STOP THE TRAFFIK blog spot

Olympic mascots made by Chinese workers in exploitative conditions

STT — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:37:14 +0000

The London Organising Committee for the Olympic games (LOCOM) has strict ethical guidelines for Olympic suppliers, however, The Sun exposed that these are not being met.

The Sun article states that the cuddly toy versions of the Olympic mascots, Mandeville and Wenlock, have been made in factories in China where workers are paid just 18p per a cuddly toy. Undercover investigators from Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour (SACOM), exposed the situation after visiting the Rainbow factory in Dafeng City twice. SACOM report that the workers in the factory are forced to work up to 11 ½ hours a day, with no holiday rights, fined a day’s wage for leaving their workspace untidy and told to lie to investigators about their conditions.

We are aware that there is a significant risk that trafficking in many forms could increase during the London Olympics. It is imperative that there is an immediate response to these reports that expose exploitative practises that could easily involve the trafficking of human beings. We expect to see the Olympic committee taking direct action to redress this situation and clearly demonstrate their commitment to ethical practises.

Read The Sun article here

Get involved with the GIFT box project and help us raise awareness about human trafficking during the Olympics

CNN’s Freedom Project- Chocolate’s Child Slaves.

STT — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 10:42:40 +0000

CNN’s Chocolate’s Child Slaves debuts tonight at 8pm as part of their Freedom Project. They are dedicated to continuing to expose trafficking in the chocolate industry. We have been working with them on this, and Antonie from STOP THE TRAFFIK is speaking on the panel as part of the live section of the show so watch it!

One of the big questions we often get asked via email and facebook, is what can I do to help and how can my actions have an impact. One of the most important things to remember is that many people still have no idea that the chocolate bar they buy from their local shop could be directly linked to human trafficking. So we must tell others and get them involved …

STOP THE TRAFFIK are asking you to host a Chocolate fondu party. Invite your friends, family, neighbours and co- workers, have a big bowl of chocolate and show the CNN programme about trafficking in the Ivory Coast. If you see chocolate with the Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance or UTZ logo then you know that it is traffik free and perfect for the fondu pot. You can download the fondu party resources at http://www.stopthetraffik.org/resources/chocolate/fondueparty.aspx

Now that’s just our idea, if you have any ideas of how to get people involved and talking about it then post it on our blog or on our facebook page, and spread the word!

TRAFFIKED! Sophie Hayes talks to ITV’s This Morning

STT — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:07:01 +0000

Today is the day! Sophie Hayes shares her personal story of trafficking live on ITV’s this morning at 11.30. Please watch and support her!

We think it is amazing and brave that she has decided to tell her story so people know that this can happen to anybody, anywhere. Bex Keer from STOP THE TRAFFIK will also be on chatting with Philip and Ruth about the issue of people trafficking in the UK, and what you can do to help combat it.

Please join us in watching it and help support the Sophie Hayes foundation by buying her book, Traffiked, which is out today. http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1/276-2902469-2066759?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=sophie+hayes&x=0&y=0

CNN’s Chocolate’s Child Slaves- Oasis Academy sum it up.

STT — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:20:16 +0000

Privileged! Not a word we necessarily associate with trafficking in the Chocolate industry, but for an Oasis Academy student in South London, that’s exactly how she felt when she learned that thousands of children are trafficked into the Ivory Coast and harvest the beans that go into making our chocolate.

In just an hour the students decided that they were going to eat traffik free chocolate and tell the whole school what they have learned.

It will take you one hour to watch the programme on Friday at 8pm GMT and then you can decide what action you are going to take to tackle this issue. You can watch the preview here, http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/12/chocolates-child-slaves/

Chocolate’s Child Slaves premieres Friday 20^th January 2012: 8.00pm GMT, 9.00pm CET.

Additional air times include:

Saturday 21^st January 2012: 2.00pm GMT, 3.00pm CET.

Sunday 22^nd January 2012: 02.00am GMT, 3.00am CET, 07.30am GMT, 8.30am CET, 10.30am GMT, 11.30am CET and 9.30pm GMT, 10.30pm CET.

Tuesday 24^th January 2012: 04.00am GMT, 05.00am CET, 10.30am GMT, 11.30am CET, 5.30pm GMT, 6.30pm CET.

Keep your New Years Resolution – Give a Freedom Ticket for Life.

STT — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 15:19:10 +0000

Broken your New Year’s resolution yet? Well if you have you’re probably not the only one. Apparently 17^th January is officially the day that everybody breaks their New Year’s resolutions. It’s hard to drum up the energy to set off into the cold dark night on a run or go to a sweaty, over-crowded gym…

…but don’t give in just yet, we have a solution!

What you need is the right motivation. Running might be good for you but it could be even better for someone else – you can give someone a Freedom Ticket for Life.

Freedom Ticket for Life supports projects around the world which offer education for girls who are at risk of being trafficked. We know that one of the best ways to reduce vulnerability to trafficking is through education. We need you to get involved and raise the money needed for these projects. So why not turn your keeping fit resolution into a sponsored run, walk or cycle! Give yourself a sponsorship or distance target (much easier when you have something to aim for), and get others involved, it’s motivational to have a bit of competition! Get a group of family, friends or work colleagues to take part in the run or help raise awareness. Either have a look to see if there is one you can join in your local area, or create your own. All the information and resources you will need are available on our website www.freedomticketforlife.org Send us your pictures or videos of how you get on, seeing your picture might just be the thing to motivate someone else! Email us at; info@stopthetraffik.org Good luck and just think, keep running and you can enjoy that Traffik-Free chocolate bar guilt free!

NEW Community Roadshows for 2012!

STT — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:16:09 +0000

Last year we kicked off our community roadshows and what a few months we’ve had!

We travelled all over the country and delivered 7 roadshows in Sussex, Surrey, Hertfordshire, West Midlands, and London.

Over 500 people came along to find out about human trafficking, how it affects their area and what they can do to prevent it in the run up to the 2012 Olympics. Attendees learnt and engaged with key stateholders in the community - from the police to social workers, from charities to each other.

EXCITING NEWS!

In 2012 more community roadshows are planned:

WEST YORKSHIRE: Riley Smith Hall, Leeds University, West Yorkshire LS2 9JZ

Saturday 14^th January, 2-5pm

BARNET: Woodhouse College, Woodhouse Road, Barnet, London N12 9EY

Monday 13^th February, 10am-1pm

KENT: Global Generation Centre, Unit 2 Westwood Industrial Estate, Strasbourg Street, Margate, Kent CT9 4JJ

Wednesday 22^nd February, 6:30-8:30pm

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE: University of Nottingham, Pope Building A14, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD

Wednesday 29^th February, 2-5pm

4 EVENTS ACROSS THE SOUTH-EAST: March: 4 (TBC).

EALING: Grand Union Village Community Facilities, 1st Floor, Weaver House, Higham Mews, Northolt, London UB5 6FP

Tuesday 24^th April, 4-7pm

To register for one of these roadshows, email act@stopthetraffik.org with your name, email and location you will be attending.

Come along and be informed, inspired, and equipped to ACT against human trafficking in the Olympic year!

‘Trafficked’ Sophie’s personal story of being trafficked from the UK

STT — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:30:05 +0000

It was a December, and a normal day in the STOP THE TRAFFIK office. I remember I was sitting next to my colleague and engrossed in some task or other when the phone rang, another distraction! I picked it up and started to talk to the woman on the other end of the phone. She said her name was Sophie, and she said she had been trafficked. She said that she’d like help and would like to help us. Neither of us knew what this meant, but in hindsight it was about connecting, being understood, being part of something that worked to prevent the trafficking of people.

I got off the phone and just looked at my colleague with wide eyes and explained the phone call. It is so rare for someone to identify themselves as having been trafficked, and to be so open and articulate in sharing the horrors of what happened to them. I couldn’t have known then that the woman on the end of the phone would take me with her on an incredible journey of rebuilding her life, her hopes and dreams for the future, finding her own justice through sharing her story so that awareness is raised about trafficking – a journey which is still continuing after 6 years of friendship. I had no idea when I answered that phone and heard her story for the first time, that I would be proud to witness her telling it today.

Sophie and I built a relationship over the phone over the next few months, and eventually had our first meeting at a café in a train station perhaps 6 months after we first spoke, by which time I knew Sophie’s story …

She was living in a city in the North of England, and was 18yrs old and had no idea about human trafficking. One night she was out with friends, Kas started talking to her, he worked at a bar she went to all the time. He was very flattering and fun but she said no, she wasn’t interested and already had a boyfriend anyway. However, in the following months they developed a friendship, he accepted she wasn’t interested and what came out of it was an amazing friendship. They had swapped numbers and at this point chatted regularly on the phone. After about a year she broke up with her boyfriend of the time and Kas was there, understanding what she was going through and really listening.

They had known each other for some years now and she trusted him as a best friend. He told her he was off to Italy for a holiday, and she should come along for a weekend to cheer herself up. Tempted by some light relief, some pizza and a chance to get away for a few days, Sophie said yes.

It was when she got to Italy that everything changed.Kas changed. He announced on her first night that he was in debt and Sophie must help by working on the streets to earn the money he needed to pay back. It was the start of a previously unimaginable horrific experience.

Sophie had been trafficked but it wasn’t until she was back in the UK over a year later and an internet search threw up STOP THE TRAFFIK that she realised she wasn’t the only person that this had happened too. Sophie’s story is a stark reminder that trafficking is not something that happens far away to someone else. It happens everywhere. Sophie could have been my sister, one of the girls from school, or someone from my work.

Sophie found STOP THE TRAFFIK and has been involved ever since. She accompanied STOP THE TRAFFIK to the United Nations to present our declaration in 2009 and she has been part of raising awareness with vulnerable young people. She has changed our story and hopefully we have also changed hers.

You can read Sophie’s story which is out now and is available on Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Trafficked-Terrifying-Story-British-Forced/dp/0007438885/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327677701&sr=8-1

New Anti-Trafficking Film to be Released!

STT — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:12:10 +0000

“Every year, an estimated 2,000,000 children are commercially sexually exploited…

… 500,000 of these children are in India”

(Freedom Firm).

Ben Stamper’s new film, Horse and Rider: Freedom for the Daugthers of India, tells the remarkable true story about about two victims of trafficking in India and their road to freedom and recovery.

The film features the work of the organisation Freedom Firm as they prepare for rescue operations, interview families of trafficked girls and help to re-integrate these girls back into society.

Click on the photograph below to view the trailer of Horse and Rider

Horse and Rider will be released in March 2012 however, with a small donation, you can pro-order your copy now!

Indian, US and World Donors can pre-order the film here.

UK Donors can pre-order the film here.

Those interested in hosting a screening of the film can email contact@freedom.firm.in for more information.

Christmas Chocolate News!

STT — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:52:47 +0000

GOOD NEWS just in time for Christmas!

Tomorrow the Scottish Parliament will be debating child trafficking in the chocolate industry. The debate is entitled “10 Years on from Harkin-Engel, child trafficking in the chocolate industry” and is to be led by SNP MSP Jim Eadie. You can watch live coverage of the debate here.

This is a positive stop forward in ensuring that the issue of child trafficking on cocoa farms in West Africa is kept on the political agenda…

YOUR TURN!

This Christmas everyone can act to end trafficking in the chocolate industry.

HOST a STOP THE TRAFFIK Christmas raffle by downloading our special STOP THE TRAFFIK Christmas raffle tickets. Each ticket is a mini petition! Get your friends and colleague to take part in your raffle and explain that by signing the raffle ticket they are adding their name to our global petition for Traffik-free chocolate.

After your raffle, send your signed raffle tickets to us and we’ll enter them into a competition to win a STOP THE TRAFFIK hoodie.

The winning name will be drawn in January!

All that is left to be said is….

MERRY CHRISTMAS from the STOP THE TRAFFIK team!

Calling all Volunteers in the South of England

STT — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 15:16:24 +0000

Are you in the south of England? Yes? Then listen up…

If you’ve missed out on our community roadshows this year then come and seek out STOP THE TRAFFIK at the International Christian Resources Exhibition in Exeter, January 2012, where we are putting on a series of workshops to raise awareness about human trafficking. Here you can find out what human trafficking is, how it affects your community and what you can do about it.

We are also looking for volunteers to help us out on the day…

ARE YOU INTERESTED?

Email: info@stopthetraffik.org or call 02079214258