
Since I first posted about the issue of child slavery on cocoa farms (and promised not to eat any chocolate that was not fair trade), my eyes have truly been opened to the incredible scope of this issue and the blatant disregard for basic human rights shown by the major chocolate producers around the world.
Here’s a little history: There are roughly 280,000 children working on cocoa farms in west Africa, with about 200,000 of those working in The Ivory Coast. A substantial number of those children have been trafficked from other African countries. The work these children perform is categorized as “dangerous” and they are forced to work long hours while being denied an education. The cocoa industry became aware of this issue about 10 years ago and even ratified an agreement in 2001 promising to end the worst forms of child labor by 2005. They did not deliver on this promise, and were given an extension to follow through in 50% of the cocoa regions by 2008. Instead they altered the wording of the agreement to say they simply had to REPORT the problem…not actually do anything about it. (You can learn more about this issue at www.stopthetraffik.com or check out their Where Does Our Chocolate Come From Fact Sheet or FAQs.)
As a little note of hope…things are slowly changing. Due to advocacy work by the amazing organization Stop The Traffik, Cadbury has recently launched a line of fair trade certified chocolate in the UK and Ireland and Mars has recently promised to make their Galaxy bars certified fair trade by the end of this year. They have also promised to make the rest of their chocolate products fair trade by 2020. (You can read more about these changes in Stop The Traffik’s News Section)
Nestle is the only major US chocolate company refusing to make any real changes in this area. They have recently promised (kind of randomly) to make their 4 piece Kit Kat bars fair trade, but none of their other products (including the 2 piece Kit Kats) will be. This seems to imply that they have only made this change so that they can say they offer fair trade chocolate. But Nestle has clearly missed the point. So we’re going to target them. I’ve decided that simply boycotting their slave tainted products is not enough…that we need to actually advocate for the rights enslaved children who live a horrific life simply because it increases Nestle’s profit margin.
Here are 5 ways you can be a voice for these kids:
1. Send Nestle an email or letter. Stop The Traffik has a letter already drafted for you. It kindly, yet strongly and clearly, asks them to stop buying cocoa from farms who enslave children. Click HERE to download the letter directly to your “Downloads” folder on your computer….just fill in all the info and you’re set! You can send your letter via e-mail by filling in your info and copy/pasting it in Nestle’s Contact Form.
You can also send your via letter snail-mail to Nestle’s US Headquarters: (If you don’t live in the US, you can find the address to Nestle’s headquarters in your country HERE)
Nestlé USA, Inc.
800 North Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91203
United States of America
2. Have your kids send Nestle a letter. Stop The Traffik has thoughtfully supplied a kids version of the advocacy letter that is easy to understand and skips the horrific details. What an amazing opportunity to teach you kids about the power of their voice! You can directly download that letter HERE.
3. Send Nestle a fair trade chocolate bar, with a tag wrapped around it that sends a message. It could say something like: “The Nestle slogan is ”Good food, good life”. It’s a shame that the child slaves on your cocoa farms won’t have either of these because of you. Make your chocolate fair trade or rewrite your slogan without lies.” Or (if you’d like to be a bit nicer): “Chocolate is sweeter from non trafficked workers!”. Or make up your own! Or let your kids make it up!
4. Call Nestle and ask them to supply fair trade chocolate. Stop The Traffik has supplied a script for you to follow based on the many calls they have made. It provides detailed answers to the canned Nestle responses you’ll hear from their operators. You can see the script HERE, and answers to tricky questions/responses you’ll hear from Nestle HERE.
Here is their US Phone Number: 818-549-6000 (If you live outside of the US, you can find their number in your country HERE)
5. Host a chocolate fondue party for your friends (using free trade chocolate, obviously) to spread the word about this issue. Get them to advocate too! At the end of the night you can have everyone sign one of the letters and mail them out. What a great excuse to eat chocolate!
Well, I think that is MORE than enough ways to advocate! Thanks for being a voice for those who don’t have one! Please let me know if you have anymore information or ways to advocate.
by Courtney Christenson
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