4/01/2018

Response to Allegations of Allowing Child Labor


Indirectly, Nestle admits that child labor is used in the farms of its suppliers by saying that child labor in Cote d’lvoire and Ghana cannot be fully remedied where the company sources its cocoa, just as all other companies who get their supply in those areas cannot do something about it. Nestle, however, added that the company is bent on addressing the problem. Expressing its strong opposition to child exploitation and its commitment to prevent and get rid of child labor in its supply chain, Nestle refers to its Corporate Business Principles and Supplier Code that serve as guide for the behavior of its business partners across the globe, as well as its own employees. In addressing the problem of child labor, Nestle established in 2012 the Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS) in Cote d’lvoire where the company sources its cocoa under the Nestle Cocoa Plan in collaboration with International Cocoa Initiative, a Swiss non-profit organization.


 In 2016, Nestle began the extension of CLMRS to Ghana. In addition, the company helps children in communities responsible for cocoa production go to school by building or renovating 42 schools for 11,000 children. Moreover, the company established a partnership with Jacobs Foundation with a similar purpose. Also, the company has assisted women in growing food crops for sale, as well as the men in organizing labor groups for heavy work, including tree cutting and crop spraying. In this regard, the company expresses that the 2016 monitoring report of Fair Labor Association relayed that child labor rate in Cote d’lvoire has reduced. To improve the livelihoods of cocoa-producing communities, the company launched the Nestle Cocoa Plan in 2009 to manage better farming through training regarding sustainable agriculture and also established long-term relationships with the farmers.

References:
Nestle. (2018). About us. Retrieved from https://www.nestle.com/aboutus
Nestle. (2018). Does Nestle have child labour in its cocoa supply chain? Retrieved from https://www.nestle.com/ask-nestle/human-rights/answers/nestle-child-labour-supply-chains
Nieburg, O. (2018). Nestle sued again for allegedly using child and slave labor to make chocolate. Confectionery News.com. Retrieved from https://www.confectionerynews.com/Article/2018/02/13/Nestle-sued-again-over-child-labor-in-cocoa-supply-chain

6 comments:

  1. My perspective of the company has changed slightly after reading this post. It certainly seems like Nestle wants to remedy this issue (at least on paper). My question is, why wouldn't Nestle just find farms that don't utilize child labor? I suppose they are trying to help these communities by giving them business, but big companies like Nestle are part of the reason they resort to not only having to use children, but also abusing them. I'm interested to see how Nestle's new policies work in the next few years.

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    1. I agree with you that Nestle want to fix this issue, but there are a huge number of children who work as slaves in the Ghana. I think the reason they still use child labor is that they didn't find farms that provide cheaper labor. They still really care their profit for every year.

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  2. I'm glad to here that Nestle tried their best to solve the problem of child labor. It seem to me that Nestle is trying to remedy the issue of child labor. I can see that their effort on helping the community of Cote d’lvoire and reducing rate of child labor in that specific area of producing cocoa. It makes sense that a global company like Nestle with huge amount of supply outsourced cocoa production to reduce cost of the products. However, I think there must be somewhere also has low cost of production but with a better regulation and strict management of labors. Maybe Nestle can also try to find another outsourcing place like that.

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    1. I also think nestle should find farms that have better regulation and strict management of labors. This way can reduce using of child labor in some farms. I hope that Nestle can solve this issue well.

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  3. It is interesting that Nestle indirectly admitted to the use of child labor, and said they will address the problem, but won’t come out and admit it directly. It is good that they are trying to do something to help the children in these communities, but I think to really solve the problem they need to completely cut out child labor from their supply chain. It is good that they are helping these communities, but why don’t they just go somewhere else instead? It will be interesting to see what they do in the future and if they really change where they are sourcing their cocoa from.

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    1. Yes, if Nestle changed their source for producing cocoa, they can help Children a lot. However, I think they didn't find any labor that cheaper than child labor. That is why they still use child labor now. In the future, if Nestle can find farm that have better labor to make profit, Child labor issue will be fixed.

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