Sign the petition – hold manufacturers responsible
According to a University of Chicago study by NORC, nearly 1.6 million child laborers on the Ivory Coast and Ghana support the supply chains of Nestle, Hershey and Mars.
As reported by FreedomUnited:
Back in 2001, under pressure from the US Congress, these companies promised to do better by signing the Harkin-Engel Protocol negotiated by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.). But firms missed deadlines for improvement in 2005, 2008, and 2010.
In fact, the 2020 report indicates that the incidence of child labor has increased and child laborers are made to perform hazardous work such as wielding machetes, carrying heavy loads, and spraying toxic pesticides.
In response to the Department of Labor report, chocolate companies have pointed to child labor monitoring programs and their plans to expand them. Mars commented in a statement that it has committed $1 billion to “help fix a broken supply chain.”
Still, it remains unclear if the United States will continue to monitor the worst forms of child labor — including forced child labor — in West African cocoa. The Harkin-Engel Protocol is due to expire in 2021.
The agreements reached 20 years ago did not include any penalties if they failed to enforce them, so we need someone to hold them accountable. Sign the petition to pay farmers a fair wage and help them prevent child trafficking and child labor.
