Raising Awareness
Many people are unaware that they finance continuous human rights violations in supply chains through their purchases. That's why a huge part of our work focuses on raising awareness among students so they can both change their consumption behaviour and help us pressure the government. So far, we organized a panel discussion on child labour in chocolate in collaboration with other societies, ran a Valentine's Day campaign online and on campus, and published articles. Find more information in this section!
25th October 2022
Slow Fashion Halloween Campaign: Cost of your Costume
On the 25th October we held a very successful Slow Fashion Halloween Campaign. This included a presentation to inform people on the ethical issues associated with fast fashion and, more specifically at this time of year, single-use costumes. Instead, we encouraged searching out second-hand alternatives. We also had a great discussion about ’slow-fashion’ websites like Good on You which gives fasion brands ethical ratings. This was followed by a catwalk where we modelled some amazing halloween outfits made-up of borrowed or second-hand items.
29th July 2022
Movie Screening: "The Chocolate War"
On Friday 29th July we hosted the premiere of documentary “The Chocolate War” in Edinburgh! The documentary follows human rights lawyer Terry Collingsworth in his journey of bringing the big companies to justice for human rights abuses in their supply chains. “The Chocolate War” has also been nominated for awards from the Cinema for Peace, CPH:DOX and the Warsaw International Film Festival.
After the documentary, we had an interesting online Q&A session with the director Miki Mistrati and Terry Collingsworth. They offered a fascinating behind the scenes perspective on the making of this film and the ways in which we as individuals and a collective, can help tackle the issues raised.
Many thanks go to: University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh Councillor James Dalgleish, and the Edinburgh City Chambers Team.
23rd March 2022
Panel Discussion
On the 23rd of March we were delighted to host a thought provoking Panel Discussion in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh Amnesty Society, UoE Political Union and the Edinburgh International Justice Initiative, exploring the issue of child labour in the chocolate industry. The Panel Discussion consisted of Managing Director of Pacari UK Juan Santelices, Chief Executive of the Scottish Fair-trade Forum Martin Rhodes, and Dr. Amanda Berlin from De Montfort University Leicester who has a research focus on the cocoa industry. This diverse combination of panelists gave us a varied perspective on the issue, providing an interesting and educational night for all.
February 2022
Valentine's Day Campaign
Between 9th and 14th of February, we hosted an in-person campaign on campus at Edinburgh University! Hosting a table in the central library, we gave out free ethical chocolate in return for students having a go at questions on child labour in the chocolate industry. We shocked with statistics, debated our favourite ethical brands, and got into great discussions on how child labour cannot be accepted in any chocolate company no matter how big. In total, we gave out over a thousand pieces of chocolate and talked to around 800 students!
2nd March 2022
Literature Society's Workshop
On the 2nd of March we joined The University of Edinburgh Literature Society at their Eco Poetry Workshop. We got to speak with the participants and other people attending and this way raise awareness about child labour in the chocolate industry and promoted ethical chocolate brands.
2022
Articles
As part of the Valentine's Day Campaign and in a general move to raise awareness, Noushka Summerfield and Luise Schroter have published articles in the Ruth Adler Magazine, AdvocatED and The Student. Most recently, the Social Responsibility and Sustainability Department of the University of Edinburgh has also published in their blog The Seed an inspirational piece by Luise Schroter on how every person can make a difference.
2022
Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability - University of Edinburgh
After learning about our initiative the Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability of the University of Edinburgh has mentioned us on their website and with this we hope to reach more students and staff. The Department has also awarded us with the 2021/22 Changemaker Award.