Thursday, February 12, 2009

Send a message to Nestlé over child slavery in its cocoa supply chain

One of the other issues concerning malpractice by Nestlé is its failure to act on child slavery in its cocoa supply chain. You can find an overview of this issue and links to further information on the Nestlé Critics website:
http://www.nestlecritics.org/

The International Labor Rights Forum has just issued a update on its campaign in this area and while Nestlé is targeted alongside Mars and Hershey, it comes in for special criticism. You can find the full report at:
http://www.laborrights.org/stop-child-labor/cocoa-campaign/resources/1942

Here is the introduction and an extract on Nestlé:

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The major US chocolate companies signed an agreement in 2001 (called the Harkin-Engel Protocol) committing to ensuring that they were not purchasing cocoa beans harvested by the worst forms of child labor, but in 2009, children continue to work in West African cocoa farms. Many of the major chocolate companies have joined together in industry associations to respond to the criticism and these bitter companies have all been leaders in the failed industry efforts to improve labor conditions in their supply chains. For a full analysis of the failures of chocolate companies to implement of the Harkin-Engel Protocol, please visit:
http://www.laborrights.org/stop-child-labor/cocoa-campaign/resources/1552.

You can send e-mails to Hershey, M&M/Mars and Nestlé here:
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/chocolate.

Nestlé (which owns Haagen-Dazs [IN NORTH AMERICA])

Even within the closed ranks of the chocolate industry behind the curtain of the Protocol, we’ve heard that Nestlé is the lowest common denominator. Nestlé has never responded with anything more than form letters to any requests for information by ILRF or any of our allies; in its form letters, Nestlé simply points to its ‘engagement’ with the Protocol.

As many of our supporters know, since 2005 we have particularly targeted Nestlé for its failure to reform its cocoa supply chain, and the choice was not random. Unlike other chocolate manufacturers, Nestlé directly sources cocoa from West Africa and has direct control over its supply chain and knowledge of the farms from which it sources. Nestlé has greater power to act than perhaps any other player in this industry and is therefore our top choice target for action. While Nestlé has joined Mars in the UTZ Certified program, we continue to put pressure on the company to improve conditions for cocoa farmers and encourage concerned consumers to send Nestlé a letter here:
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/Nestle08.
---extract ends

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