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Compassion Calls on Popular Chocolate Brand to Follow UK Lead and Move towards Fairtrade Certification

Thursday, 5 March 2009, 10:47 (EST)
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International child development and advocacy organisation Compassion Australia has applauded Chocolate manufacturer Cadbury UK’s announcement that it will achieve Fairtrade certification for its popular Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate product, later this year.

Compassion Australia CEO Paul O’Rourke says, “This represents a great step for children in West Africa, especially in countries like Ghana and the Ivory Coast where the living conditions of many children and their families are tied to the cocoa industry. Cadbury’s move to Fairtrade certification for one of its major products in the UK means more families will get fairer wages, less children are likely to be trafficked and exploited as child labourers working in horrific and dangerous conditions, and communities in general will be able to make basic improvements to their childrens’ lives.”

The move by Cadbury UK follows other Fairtrade chocolate retailers such as Scarborough Fair which already sells certified Fairtrade products. As yet the move only applies to its UK and Irish markets, a fact which has led Compassion and other child advocacy groups to call on Cadbury Schweppes in Australia to follow suit. According to the Fairtrade Foundation, Cadbury’s commitment to date will result in the tripling of Fairtrade cocoa sales in Ghana, where there are around 700,000 cocoa farmers.

“If Cadbury Australia follows the lead of their UK counterparts, the impact will be far greater again. In cocoa producing communities where fair trade conditions are offered, it has resulted in greater development of schools, resources to improve water sources, implementation of sustainable agricultural practices and many other valuable community projects,” says Paul O’Rourke.
Compassion Australia works in a number of cocoa producing countries, including Ghana, implementing programs focussed on sustained, holistic development of children to try and safeguard them from issues such as exploitative child labour.

Mr O’Rourke says, “Cocoa production in West Africa has a horrifying history, involving child trafficking, exploitative child labour and terrible working conditions. In the worst cases, children as young as six are forced to work 80-100 hour weeks, enduring beatings, and suffering from malnutrition, fear, and trauma.

"It is encouraging to see chocolate manufacturers begining to respond to years of advocacy and growing community outrage on this issue. No child should ever be trafficked, sold, or forced to work under slave-like conditions to satisfy the tastes of consumers. So I continue to urge Cadbury and other chocolate producers to extend the Fairtrade certification across their entire ranges in Australia as well as overseas, and continue to improve the circumstances of children living in cocoa communities, globally.”

Source: Compassion News


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