Nestlé and child slavery
Mike Brady | 18.09.2006 11:10 | Analysis | Globalisation | Social Struggles
Today - 18 September - Nestlé has refused to attend a meeting in the US about its failure to end child slavery in its cocoa supply chain. Yet next Monday - 25 September - it is sponsoring a meeting at the Labour Party Conference to boast how it is taking action to end forced labour. Listen to an interview about legal action in the US over Nestlé's failure to address child slavery and attend the meeting at the Labour Party Conference to raise the questions Nestlé is trying to avoid.
Baby Milk Action broadcasts 18 September 2006: International Labour Rights Fund speaks about its legal action against Nestlé over child slavery on cocoa plantations in the Ivory Coast - listen at 
http://www.babymilkaction.org/ram/ilrf06/childslavery06.html
Nestlé is sponsoring a fringe meeting at the UK Labour Party Conference to present its action against forced labour - but has apparently refused to attend a US Senator's meeting on child slavery in the Ivory Coast planned for today. See The Independent, 18 September 2006: Nestlé poses a problem to Labour Party conference - http://news.independent.co.uk/people/pandora/article1616672.ece
The International Labour Rights Fund (ILRF), is pursuing Nestlé and other companies through the US legal system for 'crimes against humanity'. ILRF's Director, Bama Athreya, spoke to Baby Milk Action about the case.
You can listen to the interview using Realplayer. Visit the Realplayer website to install the free software if needed (follow the link on our site)
While companies claim it is difficult to monitor their supply chains, the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation has certified farms in Ivory Coast as complying with its strict criteria. Unfortunately, the cooperative is unable to sell all the coffee it produces to Fairtrade chocolate companies and the transnational corporations are not supporting the Fairtrade initiative. As a result the cooperative has to sell some of its cocoa at normal world market rates. One of the buyers is Nestlé. So while Nestlé could deal with the farmers paying a fair price and fulfilling Fairtrade criteria, such as long-term contracts, it chooses not too. At the same time Nestlé uses its one and only Fairtrade product, Partners' Blend coffee, in its public relations campaigns to counter criticisms of its trading practices (find details on the site and listen to the Fairtrade sound bite on the site or on Indymedia).
According to ILRF, Nestlé is not denying child slavery is taking place. Nor is it denying it is complicit in this. Its defence to the legal action is that child slavery is not a 'crime against humanity' and so not covered by the US legislation. (Hear this sound bite).
Baby Milk Action will be leafleting participants at the fringe meeting, which is being organised by the Christian Socialist Movement, and will try to raise the questions campaigners would have put to Nestlé had it attended Senator Harkins planned meeting today. The meeting at the Labour Party Conference is open to the public and will take place at Manchester Art Gallery on 25 September at 8 pm.
http://www.babymilkaction.org/ram/ilrf06/childslavery06.html Nestlé is sponsoring a fringe meeting at the UK Labour Party Conference to present its action against forced labour - but has apparently refused to attend a US Senator's meeting on child slavery in the Ivory Coast planned for today. See The Independent, 18 September 2006: Nestlé poses a problem to Labour Party conference -
http://news.independent.co.uk/people/pandora/article1616672.ece The International Labour Rights Fund (ILRF), is pursuing Nestlé and other companies through the US legal system for 'crimes against humanity'. ILRF's Director, Bama Athreya, spoke to Baby Milk Action about the case.
You can listen to the interview using Realplayer. Visit the Realplayer website to install the free software if needed (follow the link on our site)
While companies claim it is difficult to monitor their supply chains, the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation has certified farms in Ivory Coast as complying with its strict criteria. Unfortunately, the cooperative is unable to sell all the coffee it produces to Fairtrade chocolate companies and the transnational corporations are not supporting the Fairtrade initiative. As a result the cooperative has to sell some of its cocoa at normal world market rates. One of the buyers is Nestlé. So while Nestlé could deal with the farmers paying a fair price and fulfilling Fairtrade criteria, such as long-term contracts, it chooses not too. At the same time Nestlé uses its one and only Fairtrade product, Partners' Blend coffee, in its public relations campaigns to counter criticisms of its trading practices (find details on the site and listen to the Fairtrade sound bite on the site or on Indymedia).
According to ILRF, Nestlé is not denying child slavery is taking place. Nor is it denying it is complicit in this. Its defence to the legal action is that child slavery is not a 'crime against humanity' and so not covered by the US legislation. (Hear this sound bite).
Baby Milk Action will be leafleting participants at the fringe meeting, which is being organised by the Christian Socialist Movement, and will try to raise the questions campaigners would have put to Nestlé had it attended Senator Harkins planned meeting today. The meeting at the Labour Party Conference is open to the public and will take place at Manchester Art Gallery on 25 September at 8 pm.
Mike Brady
e-mail:
mikebrady@babymilkaction.org
Homepage:
http://www.babymilkaction.org/