Archive for the ‘World News’ Category

NFS Takes Action in Africa

June 3, 2010 Posted by Not For Sale

Africa

In war-torn Uganda, one of the most devastating forms of modern-day slavery has been the practice of child-soldiering. Young children, snatched from their homes, forced into devastating acts of unspeakable violence. Today we come together to support the recovery of Uganda and its people, and to prevent future generations from being forced into modern-day slavery.

Not For Sale has partnered with the Jesuit community in Gulu to bring recovery for former child soldiers, promote peace throughout the region, and enhance stability by educating a new generation of justice seeking Ugandans.

With your support, we will build an Amphitheater and Peace Garden for former child soldiers and the Gulu community, using music and performance to promote peace and teach reconciliation throughout Uganda. We will provide education by building a high school classroom and girl’s dormitory, thereby preventing ongoing vulnerability and creating opportunity for this rising generation.

We need only $76,700 USD to complete the project. With your support we can reach our goal! Join Not For Sale in Africa as we use music and education to provide recovery for survivors, and ensure the future freedoms of Uganda’s children.

Donate to Not For Sale in Africa

Watch the Video

Text FREEDOM to Support NFS | Asia

May 27, 2010 Posted by Not For Sale

In the Golden Triangle region of Thailand, where the borders of Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, and Laos meet, the majority of street children are not recognized as citizens. As stateless people, they are unable to receive social services and often are unable to find meaningful employment. Not For Sale supports an abolitionist named Kru Nam who cares for 110 stateless children, rescued from sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Many children do not speak Thai, and Public schools DO NOT ACCEPT older children who can’t read or write or children with a learning, physical or mental disability. In order to prepare these students for school, Kru Nam operates a home learning program. However, The Children’s Home lacks the most basic of supplies; a proper place to teach, desks, and materials.

The other half of the children in Kru Nam’s care attend boarding schools, but on breaks they return to the Children’s Home, sleeping wherever they find space. Handling this influx is a challenge without proper space or resources.

To enhance the educational possibilities of these students, Not For Sale is building a classroom and dormitory for Kru Nam’s school in Northern Thailand. The NFS classroom will also give all children the opportunity to gain computer skills that will let them compete in the modern workplace.

Text FREEDOM to 50555 to donate $10 to Not For Sale | Asia! Help us build a dorm and classrooms for Kru Nam and the street children rescued from Human Trafficking in Thailand.

A one-time donation of $10 will be added to your mobile phone bill or deducted from your prepaid balance. You will also receive up to 4 messages per month from Not For Sale Alerts. Msg&Data Rates May Apply. All charges are billed by and payable to your mobile service provider. Service is available on most carriers. Donations are collected for the benefit of Not For Sale by the mGive Foundation and subject to the terms found atwww.mGive.com/A. To unsubscribe text STOP to 50555, for help text HELP to 50555.

NFS | Honduras–Protecting People and Conserving Nature

April 27, 2010 Posted by Not For Sale

boat

Just off the Caribbean coast of Honduras lays an archipelago of islands home to an indigenous population who have been marginalized and exploited for years. An influx in tourism in the area has caused a dramatic increase in sex trafficking. In addition, the construction of large resorts, which use improper sewage and garbage systems, have pushed locals to the outskirts where they use traditional slash-and-burn methods to clear the land for grazing. These factors combined are causing substantial pollutants to run off-shore, deteriorating the world’s second largest barrier reef.

There is an inextricable link between the protection and productivity of the land and the health of its communities. Therefore, Not For Sale is building a Hospitality and Conservation Institute. The institute provides vocational training and practical experience to hundreds of vulnerable youth and unemployed women. By creating jobs and employing locals in conservation focused tourist activities such as hiking, diving, and snorkeling, both the land and the people are effectively protected and empowered.

This Earth Day, we ask that you not only wear green, but also wear orange. To protect the land, you must also protect the people who know, love, live and earn a living from the land.

Urge House to Provide Services for Human Trafficking Survivors!

October 4, 2009 Posted by Kilian Moote

Today, we are at a crucial moment in the fight against human trafficking: the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies is about to decide whether or not to provide $15 million for services for survivors of human trafficking. Please, write to Committee Chairman Mollohan and Ranking Member Wolf to urge them to fund services for victims of human trafficking today! The upwards of 17,500 people who are trafficked into the United States, plus the tens of thousands of Americans trafficked internally each year, are in desperate need of services like medical care, counseling, legal assistance, shelter, education, and employment in order to recover from horrific abuses and rebuild their lives. Without adequate funds those services in the U.S. will be underfunded and inaccessible for many survivors. For many trafficking survivors, these services are the key to a new life after the horrible ordeal of slavery.

The Senate Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee has already agreed to fund trafficking victims’ services at $15 million. Now, we are asking the House to support the highest possible funding level to provide trafficking survivors the resources they desperately need. Specifically, we are asking the House conferees to commit to the following:

• To provide the highest possible funding level for Department of Justice grants for programs to end human trafficking and slavery;
• To provide a floor for foreign nationals in the Justice grants to ensure continuity of programs;

• Retain the Senate report language requiring the Department of Justice to establish a point of contact in each U.S. Attorney Office to better coordinate human trafficking and slavery efforts in each jurisdiction; and

• Support the Senate report language for Justice’s specialized Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.

Sign the Petition HERE!

Products Tainted by Slavery!

September 11, 2009 Posted by Kilian Moote

The United States Department of Labor has released a list of products imported into the United States that are likely tainted by forced labor or child labor. Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2005 the Bureau of International Labor Affairs was required to compile the report to educate consumers and inform the general public about what products are tainted by slavery. The list consists of 122 goods from 58 countries.

Top industries sited:

Rubber from Liberia;
Cocoa from Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea and Nigeria;
Cotton from Uzbekistan;
Tobacco from Malawi;
Cottonseed from India;
Cobalt, Coltan, Copper, Diamonds and Gold from the DRC;
Sugarcane from Brazil, DR, Guatemala (and many others)

The countries listed as top offenders were: India ( 19), Burma (14), Bangladesh (13), Brazil (13), China ( 12), and Philippines (12).

To read more visit the Department of Labor website

BBC: Malawi Children in Tobacco Industry

August 25, 2009 Posted by Allison Trowbridge

In a new report by the organization Plan International, it has been revealed that children in Malawi are forced to work in the tobacco industry and are being exposed to extreme levels of nicotine poisoning. This is another picture of what modern-day slavery looks like in our world.

View the BBC article, in images, by clicking here.

Slavery, Chocolate, and YOU!

August 9, 2009 Posted by Kilian Moote

Earlier this month over 50 young kids, ages 11-17 were rescued out of slavery on chocolate farms in the Ivory Coast, an area continuously effected by forced labor and slavery. As reported on Interpol’s website:

“The children had been bought by plantation owners needing cheap labour to harvest the cocoa and palm plantations. They were discovered working under extreme conditions, forced to carry massive loads seriously jeopardizing their health. Aged between 11 and 16, children told investigators they would regularly work 12 hours a day and receive no salary or education. Girls were usually purchased as house maids and would work a seven-day week all year round, often in addition to their duties in the plantations.”

As a consumer we need to do our part to help end forced labor within the chocolate industry! As a consumer there are three things Not For Sale Campaign will engage you to do:

Free2work.org

Use your power of choice to change demand by joining a community of consumers engaged in this fight on Free2work.org.

Proof of Non-Purchase

Order or download “proof of non-purchases” to encourage your favorite retailer to stock freely made chocolate

Use Chocolate for YOUR next fundraiser:

Not For Sale Campaign has partnered with Sweet Earth Chocolate to create a fundraiser that will support you in your fundraising goal while also supporting NFS Ghana, and the best part is all the chocolate is produced using fair labor practices! For more info email freechocolate hailing from notforsalecampaign from the TLD of org

NFS Supports Legislation that Helps Prevent Trafficking in San Francisco!

June 25, 2009 Posted by Kilian Moote

Legislation introduced by San Francisco Supervisor Carmen Chu and Mayor Gavin Newsom supported by the Not For Sale Campaign passed with a near unanimous vote. The new legislation will increase transparency and provide additional regulation over the massage industry in San Francisco, an extremely high probability industry in San Francisco for trafficking. Not For Sale Campaign President, David Batstone, provided testimony in support of both pieces of legislation. Among the needed changes this new legislation enhances the ability of the city to revoke licenses from high-probability industries and increases cooperation and dialogue between various regulating agencies, needed changes David has advocated for since the beginning of the campaign.

Not For Sale would like to thank Mayor Gavin Newsom and Supervisor Carmen Chu for their work introducing legislation that would increase the cities ability to prevent trafficking from occuring.

Secretary Clinton on Efforts to Confront Trafficking

June 17, 2009 Posted by Kilian Moote

On June 16th Hillary Clinton, standing alongside the newly appointed Ambassador-at-Large to monitor and combat trafficking in Persons Lou de Baca, announced the release of the 2009 Trafficking in Persons State Department report. The following day, June 17th, Secretary Clinton authored an article in the Washington Post entitled “Partnering Against Trafficking”. In the article Secreatry Clinton reaffirmed the United States efforts to confront trafficking and hailed the State Departments continuous work with countries dedicated to confronting this global human rights concern.

Read the Article Here:

NFS at 2009 Trafficking in Persons Report Release

June 16, 2009 Posted by Kilian Moote

David Batstone joined Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Ambassador-at-Large to Combat Human Trafficking Lou DeBaca in Washington D.C. for the public release of the 2009 G/TIP Report.

Batstone represented the Not For Sale Campaign as a national partner for the creation of effective legislation to combat the global slave trade.

NFSC is thankful for the work that both Clinton and DeBaca are doing within the US State Department to tackle modern slavery, and the extensive information made available through this effective report. Secretary Clinton stated during the press conference, “The ninth annual Trafficking in Persons Report sheds light on the faces of modern-day slavery and on new facets of this global problem. The human trafficking phenomenon affects virtually every country, including the United States. In acknowledging America’s own struggle with modern-day slavery and slavery-related practices, we offer partnership. We call on every government to join us in working to build consensus and leverage resources to eliminate all forms of human trafficking.”

Read the full report here

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