RATH in CanberraTwelve ACRATH members have recently completed a successful visit to Canberra where they met with members of Federal Parliament, AusAID, the Australian Institute of Criminology, the Office for Women, the Attorney General’s Department, Anti Slavery Australia, UNICEF, ACFID, and Church public policy representatives to raise awareness about the plight of victims trafficked into Australia.
A visual report on our visit to Canberra can be found here.
In 2010 Nestlé began distributing four finger Kitkat in Australia using UTZ certified cocoa. This action was welcomed by all those campaigning for a child slavery free chocolate industry. Recently this certification has been extended to all Nestlé Kitkat products.
Over 75% of the world’s cocoa is produced in West Africa where thousands of children are trapped in forced labour. While we commend the action Nestlé has taken we would like to see this extended to all Nestlé products.
Join the campaign for a chocolate industry free from child slavery and trafficking. Purchase chocolate products that are certified free of child labour. Write to chocolate manufacturers and ask where they source their cocoa.
For more information click here
A group of women religious from around Australia will make their fifth annual pilgrimage to Canberra next week in a bid to influence policies affecting people trafficked into Australia.
The 12 women, Catholic sisters and their colleagues, are all members of Australian Catholic Religious Against Trafficking in Humans (ACRATH). They will spend a week (August 21-26) in Canberra speaking to Members of Parliament, Embassy staff, public servants, union bosses and Church leaders in their continuing battle on behalf of trafficked people.
Sr Louise Cleary, national chair of ACRATH and the newly elected head of the Brigidine congregation worldwide, said the group was pleased that Federal Ministers Brendan O’Connor (Home Affairs), Kate Ellis (Women) and Tony Burke (Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities) had agreed to speak to ACRATH members. She said it showed the Government’s willingness to find out, from groups working on the ground, what issues faced trafficked people.
For more information click here.
Anti-Human Trafficking Newsletter Vol 9 No 8.The August 2011 issue highlights labour abuses and successes in the context of sports, tourism, retailers and legislative responses.
Click here to read this issue.
Uzbekistan is the world’s sixth largest producer of cotton, and the third largest exporter. For decades it has used forced labour of schoolchildren, college and university students to harvest cotton by hand.Each year over one million children as young as nine-years-old are sent out to work in the fields (http://www.sourcingnetwork.org/cotton). This practice is organised and controlled by the central government. For more information click here.
In 2004 local activists started to call for the world to boycott cotton harvested in Uzbekistan until the use of forced child labour was ended. International brands and retailers including Tesco, Walmart, LeviStrauss, Gap, Limited Brands, NIKE and Marks and Spencer agreed to ban Uzbek cotton from their supply chains. STOP THE TRAFFIK has written to Target, Kmart and Cotton On requesting that these retailers ensure that Uzbekistan cotton is not used in products which they sell.
For information on how you can support the STOP THE TRAFFIK campaign click here.
Start The Music is back in 2011 for another energy packed night of music to raise awareness and funds for action on people trafficking. We are delighted to announce that Sol Nation, The Adam Cousens Band and White Summer will be
performing on the night. It is often considered that people trafficking is limited to places like Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa.
The simple fact is that not only it is happening on our doorsteps in Australia but we are also directly connected to the trafficking trade in other parts of the world through the products we buy that have been made by children or people who have been trafficked. We need your support to continue putting pressure on governments around the world and to mobilise the community to do more to PREVENT trafficking, PROSECUTE the traffickers and PROTECT the victims. This event combines great music with fundraising and action on people trafficking.
Come to our Melbourne event or hold your own (click here for kit)!
When: 8pm Friday 12th August
Where: RMH the Venue, 629 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Cost: Tickets $12 pre sale or $15 on the door.
Presale: Available through www.startthemusic.com.au
Click here for flyer.
Trading Lives
"In a new country there will be
no slavery & hence no slaves."
Captain Arthur Phillip said this in 1787 before leaving England to become the 1st Governor of the new colony of Australia. Phillip landed at Sydney Cove in 1788 after an 8 month sea voyage.
ACRATH acknowledges and respects the Indigenous Peoples of Australia both past and present.
As caretakers of the land and custodians of the stories their culture has survived for thousands of years and is now recognised as the oldest living culture in the world.
