Is the BBC Fair to Fair Trade? - 3.29.2010

This is a response from the International Labor Rights Forum to a recent BBC report about labor problems on Fair Trade Certified cocoa farms in West Africa....

Apple Audits Labor Practices - 3.1.2010

Company Says Suppliers Hired Underage Workers, Violated Other Core Policies...

Apple admits using child labour - 2.28.2010

Apple has admitted that child labour was used at the factories that build its computers, iPods and mobile phones. ...

Tell Hershey to Have a Heart for Workers - 2.11.2010

Nine years after major chocolate companies committed to ending labor rights abuses in the production of cocoa, child labor, forced labor and trafficking continue on cocoa farms in West Africa. Hershey is one of the largest chocolate companies in the US and it has not agreed to institute any certification programs to ensure that these labor rights abuses do not occur in the production of the cocoa it uses. Here in the US, Hershey has been shifting production away from unionized facilities. Recently, a worker died at a Hershey supplier in Pennsylvania due to unsafe conditions and a lack of appropriate training. Given all of these labor problems, please join us this Valentine's Day in asking Hershey a simple question: How does Hershey monitor its global supply chain to ensure that worker rights are protected?...

Broken Hearts: A Review of Industry Efforts to Eli - 2.9.2010

This is the latest report by the International Labor Rights Forum analyzing the chocolate industry's initiatives to eliminate the worst forms of child labor in West Africa's cocoa sector as part of the Harkin-Engel Protocol. The report is a follow-up on recent developments in the Harkin-Engel Protocol process since the publication of ILRF’s last cocoa industry report titled “The Cocoa Protocol: Success or Failure?” published on June 30, 2008. The report shows how chocolate companies have continued to exercise considerable control over these intiatives. As a result, the problem of child labor continues nine years after the industry committed to end these abuses....