As I write this it will be Valentine’s Day on Sunday and I must take this opportunity to wish you all a Very Happy One. For the last three weeks we have posted various ways loved ones can share their Valentine’s Day together courtesy of the Olwomen website – www.olwomen.com.

Olwomen was one of the first websites to grant us permission to use their excellent stories as long as we gave them a link back. Of course we do.

So lovers please visit that website or re-read all of the Valentine ones we have posted. Just put “Olwomen Valentine” in our search engine and up they will come.

On a more serious note another of our website friends Walkfree.org have written to us asking our readers’ help in exposing the slave trade in children working in the cocoa fields to provide you with your Valentine’s chocolates.

The following is the Walk Free plea:

Dear Colin,

“The fact that millions continue to be trapped in exploitative and dehumanizing conditions is a terrible stain on modern society” – Nisha Varia, Human Rights Watch.1

As Valentine’s Day approaches and stores line their shelves with cards and candies to celebrate the holiday, you may be considering buying a box of chocolates for your loved one. But what you may not consider are the stories of young children like Abdul working in chocolate’s multibillion-dollar industry.2

Abdul is a 10 year old boy from Ivory Coast who started working on a cocoa farm when he was 7 but he has never actually tasted chocolate.3 In recent years, a handful of organisations and journalists have exposed the widespread use of child and forced labour in the cocoa industry.

You can help change this. Take action now to stop forced labour worldwide.

Calling for the ratification of the C29 Protocol, created in 2014 to update Convention 29, which was drafted in 1930, means your country will be equipped to address modern slavery today with up to date protection measures. It’s not the catchiest of names but this law means real change for those who have been trafficked or are living in slavery and are forced to work in various sectors, including agriculture, domestic work and the sex industry.4

There is something you can do to make a real change in the lives of millions of people working on cocoa farms and suffering from other forms of forced labour. Sign our petition now at: http://www.walkfree.org/forced-labour/?utm_source=Subscribers&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=C29&utm_content=C29-R_Petition_Chaser_en_Prospect_Ex_13Feb16

Happy Valentine’s Day,

Maru, Alex, Joanna and the rest of the Walk Free Team

P.S. Want to buy slavery-free chocolate? Look for assurances on packaging detailing the conditions under which it was produced.

1 http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/06/11/global-treaty-protect-forced-labor-victims-adopted

2 http://news.bbc.co.uk/panorama/hi/front_page/newsid_8583000/8583499.stm

3 http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/19/child-slavery-and-chocolate-all-too-easy-to-find/

4 http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/06/11/global-treaty-protect-forced-labor-victims-adopted

Walk Free is a movement of people everywhere, fighting to end one of the world’s greatest evils: Modern slavery.

www.walkfree.org

HELP END FORCED LABOUR

Cayman Islands must act quickly to adopt and implement the new international law1 to prevent abuses, protect victims, as well as punish those that force people to work in conditions of slavery.

We have already waited decades for this tough new global standard against forced labour. The people trapped on farms, in mines, in factories and in all the other places where forced labour flourishes shouldn’t have to wait while our policy-makers drag their heels to put this law into practice.

All countries must prioritise this effort to end forced labour: call on the Government of Cayman Islands to adopt this new law immediately.

This law — known as the Protocol of 20141 to Convention 292 — creates new responsibilities for governments in the fight against forced labour, the key measures cover:3

Prevention. Governments are obligated to create national action plans to tackle forced labour and support business to root out and respond to forced labour in their supply chains.
Better protection for victims. This includes the safeguarding of vulnerable migrant workers against fraudulent and abusive recruitment practices.
Justice. Victims are now protected from prosecution for crimes they may have committed as a direct result of their forced labour. They also have access to justice, including the ability to claim for compensation for the abuses they have experienced, where they occurred.
Our collective voice can keep forced labour on the agenda and ensure swift action by the Government of Cayman Islands. Act now!