[ [link removed] ]Tell Hershey, Nestlé and Mars: Stop using child labor

The petition to Hershey, Nestlé and Mars reads:
"Twenty years after major chocolate makers pledged to eradicate child
labor in the cocoa harvest, children are still fueling the chocolate
industry. Child labor is unethical and illegal – stop using children to
produce your chocolate."

Add your name:

[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition ►

Dear Jack,

[ [link removed] ]Tell Hershey, Nestle
and Mars: Stop using child
labor

Nearly two decades ago, Mars, Nestlé and Hersey pledged to stop using
cocoa harvested by children. Yet, odds are that a chocolate bar eaten this
Halloween was a product of child labor.^1

Much of the chocolate bought and sold in the United States starts with
child labor. Children as young as 10-years-old are purchased, transported
across borders to cocoa farms and barred from educational opportunities in
order to work for under a dollar a day. ^2 Mars, Nestlé and Hersey are at
the root of the problem and are fueling a multibillion-dollar industry
driven by the labor of millions of children. It's time to raise our voices
and demand these corporations uproot child labor from their chocolate.

[ [link removed] ]Tell Mars, Nestlé and Hersey: No more excuses. Eradicate child labor
from your cocoa supply chains now. Click here to sign the petition.

Over the last two decades, Mars, Nestlé, Hershey and other chocolate
companies have set and missed deadlines to remove child labor from their
cocoa supply chains. These companies promised to meet deadlines to fully
end their use of child labor by 2005, 2008 and 2010. Each deadline has
been missed and extended – and now, they have indicated that they will
once again miss their 2020 deadline.^3 Their lack of action on ending
child labor is unacceptable. The chocolate industry brings in over $103
billion in sales annually, yet has only spent $150 million over the course
of 18 years to address child labor. It is clear that ending child labor is
not a priority for Mars, Nestlé and Hershey for as long as it continues to
bring in profits from its unethical business practices.

Close to two-thirds of the world's cocoa supply comes from West Africa,
where 2 million children are engaged in hazardous work in the cocoa
industry – either working on their parents' farms or with other trafficked
children. Children are forced to engage in dangerous labor practices like
swinging machetes and other sharp tools, spraying pesticides, burning
fields and lifting heavy loads. International authorities consider cocoa
farming one of the "worst forms of child labor."^4

The eradication of child labor in the chocolate industry is 20 years late.
Mars, Nestlé and Hershey have a moral responsibility to act now to deal
with this dangerous epidemic. Abdication of this responsibility is
abhorrent, and we demand accountability. Can you add your name to demand
an end to child labor in our chocolates?

Tell Mars, Nestlé and Hersey: No more excuses. Eradicate child labor from
your cocoa supply chains now. Click the link below to sign the petition:

[ [link removed] ][link removed]

Thanks for fighting back,

Thaís Marques, Campaign Manager
[ [link removed] ]CREDO Action from Working Assets

Add your name:

[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition ►

References:

 1. Peter Whoriskey and Rachel Siegel, "[ [link removed] ]Cocoa’s child laborers," The
Washington Post, June 5, 2019.
 2. Dan Nosowitz, "[ [link removed] ]Your Chocolate Bar Was Probably Produced With Child
Labor," Modern Farmer, June 28, 2019.
 3. Whoriskey and Siegel, "[ [link removed] ]Cocoa’s child laborers."
 4. Bureau of International Labor Affairs, "[ [link removed] ]Child Labor in the
Production of Cocoa," U.S. Department of Labor, accessed October 30,
2019.

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