This year, the ILO World Day Against Child Labour (WDACL), combined with the World Day for Safety and Health at Work (SafeDay), shine a spotlight on the global need to improve the safety and health of young workers and end child labour.
The ILO campaign stresses the importance of removing children below the minimum age for work from all forms of child labour – including hazardous work – and ensuring they have access to quality education and attend school at least until they complete compulsory education and reach the minimum legal age for work.
The EFFAT Cocoa Steering Committee campaigns for Children in cocoa farming to be safeguarded from all forms hazardous and non-hazardous labour and has produced the campaigning material below.
Over 2 million children work in the cocoa industry in West Africa. In 2001 the largest chocolate companies agreed to end child labour in the cocoa industry. The deadline to meet this target has nonetheless been postponed to 2020. Chocolate companies must act now: there are only 18 months and 18 days left.
The EFFAT Cocoa Steering Committee has the aim to develop concepts, basic ideas and references of good practice around a sustainable cocoa economy both in the European and global context. More specifically, the Committee tries to develop a network to exchange information among employee representatives and organizations in the European cocoa and chocolate industry. Read more on the cocoanet website.
Read more on the ILO World Day Against Child Labour