As another Halloween approaches and parents in the Kelseyville area think about buying chocolate as treats for children, here is something to consider: The chocolate you buy could be tainted with child labor.
Sept. 19 marks the 10-year anniversary of the signing of the Harkin-Engel Protocol, an agreement by the country”s largest chocolate companies to put an end to forced child labor on cocoa farms in West Africa by 2005.
Ten years later, not enough progress has been made. Hundreds of thousands of children are still forced to work under abusive conditions for long hours on cocoa farms in West Africa while others are victims of trafficking and forced labor.
The largest chocolate manufacturer in the United States lags behinds its competitors in eliminating these abuses from its cocoa supply chain. What”s more, news recently surfaced that the company has been exploiting student guest workers here in the U.S. in one of its packing facilities.
Some competitors have committed to start sourcing cocoa that is independently certified to comply with labor rights standards.
I urge this iconic chocolate company to protect workers from bean to bar and certify its chocolate as Fair Trade, ensuring that forced child labor is removed from its chocolate bars.
In the meantime, I”ll be handing out fair trade certified chocolate to my trick-or-treaters this Halloween.
Mary Bogle
Kelseyville
