Obama Signs Law Ending The Slavery You Didn’t Realize You Were Part Of

President Barack Obama has signed a law banning the U.S. import of goods produced by forced labor.

Obama signed a bill on Wednesday which included a provision placing a ban on imports of fish caught by slaves in Southeast Asia, gold mined by African children and clothing sewn by women who are abused in Bangladesh, to name just a few.

Under this new law products derived from slavery will be kept out of the U.S. closing a loophole in an 85-year-old tariff law that allowed goods from forced labor to be imported if U.S. demand “exceeded domestic production.”

The provision to close the loophole from the Tariff Act of 1930 was part of a larger trade enforcement bill that Obama signed, much to the joy of the advocacy group Human Rights First.

Spokespoken Annick Febrey emphasized how the new law would stop billions of dollars worth of goods being produced by forced labor and stated that it is “a really big deal” because:

“While we as a country have said that we are against slavery, we’ve had this little-known rule in the Tariff Act.

Sen. Sherrod Brown has already asked U.S. Customs and Border Protection to ensure that they enforce this new law when it takes effect within the next few weeks and has said:

“It’s embarrassing that for 85 years, the United States let products made with forced labor into this country, and closing this loophole gives the U.S. an important tool to fight global slavery.”

It has been estimated by the The International Labor Organization that approximately 20.9 million people around the world are victims of forced labor and that the industry generates roughly $150 billion in profits each year.

The signing of the new law banning goods produced by this illegal industry being imported into the U.S. is likely to see these figures reduce significantly as consumer demand decreases.

Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr under this Creative Commons License.

Natasha is a freelance writer, feminist, and coffee addict based in the UK. She has a Master's degree in Literary Studies and specialised in Gender Studies throughout her time at University. She spends her free time collecting tattoos and dying her hair bizarre colours, much to her girlfriend's dismay.