THANK YOU MR. SECRETARY GENERAL

Ban’s visit may not have achieved any visible outcome, but the people of Burma will remember what he promised: "I have come to show the unequivocal shared commitment of the United Nations to the people of Myanmar. I am here today to say: Myanmar – you are not alone."

QUOTES OF UN SECRETARY GENERAL

Without participation of Aung San Suu Kyi, without her being able to campaign freely, and without her NLD party [being able] to establish party offices all throughout the provinces, this [2010] election may not be regarded as credible and legitimate. ­
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

This Halloween, help fight one of the SCARIEST worker rights abuses:

This Halloween, help fight one of the SCARIEST worker rights abuses:

forced child labor!

Keep reading for updates and ways to take action on these campaigns:

Chocolate: Child labor in West Africa's cocoa farms
Cotton : Forced child labor in Uzbekistan's cotton fields
Dole : Invest in worker rights, not exploitation!
Chocolate
This Saturday, thousands of young people in 47 states in the US and all across Canada will participate in the third annual "Reverse Trick-or-Treating" action. They will be giving Fair Trade chocolate back to the houses where they go trick-or-treating on Halloween along with information about labor rights abuses in the cocoa industry and the benefits of Fair Trade. It may be too late to order your action kit, but there are still two ways that you can tell the major chocolate companies that you are sick of their tricks!

Download this flyer and distribute it in your neighborhood to spread the word;
Send an e-mail to Hershey, Mars and Nestle to STOP using child labor in their cocoa! (and tell a friend to join you!)
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Cotton
Onto another frightening example of forced child labor: the cotton industry in Uzbekistan. Right now during the current harvest season, the government of Uzbekistan has continued it's policy of removing millions of children from schools all across the country in order to pick cotton -- which then ends up in the clothing we buy here in the US. On October 14th, ILRF joined with a number of union, human rights and faith-based organizations in a rally in front of the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Washington, DC to tell the government to STOP using forced child labor in the cotton industry. Check out this great video from the rally here and photographs from the rally here. Ask your member of Congress to take action here!

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Dole

One of the scariest global corporations in terms of conditions for workers is the Dole Food Company. Last week, Dole went public on the stock market and over 40 investors, unions, organizations and faith-based groups sent a letter to Dole raising concerns about their labor rights violations. You can help invest in workers by supporting ILRF instead of Dole! Make a donation for the price of a share in Dole by clicking here!

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