We want a Traffik-Free Toblerone
Today we are launching our new campaign asking Kraft- When will Toblerone be free from child trafficking? Do you have a passion for all things chocolaty? Are you creative? Then you can use your artistic talents to make a difference; create an image for our Kraft campaign. Kraft source a significant amount of their cocoa … Read more
Nestlé, Wish you were here!
Where are you headed on holiday over the next few months? If you are headed to Australia you’re in chocolaty luck because you’ll be able to find traffik-free 4 finger Kit Kat bars and by the end of 2011, Nestlé has committed to making their entire Australian Kit Kat range traffik-free and UTZ certified! Read more… Not … Read more
Traffik-free chocolate where you live
Today is World Day Against Child Labour, sponsored by the International Labour Organization. For a couple of years now activists around the world have been campaigning hard to get the chocolate companies to get on board with using cocoa in their products that isn’t grown and picked using trafficked child labour. From sending postcards, letters, … Read more
Confused by the price of chocolate
Today dear readers, I am a little confused. For the last few months, we have been following news coming form the Ivory Coast very closely and something occurred to me over the weekend. When countries supplying the world with oil are a touch turbulent (e.g. Iraq / Libya ….) oil prices soar. Over a … Read more
Bloody cocoa in Cote d’Ivoire
People have been asking me what our take is on what’s going on in Cote d’Ivoire at the moment. Is the unrest there affecting the trafficking of kids onto the plantations? What is our response? I want to take some time explaining it, but in a way that is short and simple to understand … Read more
The Nestlé slogan hunt is on!
Our Valentine’s Day campaign asking Nestle to ‘Have a Heart’ was a great success thanks to your help! Now, Mr. Cocoa Bean is hunting for a short campaign slogan to demand Nestlé hops on board this Easter to give us traffik-free chocolate! The winning slogan will be revealed on Mr. Cocoa Bean’s placard when we launch our Nestlé Easter Campaign in a couple of … Read more
mmmmMars bars in Australia!
Last week (Monday 28th February 2011) MARS in Australia announced their lovely MARS bars in Australia will carry the Rainforest Alliance logo as of June 2011. This followed a campaign where STOP THE TRAFFIK Australia sent 30,000 postcards to supporters who then urged MARS to roll out a product that uses cocoa certified as ‘traffik … Read more
‘Have a Heart Nestlé’ Twitter Awards
In the run up to Valentine’s day, people from all over the world used love poems and Valentine’s messages on Twitter to tell Nestlé to ‘Have A Heart’ and put an end to trafficked labour in their supply chains. We thought we’d give some public recognition to the literary genius of STOP THE TRAFFIK supporters … Read more
Noel Nestlé
Are you counting down to Christmas yet? You’re not the only one counting down… http://stopthetraffik-news.org/D5L-BISF-931KM19A61/cr.aspx
It’s time to raise the bar Nestlé!
Dearest loveliest blog readers! I write with exciting news…… well exciting for us, annoying for Nestlé As I am sure you’re aware, over the last few years we have been working together to pressurize the chocolate industry into making ethical and traffik free choices. The industry has responded and we now have more traffik free … Read more
Bitter Sweet update on Chocolate…
Hey Everyone! Here’s an update on what’s currently happening in Europe around the chocolate industry, thanks to Antoinie, STOP THE TRAFFIK Netherlands: Last week Thursday, Tulane University published their latest report on trafficking and the worst forms of child labour in the cocoa industry of West Africa. The findings were shocking, to say the least. … Read more
Exploitation of labor rights in Chocolate production is ongoing
The worst forms of child labor, forced labor and trafficking of children have not been eradicated yet, on the contrary, a newly released study gives real evidence about the widespread practices and the ineffectiveness of the industry’s efforts. Nine years ago, a voluntary agreement called the Harkin-Engel Protocol was signed by the cocoa and chocolate … Read more
Reverse Trick or Treating
Halloween 2010 is just around the corner, are that means you can participate in the Fourth Annual Reverse Trick-or-Treating! This year, make an even bigger difference for cocoa growing communities. Forced labor in the cocoa industry will not end unless EACH ONE OF US takes action! Reverse Trick-or-Treating is an initiative launched by Global Exchange. … Read more
Deadly weapon-humble bar
Today I’d like to summarise some of a great speech by Thomas Horton of Oasis Academy Immingham. I found it inspirational and hope you do to. Here goes: “Chemical. Nuclear. Biological. These are all weapons that we hear about but today I want to talk to you about one of the world’s deadliest weapons…that many people … Read more
Cocoa Journalists in the Ivory Coast locked up
The latest news coming out of the Ivory Coast suggests its not just victims trafficked into chocolate production whose freedom is at stake. Even the reporters trying to highlight things in the cocoa industry those in power would rather keep hidden, are having their freedom taken away. Since journalists are particularly important in providing public … Read more
From Slaveland to Poundland
Have you ever been into a Pound/Dollar/Euro shop and like me, wondered, who (when you save so much) actually gains from what you buy? This question has never been more relevant than it is today. In Poundland, for £1 (the equivalent of about $1.5 or just over €1), you can buy anything from a notebook … Read more
5. What if…?
…the local newsagent owner knew that the cocoa in the chocolate bars he sells came from the labour of trafficked African boys, sold into slavery, whipped and never allowed to escape?
Global Newsround 21/05/2010
ONLINE PROTEST MAKES CHOCOLATE GIANT CUT ITS DEFORESTATION FOOTPRINT STOP THE TRAFFIK thinks the Greenpeace campaign -that has seen Nestlé succumb to eco-friendly palm oil- is a great illustration of what community action can achieve through the power of new media campaigns by NGOs, which can galvanise multinationals in a way that was not possible … Read more
1. What if…?
…a teacher realised the boy in her class had been trafficked into the country for benefit fraud?
Celebrating Traffik-Free Chocolate in Spanish
La asociación Esclavitud XXI, con el fin de desarrollar la campaña de Stop the Traffik por un chocolate más justo, ha colgado en su página web (www.esclavitudxxi.org) una serie de recursos en castellano como pueden ser un libro de recetas buenísimas para preparar con chocolate de comercio justo, datos reales sobre la industria del chocolate, … Read more
Chocolate Film by STOP THE TRAFFIK Belgium
What better place to talk about chocolate than Belgium? STOP THE TRAFFIK visited schools around the country with the chocolate story and a camera. This film shows how young people responded to our questions: what can I do and what should the government do to stop the traffik? Is er een betere plaats dan België … Read more
Chocolate-The Bitter Truth, Our Response
STOP THE TRAFFIK celebrates the fact that journalists and filmmakers around the world are investigating the crime of trafficking of children onto cocoa plantations in West Africa. All cocoa needs to be independently verified as free from trafficked labour and the worst forms of child labour. Organisations such as Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance offer such … Read more
Chocolate-The Bitter Truth
If you live in the UK, tune in to Panorama: Chocolate-The Bitter Truth on BBC One tomorrow (Wednesday 24th March) at 9pm . The reporter goes undercover as a cocoa trader to discover the trafficking and slave labour that go into the chocolate we eat. Find out how you can campaign for Traffik-Free chocolate here.
Australia: We love Traffik- Free Dairy Milk
I just bought my first australian cadbury fairtrade chocolate!! It feels very sweet especially after cadbury told me two and a half years ago that our chocolate campaign would go away after a while! So, so nice Paul Mergard STOP THE TRAFFIK Australia
Folk, Fairtrade, Freedom
Who doesn’t love all three of the above? The brilliant people at Burgess Hill Fairtrade Festival are combining Folk, Fairtrade and Freedom for another year with a variety of fun events from the 28th February to 7th March. On Saturday the 6th March there will be a Fairtrade Fair where you can get all your … Read more
Eat those Galaxies
Brilliant news everyone!! We’re super excited in the office today as we have just seen our first Rainforest Alliance certified Galaxy bar. A fantastic first step- Mars have kept their promise and brought us Rainforest Alliance Galaxy in 2010 in the UK. Now we just have to make sure they keep their commitment to make … Read more
Global Chocolate Campaign
I’m always surprised to see how many amazing anti-trafficking blogs there are. I try and read as many as I can and connect with activists from all over the world. There are so many interesting things to learn and really exciting campaigns happening to end modern-day slavery in its many forms. At STOP THE TRAFFIK … Read more
Krafty or what?
This month Cadbury, after 186 years of producing chocolate and selling it around the world, was finally bought out by Kraft, the world’s second largest food maker. For Brits it felt a bit like selling the Queen. The more important issue though, is what is going to happen to Dairy Milk, which so recently went … Read more
SECRET DIARY WRITER: Rapping Nestles knuckles with wrappers
Hi everybody! It’s CHOCOLATE WEEK! We are being encouraged to eat and bath and rub ourselves with chocolate this week. I say, YEEEHA, sounds like fun. Let’s do it but make sure it’s FAIR TRADE. I have an idea though that you should save your fair trade wrappers, write a little note on the back … Read more
The MARCH is working (already!)
STOP THE TRAFFIK is thrilled to announce that the global campaign to MARCH ON MARS is already beginning to work! Mars have JUST announced that ALL their cocoa will be certified by the Rainforest Alliance as free from trafficked and exploited labour by 2020. As a first step, Galaxy bars in the UK and … Read more
