Making the world a little sweeter one pastry tip at at time.
Another effect to the high demand for sugar – deaths from working too hard harvesting sugarcane. It is estimated that the extreme and very harsh working environments in Central American sugarcane fields have caused the death of about 20,000 people over the past 10 years …read more
In an article by Oliver Nieburg+ posted to Confectionery News, an Ivorian cocoa embargo will likely be if a Nestlé, ADM and Cargill child slavery case succeeds, says judge. The original case was from July 2005 from three former trafficked Mali children in the 1990s …read more
According to The Hill, the NCA (National Confectioners Association) wants to end any notion they support a trade loophole that enables certain importing of goods made of child or slave labor – if the demand for the product is there and supports it.
The Senate recently voted to approve a currency bill that would penalize countries that manipulate their currencies – and in it is a provision that would remove a loophole for forced labor that is in place for certain goods coming into the U.S. – the cocoa commodity being one of them.
And while the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 encompasses a great deal more, Human Rights First, as well as well as the Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking, is lauding the smaller provisions.
From Human Rights First:
Human Rights First today welcomed the Senate’s passage of section 912 of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 ( S. 1269), a provision to strengthen prohibitions on the importation of goods produced by forced labor slavery.
The statement from ATEST and endslaveryandtrafficking.org:
The Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST) strongly supports section 912 of S. 1269, the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015. This provision strengthens existing authority to prohibit the importation of goods made with forced, prison, or other exploitative labor. The Act removes a pernicious exception to this existing authority that allows for the importation of such goods if there is a “consumptive demand” for them.
Child labor, human trafficking, and slave labor has been a hidden, ongoing problem with the cocoa industry, notably on the Ivory Coast of Africa. It remains to be seen whether this small provision will have a major impact – and a positive change – on bringing an end to child labor in the confectionery supply chains.
