I sit at the desk opening mail while tucking into a Father’s Day chocolate – a delicious indulgence. My eye falls on World Vision’s Action News – the lead article takes the chocolate industry to task for failing to meet yet another deadline to meet certain measures to curtail the use of child labour in the production of cocoa in West Africa. This was a voluntary deadline self-imposed under the Harkin-Engel Protocol which aims to set standards of public certification that ensure cocoa production in Ivory Coast and Ghana is free of forced labour and the worst forms of child labour. The industry failed to meet its own deadline of July 2005 and the extended deadline of July 2008. World Vision is calling on the industry to have a full and detailed plan for action ready by 1 December 2008.
I’m not quite choking on my chocolate, but I think I’ll do as they suggest and sign the petition supporting World Vision’s call at donttradelives.com.au
Wondering Pilgrim 