Fight Child Labor at a Rally at the Hershey Store in Times Square

Almost 12,000 Change.org readers have signed our petition calling on Hershey to "raise the bar" for responsible cocoa sourcing by starting to use Fair Trade Certified cocoa. Even while more and more companies announce new commitments to use cocoa that has been certified to comply with international labor rights standards, Hershey continues to lag behind in eliminating child labor, forced labor and trafficking in its supply chain. Now it's time to take the message right to Hershey's doorstep and that's exactly what concerned chocolate lovers will do next Wednesday at Hershey's store in Times Square.

The International Labor Rights Forum, Global Exchange and Green America are working with local social justice, faith, labor and student groups to hold a rally outside Hershey's store right in Times Square, New York City on Wednesday, June 8, 2011 at 10:30am. High profile speakers, musicians and scores of youth from New York City will be gathering to call on Hershey to do more to stop child labor and other labor rights abuses in its cocoa.

The rally is timed to take place just days before World Day Against Child Labor. The theme for this important day this year is fighting hazardous work conditions for young people. For hundreds of thousands of children laboring to produce the cocoa, hazardous work is a sad reality even though it has been almost ten years since major chocolate companies like Hershey committed to ending these abuses in their supply chains.

In a recently released report summarizing over four and a half years of independent analysis of child labor in West Africa's cocoa industry and company initiatives to address this exploitation, a research team from Tulane University confirmed that "children working in the cocoa sector are frequently exposed to activities defined as hazardous." Children often carry heavy loads and are involved in harvesting and weeding activities that can involve dangerous tools and be hazardous to their growth and development.

Next week, school children, parents and teachers in New York will be telling Hershey that these conditions are unacceptable and that school, not cocoa fields, are the best place for children to work. As the Tulane University research recommends, using certified cocoa, like Fair Trade Certification, is a critical step for companies to take in ending these labor rights abuses.

Find out more about the rally online here and RSVP here. You can also RSVP and spread the word through Facebook here. Don't live in the NYC area? Share this post via e-mail, Facebook and Twitter with friends and family in the New York area. Stay tuned next week for new and easy ways to join the action all across the country.

Photo credit: Shanti