Nestle Child Labor And Cocoa Supply Chain

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Running head: NESTLE CHILD LABOR AND COCOA SUPPLY CHAIN 1

Nestle Child Labor and Cocoa Supply Chain

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NESTLE CHILD LABOR AND COCOA SUPPLY CHAIN 2

Nestle Child Labor and Cocoa Supply Chain

Main Story

Nestle is once again facing a lawsuit and this time in a California federal court. The

company has been accused of sourcing its primary raw material cocoa from farms in Ghana and

Ivory Coast that use child labor despite the labeling their products as being sustainably sourced.

According to the lawsuit, the company has, for several years, knowing that its supply chain has

been tainted by child labor claims but has continued to label its products as being sustainably

sourced. It is therefore considered to have deceived its customers to believe that the company's

products follow environmentally and socially responsible standards (Field, 2019). The lawsuit

indicated that the organization has for years benefited from mislabeling the products as

sustainably sourced and favoring their farmers while they were still sourcing its products from

farms that were using child labor and destroying the environment (Field, 2019).

Stakeholders

Regulators and Governing Bodies

An important stakeholder in the fight against child labor issues are regulators and

governing bodies like the International Labor Organization (ILO). The ILO estimate that there

are close to 60 million children in Africa under the ages of 17 that are exposed to hazardous

conditions (Clarke, 2015). The ILO lays out the guidelines that organizations across the globe

need to follow. It describes child labor as any form of work that denies children their childhood,

dignity, potential, those that may result in physical harm, or mental development.

Another important regulating body is the Fair Labor Association (FLA) that has been at

the forefront in carrying out investigations on behalf of Nestle and other chocolate companies

(FLA, n.d). The discoveries made, like the one done in 2012, pointed to the ineffectiveness of the

Harkin-Engel protocol that was ineffective in dealing with child labor concerns in West Africa

(Ruehle et al. 2017).

Independent organizations like the Payson Center have also played a critical role in

exposing the failures by the chocolate companies in effectively dealing with the child labor issue.

The 2015 expose revealed that despite the companies have pledged to do more to fight the vice,

there were still over 2 million children laboring in cocoa farms in West Africa (Ruehle et al.

2017). Of the 2.12 million children, approximately 2 million were still being exposed to

hazardous conditions in Ghana and the Ivory Coast (Ruehle et al. 2017).

Government

The governments in West Africa have an important role in developing and enforcing laws

policies and regulations that organizations such as Nestle need to apply if they are to operate

within their borders. In an effort to fight the child labor menace, the Ivorian government has

provided guidelines that specify what it terms as hazardous tasks. The development of the

guidelines was done with the help of other international agencies that deal with child rights.

According to the guidelines, hazardous tasks in cocoa cultivation were categorized into eight

main groups in which children are strictly forbidden to do.

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Running head: NESTLE CHILD LABOR AND COCOA SUPPLY CHAIN Nestle Child Labor and Cocoa Supply Chain Name Institution Instructor Date 1 NESTLE CHILD LABOR AND COCOA SUPPLY CHAIN 2 Nestle Child Labor and Cocoa Supply Chain Main Story Nestle is once again facing a lawsuit and this time in a California federal court. The company has been accused of sourcing its primary raw material cocoa from farms in Ghana and Ivory Coast that use child labor despite the labeling their products as being sustainably sourced. According to the lawsuit, the company has, for several years, knowing that its supply chain has been tainted by child labor claims but has continued to label its products as being sustainably sourced. It is therefore considered to have deceived its customers to believe that the company's products follow environmentally and socially responsible standards (Field, 2019). The lawsuit indicated that the organization has for years benefited from mislabeling the products as sustainably sourced and favoring their farmers while they were still sourcing its products from farms that were using child labor and destroying the environment (Field, 2019). Stakeholders Regulators and Governing Bodies An important stakeholder in the fight against child labor issues are regulators and governing bodies like the International Labor Organization (ILO). The ILO estimate that there are close to 60 million children in Africa under the ages of 17 that are exposed to hazardous conditions (Clarke, 2 ...
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