Ending Child Labor on Cocoa Farms
September 17, 2010
It’s sad but true... Sometimes children are sold or tricked into forced labor on cocoa farms.
In 2001, stories about the lives of children forced to work on farms instead of going to school started to emerge from West African countries. Investigations into this problem drew the attention of Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, and Rep. Eliot Engel of N.Y.
After much time and effort, Harkin and Engel announced on Sept. 13, 2010, the U.S. government and the chocolate industry pledged $17 million to help see an end to child labor.
The plan is to reduce unacceptable child labor by 70% by 2020. (Hmm, that means 30% remains.)
The money will be used for building schools and supporting families in two of the African countries that produce most of the world’s cocoa supply; Ivory Coast and Ghana.
The idea is to provide more income for these families so they don’t have to rely on their children’s wages for survival.
The Hershey Company is one of the major participants in the Harkin-Engel Protocol.
Many human rights groups are happy to learn that Hershey is stepping forward to help but would like an even greater commitment. They call for Hershey and other large chocolate companies to put Fair Trade labels on their products. These certificates would help consumers identify which chocolate comes from farms with fair labor practices in place.
Read more about what’s happening in the fight against child slave labor:
http://www.kansascity.com/2010/09/13/2221137/us-industry-pledge-millions-to.html
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