In its 30 years of operations, the CIW’s Anti-Slavery Program has uncovered, investigated, and assisted in the prosecution of more than a dozen multi-state, multi-worker farm slavery operations across the Southeastern U.S., helping liberate thousands of workers held against their will and putting dozens of farm bosses behind bars for their crimes. No other non-governmental organization in the United States has been responsible for more successful slavery prosecutions than the CIW — none.
Further, the U.S. Department of State credits the CIW with “pioneering” the worker-centered and multi-sectoral approach to prosecutions, and hails the CIW’s work on some of the earliest cases (including U.S. vs. Flores, outlined above) as the “spark” that ignited today’s national anti-slavery movement. In recognition of its pioneering role in uncovering the long-hidden phenomenon of forced labor in U.S. fields, and its unique role in bringing corrupt farm bosses to justice, the CIW was awarded the Presidential Medal for Extraordinary Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking in Persons by President Obama in 2015.
But as impressive as that track record may be, the CIW’s transformative impact on forced labor in agriculture doesn’t end there. Early on in our fight to end modern-day slavery, we realized that successful prosecutions do not constitute success against the scourge of forced labor. No matter how many farm bosses we sent to prison with our efforts, there were always many more ready to try their luck at reaping the spoils of holding their fellow human beings in bondage in a world where law enforcement resources dedicated to ending farm labor abuse are woefully inadequate. Moreover, responding to slavery after-the-fact would never be enough, as, given the extreme abuse associated with forced labor, it is ultimately impossible to make its victims whole again, even if we can bring their tormentors to justice.
For all of these reasons, we soon realized that if our goal was to truly end modern-day slavery — and by doing so, create a world without victims in U.S. agriculture, we would have to do more than just stack prosecution on top of prosecution — we would have to take the profit out of slavery, to prevent forced labor altogether by creating a new agricultural industry where workers are empowered to identify abuse without fear of retaliation, and where abusers know that if they violate their workers’ rights they will get caught, and there will be consequences. In short, we would have to invent a new kind of food — Fair Food — and a powerful program of monitoring and enforcement mechanisms capable of guaranteeing humane working and living conditions for all farmworkers under its protections — the Fair Food Program. And with the advent of the FFP, we can today say that we have achieved our ultimate goal of preventing modern-day slavery, and with it, a world without victims.
The CIW’s Anti-Slavery Program today operates in two worlds. In the “new world” of the FFP, prevention is the norm, and any case of worker abuse on participating farms is rapidly identified and eliminated through the combined efforts of the Fair Food Standards Council and the CIW. In the “old world,” on farms operating beyond the FFP’s reach, the CIW continues to conduct investigations of forced labor and assists with prosecutions as it has since 1993 — including the recent case of U.S. v Moreno, which started when two farmworkers escaped from a forced labor operation, hid in the trunk of a car, and, as soon as they reached safety, called the CIW for help.
To expand the preventative protections of the FFP and deepen our anti-slavery investigations outside the bounds of the FFP, we need your help. Our work is sustained by generous donors like you: even a gift of $10 can go a long way to ensuring a world without slavery.
