World Vision Australia has welcomed the announcement by Nestlé that every chocolate confectionery product it sells in Australia will now be produced using sustainable cocoa.
Nestlé is the first major chocolate manufacturer in Australia to source all the cocoa for its retail confectionery business from certified and sustainable farms.
“This is tremendous news for cocoa farmers and their families in West Africa,” said World Vision Australia Trafficking in Persons expert Ruth Dearnley. “For many years, forced, child and trafficked labour have been a cold hard reality in cocoa farming communities – a practice that is fuelled by the global demand for chocolate at a cheap price.
“Over 70 per cent of the world’s production of cocoa comes from small-holder farms in West Africa, where children as young as six have been reported working in the industry.”
Since 2008, World Vision Australia has been calling on the global chocolate industry to eradicate the use of forced, child and trafficked labour from their cocoa supply chains. Today’s announcement by Nestle is a significant milestone.
“This decision shows that Australian consumers do have a powerful role to play in global fair trade,” Ms Dearnley said. “If we demand change for the better, companies will listen.
“Today, Nestle has made a significant step in demonstrating that the chocolate industry can thrive without contributing to the exploitation of others.”
World Vision urges other chocolate companies to follow in Nestle’s footsteps and independently verify the sustainability of their entire supply chain and product range. This process should be transparently reported, in order to provide the most credible assurance against the use of forced, child and trafficked labour.
Nestle has announced it will source UTZ Certified Cocoa. UTZ Certified is one of the largest sustainability programs for coffee, cocoa and tea in the world, working under the ISEAL Alliance - a non-profit association that codifies best practice for the design and implementation of social and environmental standards systems and is a platform for collaboration between the programs.
Media contact: Chloe Adams – 0427 413 816 chloe.adams@worldvision.com.au