With World Day Against Child Labor right around the corner, students, social justice leaders including Kerry Kennedy, and groups will rally in front of the Hershey Store in Times Square on June 8, 2011 to call on Hershey to eliminate forced, trafficked and child labor from its cocoa supply chain.
Despite almost ten years of commitments from Hershey and other major chocolate companies to take responsibility for their cocoa supply chains and eliminate child labor, significant problems persist. Abusive child labor, trafficking, and forced labor continue to plague the West African cocoa industry. The farmers in this region, which supplies the majority of the world’s cocoa, live in poverty, while major chocolate corporations continue to amass large profits.
Hershey lags behind its competitors when it comes to taking responsibility for the communities from which it sources cocoa. Hershey has no policies in place to purchase cocoa that has been produced without the use of labor exploitation, and the company has consistently refused to provide public information about its cocoa sources.
Will you join us in calling on Hershey to do more to stop child labor, forced labor, and trafficking in its cocoa supply chain and to start sourcing Fair Trade Certified cocoa?
When: June 8 2011, 10:30am – 12:30pm
Where: In front of the Hershey Store in Times Square (1593 Broadway; Northwest corner of Broadway and 48th Street, Manhattan)
Who will be there:
- The Raise the Bar, Hershey campaign members (Global Exchange, Green America and the International Labor Rights Forum)
- Kerry Kennedy, President, Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights
- Lee Cutler – Secretary Treasurer of New York State United Teachers Union
- Marie Hogan – 11 year old Global Exchange Sweet Smarts SF chapter leader, along with local NYC-based students
- Social justice, Fair Trade, labor rights, and faith based organization
CAN’T MAKE IT TO THE RALLY IN NEW YORK?
Take other actions to hold major chocolate corporations accountable
- If you do just one thing, sign this petition telling Hershey Interim CEO John Bilbrey to Raise the Bar Hershey!
- Follow the hashtag #HersheyGoFair on Twitter for live tweets from folks at the rally (including us @gxfairtrade);
- Find out more about the Raise the Hershey Bar campaign.
Together, we can speak up for children in West Africa and demand that Hershey and the rest of the cocoa industry commit to Fair Trade Certified cocoa.