http://ciw-online.org/slavery/
Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), ANTI-slavery program, Hillary Clinton, and Geronimo
In 21st century America, slavery remains woven into the fabric of our daily lives. On any given day, the fruit and vegetables we eat or drink may have been picked by workers in involuntary servitude. Men and women are held against their will by their employers through the use of violence – including beatings, shootings, and pistol-whippings – threats of violence, and coercion.
The CIW’s Anti-Slavery Program has uncovered, investigated, and assisted in the prosecution of numerous multi-state, multi-worker farm slavery operations across the Southeastern U.S., helping liberate over 1,200 workers held against their will. 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 as the “spark” that ignited today’s national anti-slavery movement.
The CIW’s work has gained national and international recognition, including the 2017 MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship, the 2015 Presidential Award for Extraordinary Efforts in Combatting Modern Day Slavery from President Obama, the 2010 Trafficking in Persons Hero Award from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the 2007 Anti-Slavery Award from Anti-Slavery International of London, a 2005 commendation from FBI Director Robert Mueller, and the 2003 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award from the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights.
With the advent of the Fair Food Program (FFP), the CIW reached the goal of prevention. Rather than cleaning up the abuse after the fact, worker education and monitoring backed by market consequences — enforceable zero tolerance — resulted in FFP farms having zero cases of forced labor in five-year period. In a region and an industry with an uninterrupted 300-year history of forced labor — from chattel slavery to convict leasing, debt bondage, and the modern-day slavery operations — this is a truly remarkable transformation. In three crops and seven states, the FFP is a welcome disruption.