Chocolate and cocoa industry promised a decade ago to stop using child labor - They didn't

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/NGOs_slam_industry_inaction_over_child_labour_.html?cid=31181328

Sep 20, 2011 - 21:40

NGOs slam industry inaction over child labour

by Jessica Dacey, swissinfo.ch


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A decade after leaders of the chocolate and cocoa industry pledged to help stop child labour in their sector, they have come under fire for not doing enough.

Non-governmental organisations say the Harkin-Engel Protocol signed on September 19, 2001 by eight top companies - including Swiss groups Nestlé and Barry Callebaut - has not been adequately enforced and now needs to be legally binding to make a difference.

The international coalition of NGOs, 10-Campaign, say importing countries must also do their part by forcing firms to undergo independent checks on their production processes.

The protocol’s main goal was to eliminate the “worst forms of child labour” in the cocoa sectors of Ghana and Ivory Coast - child trafficking or forced labour. In particular, companies agreed to expand child labour prevention programmes in cocoa-producing countries.

[midnight]

1. K&R