hotline: text HELP or INFO to BeFree (233733). This is a particularly powerful tool when advocates are able to get this information to victims of human trafficking, such as through the SOAP Project.

2. The hotline is global! Here’s more from the announcement:

Polaris Project announced the launch of the Global Human Trafficking Hotline Network today, a new alliance of anti-trafficking hotlines that will build a broader safety net for survivors of modern-day slavery and develop a more coordinated global response for victims of this transnational crime. The alliance will also create a data-driven approach that identifies human trafficking trends and informs eradication, prevention, and victim protection strategies.

With the support of a $3 million Global Impact Award from Google, Polaris Project has joined with two launch partners, Liberty Asia and La Strada International, who both have deep expertise and experience in fighting human trafficking in Southeast Asia and Europe. Global Impact Awards support entrepreneurial nonprofits using technology to change the world. Additional members of the Global Human Trafficking Hotline Network will be added throughout 2013 and beyond.

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The Global Human Trafficking Hotline Network builds on Polaris Project’s global programming, which began in 2012 with funding from the U.S. Department of State and individual donors, as well as essential in-kind support from Palantir Technologies and Salesforce.com. Overall, Polaris Project’s Global Hotlines Program also aims to:

• Map and identify existing anti-trafficking hotlines worldwide;

• Connect with individual hotlines to foster mutual peer-to-peer learning and share best practices; and,

• Offer training and technical assistance to support the creation and expansion of anti-trafficking hotlines in target countries.

Find out more about human trafficking.
Shop ethical fashion made by survivors.
Be a part of the solution: Be part of Stop Traffick Fashion.

On the ethical fashion front, here’s a dose of good-news/bad-news from H&M:

Bravo: “Along with its 2012 sustainability report, the Swedish retailer, which has 2,800 stores worldwide, released a list of 33 Cambodian factories from which it sources, along with the vendors who initiated the business relationships. By divulging the information, H&M said in a statement, it became ‘one of the first and largest fashion companies in the world to make its supplier/factory list public.’ ‘H&M wants to contribute to a more transparent and ultimately more sustainable fashion industry,’ the statement says.”

Not-So-Bravo: “The list of factories includes at least eight that have made headlines in the Post since 2010 for faintings and strikes. Included are M&V, in Kampong Chhnang province, where hundreds fainted in two separate incidents in 2011 and 3,000 went on strike demanding better conditions last year; Phnom Penh’s Hung Wah factories, where 100 fainted in an incident in 2011 and another 50 fainted last month; and Cambo Handsome, in the capital’s Dangkor district, where a strike over sacked unionists descended into a violent clash with police in 2011. H&M also dealt with the shuttered Kingsland factory, which is not on the list, before its owners fled in late December.”

But it’s progress: “Moeun Tola, head of the labour program at the Cambodian Legal Education Center, said H&M’s list would help his organisation better monitor sub-contracting. ‘For us, it is very helpful,’ he said, adding that labour rights groups in Europe had been pushing the company to release the list. ‘Now it will be clear – if we find a factory producing for a [vendor], we will know if they are [authorised] as a subcontractor for H&M.’”

Learn about ethical fashion.
Shop products made by survivors of human trafficking.
Be a part of the solution: Be part of Stop Traffick Fashion.