Fair Trade prevents the prostitution of children
Jemma was only a child. 14
years old . when I first saw her she was dressed in a bikini , had a name
tag attached and was gyrating on the stage in a sleazy bar, in Angeles City,
a hundred kilometers north of Manila ,Philippines. She was a body for sale
,a commodity of living flesh in one of the most sordid businesses that
pander to the evil lust of depraved men - child prostitution. My mission was
to rescue her from this den of iniquity and other prostituted children also
and bring them to safety and a new life of dignity and decency.
There is an estimate 100,000
children prostituted in the Philippines today according to the latest UNICEF
survey and one million prostituted children worldwide. It is a highly
organized trade in children that leaves them damaged and broken as human
beings and often infested with venereal diseases or even HIV that causes
AIDS. This is one business that we are combatting ,not only by saving the
victims but by trying to prevent it as much as possible . The main customers
paying the highest prices are coming from the developed nations such as
Europe , Australia North America and Japan.
With the help of the social
workers from the Foundation I set up in 1974 to help prevent this abuse and
save the children Jemma was rescued from that bar and given protection and
shelter. Today she is happily recovered and going to school .She has a life
of dignity and a good future. When the victim is recovered and wants to
bring her abuser to justice Preda provided legal help and has succeed in
bringing the child sex abusers to court and when convicted they get long
jail sentences. They also retaliate against us too but that is the hard part
of saving the children.
Prevention is better than cure. Fair Trade is another vital and important way for us to prevent many more children like Jemma from being lured away from her impoverished village with the false promise of a job as a domestic helper. Poverty is one of the main reasons why children like Jemma are so vulnerable to the pimps and the slave traders of children. The unfair trade and exploitation of the poor that travels in the wake of globalization like a poison cloud has made the gap between the rich and poor even greater . Small farmers cannot get a fair price for their crops because cheaper imports supported by northern governments and by multinationals replaces the Filipino products in the market place. The result is impoverished subsistence farming and the lack of all the basic needs of the rural population.
Jemma could not continue going
to school .There was no money for her uniform, books and transportation .So
she left home hungry and determined to help her younger brothers and sisters
by getting a job.But she was picked up on the streets of Angeles City and
forced into a brothel of child prostitution with many more like her. Fake
documents said she was 18 and payoffs to the local police made sure that the
brothel was never raided or her age checked.
The answer to this terrible
problem lies in true economic development where hardworking farmers can earn
a living and prosper in their own villages and keep their children safe and
secure and happily going to school. That is what Fair Trade does when it
comes to trading in dried mangos.
The intervention of Preda into
the Mango business over the past years has contributed to the rapid increase
in the value of fresh mangos. Most small farmers have at least one or two
mango trees and many have several trees that can produce a valuable harvest.
In the past a mango buying cartel was keeping down the price of the
delicious fruit.The farmers had no alternative outlet or buyer offering a
Fair Trade price for their fruits. If they did not sell to the cartel then
their harvest would rot .But Preda offers an alternative higher price and
many farmers and co-operatives are becoming prosperous as a result .
It would seem that the power of
the cartel has been broken as a result of this higher offer by Preda. A
scarcity of mango was the result as the volume of mangos going to the Preda
project increased. The other exporters and processors had to hurry to the
farmers and offer an increased price also to get their needed supply. This
competition has driven up the value of mangos and the poor are the main
beneficiaries.
If more poor families like that
of Jemma can earn a fair price then their children will go to school and
have all the basic need of a decent life.This will slow down the migration
from the villages to the cities and keep the children at home with their
family and in school.
The Fair Trade in dried manges
makes Preda a strong competitor to the buyers cartel. By offering higher
prices far and wide in the Philippines we help keep prices of mangos
rising.This is the beneficial overall effect. We cannot help all of these
farmers individually ,there are so many supplying the mangos to the Preda
product and many are in dangerous areas of Mindanao where kidnappers and
bandits roam and keep us from visiting.But wed do have financial and other
assistance to farmers .We supply them with new grafted mangos young trees
and interest free loans.
Mangos trees are being planted far and wide.This helps the environment.Other
species of trees grow up too. bushes and shrubs come to hold the soil in
place. A variety of birds, reptiles and natural life and flowers return to
the new environment created by the mango forest.A mango tree is sacred ,no
one cuts down a mango tree except the companies building power stations and
highways.
The dried mangos are produced
without chemicals and Preda has begun to train the farmers to produce fully
organic mangos. Presently they are about 80% organic because many are grown
without the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
It is this kind of development through Fair Trade that is making a big
difference in the lives of the rural poor in the Philippines. Not only is
Preda helping to keep up the price of Mangos for the farmers, the sales of
dreid mangos and juice keeps hundreds of children like Jemma from falling
into the evil hands of the slave traders of children . If we want peace we
have to work for justice and Fair Trade is one of the most effective means
to bring justice and peace to the impoverished families of the Philippines.
by Fr. Shay Cullen
www.preda.org
preda@svisp.com
