Nestlé surrender to STOP THE TRAFFIK pressure

From: Bex Keer [mailto:Bex.Keer@stopthetraffik.org]
Sent: 04 December 2009 14:03
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: Nestlé surrender to STOP THE TRAFFIK pressure

Christmas has come early!

Thank you to all those who are part of the STOP THE TRAFFIK chocolate campaign. On Sunday could you take the opportunity to announce the exciting developments that ….

Nestlé surrender to STOP THE TRAFFIK pressure

On Monday morning (December 7th) chocolate giant Nestlé UK will finally announce that Kit Kat is to be slave free or fairly traded from January 2010. But this good news is only partial. This is amazing news. But remember although Nestlé have bowed to pressure from the STOP THE TRAFFIK campaign to clean up their act, they will also announce that this will only apply to their ‘four finger’ product. In other words, two finger Kit Kats and all of their other chocolate products will continue to exploit the chocolate slaves of the Ivory Coast from where Nestlé source most of their cocoa.

Over the last few years thousands of churches and their members have put pressure on the big chocolate manufacturers around the world to eradicate the worst forms of child labour on the cocoa farms of Ivory Coast, West Africa where thousands of young children are trafficked, enslaved and abused to harvest the cocoa that makes over a third of the world’s chocolate.

First Cadbury, then MARS, now Nestle.

Since summer 2009 STOP THE TRAFFIK has turned the heat up on Nestlé – a global giant with a poor human rights record – and in recent weeks has launched a new and hard-hitting Christmas campaign designed to bring the giant company to task.
STOP THE TRAFFIK has learnt that from January 2010 the four finger Kit Kats will be fair trade and that this will be made public on Monday. However, Nestlé still refuse to budge on their two finger biscuits.

Steve Chalke, founder of STOP THE TRAFFIK and the United Nations Special Advisor on Community Action Against Human Trafficking says “We welcome the Nestlé announcement. We are relieved for the cocoa farmers and children in Ivory Coast. The surrender of Nestlé demonstrates that by making a simple consumer choice ordinary people can hold multi-nationals to account.”

But, he adds “Though we understand that it is hard to make all products ethical overnight, we want to see that this is more than a token gesture. So, we intend to keep the pressure on Nestlé until their commitment is global and product wide, like their competitor Mars. No chocolate should have the bitter aftertaste of slavery. Therefore our campaign continues.”

PLEASE ANNOUNCE THIS TO ENCOURAGE AND THANK ALL THOSE WHO HAVE HELPED MAKE THIS HAPPEN AND AS A CALL TO ACTION.

Ruth Dearnley CEO STOP THE TRAFFIK "This is only the beginning. The worst thing we can do is think that this is enough. This is a sign that our campaign is working but the chocolate industry needs to know that we will not stop until every bar on every shelf in every shop is traffik free. Because only then can we know that we are stopping the trafficking of young boys to pick the beans to feed us our sweet snack. Thank you for all you are doing. Be encouraged and be inspired. We will stop the traffik"

This e-mail has been sent by Bex Keer, STOP THE TRAFFIK UK Team Manager
t: 020 7921 4250 f: 020 7921 4201
STOP THE TRAFFIK, 75 Westminster Bridge Road, London, SE1 7HS