Check Out Free2Work Chocolate Ratings & Ask Hershey to Raise the Bar!

June 12th is World Day against Child Labor and the International Labor Organization (ILO) has declared “hazardous child labor” as this year’s theme.

The ILO has reported that an estimated 115 million children around the world are engaged in strenuous work, depriving them of an education, health, and basic rights. More than half of these boys and girls are exposed to hazardous work environments, and are vulnerable to the worst forms of exploitation such as slavery, forced prostitution, drug trafficking, and involvement in armed conflict.  This day is intended to highlight these issues and help expand the growing worldwide movement against child labor.

Cocoa is one industry where the use of exploitative child labor is widespread. As reported by the U.S. Department of Labor, hundreds of thousands of children in West Africa are engaged in the worst forms of child labor.  Witnesses also report forced labor and trafficking in this region that produces the majority of the world’s cocoa.

In observance of World Day against Child Labor, you can take these urgent action steps:

• Check out Free2Work’s chocolate ratings before purchasing your chocolate;
• Call Hershey headquarters TODAY as part of a national call-in pushing for Fair Trade chocolate (details here);
• Call on Hershey to “raise the bar” for responsible cocoa sourcing by joining the Raise the Bar campaign;
• Download the Free2Work app for the iPhone or Android and use it while you shop

P.S. Child labor is also an issue in the cut flower industry, and the International Labor Organization estimated that 20% of the 60,000 Ecuadorian flower workers are children. Sign our Change.org petition calling on ProFlowers to ensure their flowers are not picked by exploited children.