NEWSCHILD TRAFFICKING

This week, Mars (the chocolate company behind popular favorites like M&M's) announced a major new commitment to support Fairtrade certified cocoa. Mars said that it would certify its Maltesers chocolate candy as Fairtrade in the UK and Ireland in 2012. While it may just be one product for now, Mars and Fairtrade International note that Maltesers are "the third biggest confectionery brand in the UK, and its switch will  represent more than a 10% increase in total UK Fairtrade sales," and most importantly, the commitment will lead to an excess of $1 million in additional funds as part of the Fairtrade Premium to cocoa farmers to invest in their communities. The announcement from Mars puts Hershey even further out of the mainstream by failing to commit to responsibly source its cocoa.

In 2009, Mars stepped forward as a leader among major chocolate companies in committing to certified cocoa when it announced that it would certify its entire cocoa supply as sustainably produced by 2020. This new announcement shows Mars' specific support for Fairtrade certification. Additionally, the company noted that it plans to "explore how best to scale up its purchases of Fairtrade cocoa, and will support Fairtrade’s continued efforts to develop measures that would allow more confectionery companies to increase their commitments to purchase more Fairtrade cocoa with the aim of impacting the lives of more cocoa farmers than ever before."

Amid growing scrutiny of Hershey's labor rights abuses, from its cocoa beans to its packing facility in Pennsylvania, the company has hired additional lobbyists to deflect attention from its exploitation of workers. Hershey recently hired the services of Bank Rome Government Relations to advocate for the company on "government affairs issues related to labor practices." Unfortunately for Hershey, no amount of money thrown to lobbyists will end its connection the abuse of student guestworkers or child, forced and trafficked labor in its cocoa supply chain -- only changing its policies will solve these problems.

Last month, it was revealed that student guestworkers who came to the US on J-1 visas found themselves working long hours in poor conditions for paltry wages in a Hershey packing facility in Pennsylvania. The students staged a walk out, organized massive protests in Hershey and took their message across the country, even receiving support from labor rights advocates around the world. Almost 70,000 Change.org readers have joined the campaign calling for justice for guestworkers and for living wage jobs for Pennsylvania residents. Meanwhile, Hershey has hidden behind multiple layers of subcontractors and remained silent about its connection to the exploitation of these students.

Change.org readers have successfully shown the fashion industry that forced child labor is a fashion faux pas. Gulnara Karimova, the daughter of the President of Uzbekistan and the country's Ambassador to Spain and Permanent Representative to the UN office in Geneva, was scheduled to present her fashion line, GULI, at New York Fashion Week on September 15th. When the organizers learned of her connection to human rights abuses in Uzbekistan, they canceled her show. Karimova quickly went on the search for a new venue and Change.org readers jumped to action.

The International Labor Rights Forum started a petition on Change.org calling on Cipriani, a restaurant that Karimova was allegedly approaching, not to host her show. Uzbekistan is infamous for its state-sponsored policy of removing up to two million children from schools across the country and forcing them to pick cotton to meet government-imposed production quotas. Within days, 500 people had contacted Cipriani through Change.org and many concerned individuals flooded the New York City based restaurant with phone calls. The petition immediately generated pressure and negative media attention toward to Cipriani. The effort was even highlighted in the New York Post and on NYC's NPR affiliate.

In the midst of New York Fashion Week, 60 of the world's leading apparel companies and brands, as well as the American Apparel and Footwear Association which includes 800 members, have signed a pledge to not knowingly source cotton harvest by forced child labor in Uzbekistan. The pledge, endorsed by companies from Wal-Mart to high-end fashion leaders like Nordstrom's and Gucci, shows the growing concern among some of the largest companies about the egregious labor rights abuses in this major cotton exporting nation. Despite widespread industry condemnation, some companies like Aeropostale, Forever 21, Urban Outfitters and Toys R Us have remained silent.

The pledge states in part: "We are stating our firm opposition to the use of forced child labor in the harvest of Uzbek cotton. We commit to not knowingly source Uzbek cotton for the manufacturing of any of our products until the Government of Uzbekistan ends the practice of forced child labor in its cotton sector. Until the elimination of this practice is independently verified by the International Labor Organization, we will maintain this pledge."

On Milton Hershey's birthday, the Raise the Bar Campaign released a new report analyzing how the company he founded has lagged behind in addressing child labor, forced labor and trafficking in the production of its primary ingredient. While Hershey is known for supporting children in communities in the US, the company has not done as much as other major chocolate companies to ensure that its cocoa is not tainted by egregious labor rights abuses.

A year after the release of the Raise the Bar Campaign's first report analyzing Hershey's cocoa purchasing policies, they have found that Hershey still does not measure up to other companies in using cocoa that has been certified to comply with international labor rights standards. Hershey has funded various programs in the world's largest cocoa growing region, West Africa, but it has not instituted policies to trace its cocoa and ensure that the cocoa it uses is not linked to the exploitation of cocoa.

She's been called "the single most hated person" in her country and one of the "world's worst daughters" for her ruthless use of political connections to crush business competitors and personal enemies. Gulnara Karimova is the daughter of the dictator of Uzbekistan who rules what the US Department of State classifies as an "authoritarian state." While she might not be popular among many, she is an official representative of the government of Uzbekistan as the country's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva and the Ambassador to Spain. Recently, her connection to human rights abuses has gotten in the way of her aspiring career as a fashion designer.

Karimova was scheduled to present her GULI collection this Thursday at New York Fashion Week, but when one of the event organizers, IMG, learned of her close relationship with a government accused of a broad range of abuses from torture to forced child labor, it decided to cancel her show.

Human and labor rights advocates are posting on the "fast fashion" clothing retailer Forever 21's Facebook page to tell the company that forced child labor is out of style. Uzbekistan, one of the world's largest cotton producing countries, continues to institute a policy where up to two million children are removed from school across the country and forced to pick cotton to enrich the ruling regime. While scores of companies have spoken out against the abuse and have committed to prohibit the use of cotton made by forced child labor in Uzbekistan in their supply chains, Forever 21 is lagging behind.

As part of Fashion's Night Out, a major event associated with New York Fashion Week, Forever 21 is encouraging consumers to download an app where they can get discounts for participating in a "virtual scavenger hunt." Consumers concerned about labor rights exploitation connected to their clothing are staging somewhat of a fashion day in by asking Forever 21 where it's hiding its morals.

After long week at work, one of my favorite guilty pleasures is Fashion Police on E! with Joan Rivers. You either love Joan Rivers or hate her, and I'm definitely in the fan camp. She's a fearless woman who speaks her mind, isn't scared of offending people and is incredibly self-deprecating -- all qualities I appreciate. She's also frequently side-splittingly funny and while her whole persona, and the concept of Fashion Police is obviously based on criticizing celebrities, mostly women, to the point of mean-spiritedness, it is often very very funny. Like I said, it's a truly guilty pleasure with the emphasis on guilty. But... while I'm sure that most celebrities think Fashion Police crosses all kinds of lines every week, for me they've now crossed the line from funny to incredibly offensive and damaging.

Fashion Police has a recurring segment called "Starlet or Streetwalker," which is exactly what it sounds like. The panel, made up of George Kotsiopoulos, Kelly Osbourne and Giuliana Rancic, are shown pictures of women with their faces covered. Based on the outfit, the panel then has to vote if the woman in the photo is a starlet or a streetwalker. If the woman turns out to be a celebrity, her face is shown, if its a woman in the sex industry, her face remains blacked out. The panel, the studio audience and I'm sure the viewers watching at home laugh at these women and their 'tacky, trashy clothing.' The first time I saw the segment, it took me a minute to realize that the women whose faces were covered up were actually real women in the sex industry. I then watched with growing discomfort as I realized that these women, poor women, desperate women, drug-addicted women, women under the control of a pimp, women who are victims of violence and exploitation, were being used to highlight wealthy celebrities' poor fashion choices. Haha.