New App helps Combat Human Trafficking in South Africa

Not For Sale is joining forces with Mxit, Africa’s largest social networking service, to combat human trafficking in South Africa.

With over 40 million users in South Africa alone, Mxit is Africa’s largest social media platform in Africa--larger than Facebook or Twitter. Not For Sale and MixIt have developed an educational platform on human trafficking that will be utilized as a survey for mobile phones.

Using the format of 11 ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions on human trafficking, users of Mxit are
encouraged and incentivized through gamification (offering airtime, credits etc.) to take
the survey produced by Not For Sale. At the end of the survey, if users feel or know
someone affected by trafficking, a toll-free number is provided for them to report
instances.

Since 2010, Not For Sale South Africa has assisted law enforcement in over 70 cases of
human trafficking. The most prevalent forms of human trafficking seen in South Africa
are sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, forced marriage, and agricultural labor.
Though, sexual exploitation makes up 75% of those having survived trafficking.

Internally, most victims come from poor regions or rural areas and informal settlements.
They are lured by hopes of a possible job in the city. Recruiters are often individuals
known intimately by the victim. Internationally, women and girls living in poor regions
of countries like China, Russia, Thailand, and Bulgaria are trafficked to South Africa for
sex. Of the cases Not For Sale South Africa has assisted with since 2010, 60% have been
foreigners.

With access to Mxit’s user base of close to 40 million mobile customers, we expect up to
150,000 people to answer the survey in the next couple of months. This will allow Not
For Sale to reach a significant number of individuals with up-to-date information and
resources on human trafficking, in areas where such information is usually inaccessible.
This outreach will significantly increase the general understanding of human trafficking
in South Africa, while utilizing data to create economic opportunities that will prevent
human trafficking in South Africa before it begins. This project is piloting in South
Africa; however, Not For Sale and Mxit have plans to extend the platform to a number of
other African countries.

http://www.notforsalecampaign.org/ 
Not For Sale
270 Capistrano Road, Suite 2
Half Moon Bay, Calif.
www.notforsalecampaign.org
For More Information Contact:
Jessica Henry 415-794-9049
Jessica@notforsalecampaign.org
About Not For Sale
Not For Sale creates tools that engage business, government, and grassroots in order to incubate and grow
social enterprises to benefit enslaved and vulnerable communities. There are over 30 million slaves in the world
today, more than at any other point in history. Human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal industry
worldwide and generates more than $32 billion per year.

Global Forum on Human Trafficking October 21-22

I had the chance to meet with Nathan Beeghley, Social Media Manager of Not For Sale, a couple of weeks ago. We had a nice breakfast in San Francisco and talked about some of the innovative things NFS is doing to combat slavery. For those who have not been to the Not For Sale website recently (www.notforsalecampaign.org), I say check it outright now, or right after finishing this blogpost. The site has evolved quite a bit over the last year and there are many new campaigns you can get involved with, such as the Free2Work, Free2Play, Free2Walk, NFS Academy and more. We also spoke at length about the October 21-22 Global Forum on Human Trafficking taking place in Silicon Valley. This is where the movement to end slavery gets technical. There will be over 30 guest speakers, including co-founder of Twitter Jack Dorsey, and over 1,600 attendees. Today's leading abolitionists. innovators and activists will convene to discuss strategies and provide training on ways we can all participate to combat slavery. Like my Grandpa used to say, "Many hands makes light work."We all have a part we can play in ending modern slavery, the more we learn and the more who get involved, the quicker and easier it will become to end slavery. Pre-registration is currently reduced to $129 right now. Plus, you can save an additional 10% off your registration when you use the code: ABOLITIONISTJB

Global Forum 2011 Promo from Hepburn Creative on Vimeo.

Secretary Clinton on Slavery, 500 Slaves Freed by IJM, and more...

Sec. Clinton on slavery: "Unforgettable and unforgivable" – CNN Press Room

cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com - In a CNN Freedom Project exclusive, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sat down with CNN’s Jim Clancy (@ClancyCNN) to discuss the recently released 2011 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report. ...

More than 500 slaves rescued from brick kilns – The CNN Freedom Project: Ending Modern-Day Slavery

thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com - From CNN's Mallika Kapur Chennai, India - Beaten with rods, belts and subjected to other forms of abuse, the bonded laborers toiled away in a tiny brick kiln in southern India day after day with li...

New shopping app shows slavery in company supply chains

Want to know what’s behind the toy, MP3 player, chocolate or sweater you buy? The International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) and the Not for Sale Campaign (NFSC) continue to develop their partnership on a unique online resource for consumers concerned about forced labor and child labor in their favorite products, Free2Work.org. Free2Work is a website were consumers can easily search specific products, learn more about various labor standards and corporate practices, and further their engagement through their consumption decisions.

Free2Work is the only resource for consumers with a particular concern for forced and child labor. So far, the website has evaluated and rated a broad range of the top products in the US market from garments to electronics to children’s toys and food using a comprehensive rating tool. Some of the companies that have already been rated include: Apple, Adidas, Gap, Hanes, Hasbro, HP, Levi’s, Nestle, Nike, Puma, Skechers, Timberland and Wal-Mart. As part of the project, many of the companies rated are also working to improve their ratings by strengthening their policies to eliminate labor rights abuses. The website also has numerous features where users can share information and resources, find ways to take action and offer feedback on the project.

A Free2Work iPhone and Android APP are now available to download. The app makes it easy to see supply chain ratings on over 100 companies with many more companies to be added to the list. The app was also featured as one of the “11 Great Apps for 2011” at the San Francisco Appshow.

ILRF and NFSC look forward to continuing to expand their collaboration throughout 2011 to support the growing movement to stop forced and child labor.

You can DOWNLOAD THE APP HERE and take it for a test drive yourself.

Source: Not For Sale

Understanding Modern Slavery in the Supply Chain & Why Blanket Boycotts May Not be Best

Understanding where our products come from is an important part of understanding one of the underlying factors in modern slavery today. From cotton to cocoa, rugs to cell phones, almost every supply chain has some amount of slavery in it.

This is one of the hardest parts of slavery to weed out. To combat slavery in the supply chain, abolitionist organizations must work with companies and suppliers to help them find cases of slavery and remove it from their supply chain. This is how long term solutions can be accomplished as has been seen with the Cocoa Initiative, discussed by Kevin Bales, President of Free the Slaves.

It's often difficult for businesses to wipe out slavery from their supply chains. Take for instance cocoa farms along the ivory coast. Chocolate companies typically buy their cocoa from a broker, who buys it from a broker, who buys it from a group of farmers, where a smaller percentage of these farmers may use slaves.

Some might say, "Let's boycott their chocolate." The problem with this blanket approach is that it may do more harm than good. This hurts the cocoa business, which hurts the brokers, which hurts the group of farmers, of which a large percentage are legitimate farmers on the Ivory Coast struggling to survive. If their farms fail because their sales have dropped, they can easily be enslaved on slave farms or may become a slave farm themselves to produce better margins and just survive.

Because the overhead is so cheap for slave labor, this can grow the slave cycle instead of breaking it.

That's why it's critical to weed out the small percentage of slavery in the product chain at the root. When businesses and anti-slavery groups work together, I mean really team up, this can take place. The organizations can help identify and root out slavery in the supply chain and the companies can expend the resources to make sure local authorities are notified and that it gets removed from their purchases by brokers.

If you know of a company with slavery in their product chain, contact the company to make them aware of the problem along with your state legislators and local news. Nothing will get a company motivated to investigate and cleanup their product chain like a little bad PR. This is actually how the chocolate companies started making changes and decided to partner up with government and abolitionist groups. Boycotts can and do have this effect as well. You just have to remember their may be greater consequences to a blanket boycott than you might realize.

With that said, The International Labour Rights Forum and Not For Sale has created a Free 2 Work APP for the Android and iPhone, which rates companies on their supply chain and makes it easy to learn more about companies and share information with friends. Here's a quick video about it. DOWNLOAD THE APP HERE.

Source: Not For Sale