Recently, Hershey’s responded to a child labor lawsuit and pressure from human rights groups by committing to 100% third-party certified production in Africa, where it sources the majority of its cocoa.
The certification should eliminate many claims of child labor, forced labor, child trafficking and verbal, physical and sexual harassment that have plagued America’s biggest chocolate manufacturer.
But there’s one problem with this objective: It’s not set to take effect until 2020. With an estimated 1.8 million children currently forced to labor on cocoa farms in West Africa, more than 10 million children will be affected over the next six years. I think that’s too slow, don’t you? With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, let’s do something about it! [Read more…]