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Urge Company To Use Fair Trade Cocoa
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Progressive Portal
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Jun 14, 2005 17:10 PDT
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COMPANY THAT SELLS CHOCOLATE TO SCHOOLS, GROUPS
FOR FUNDRAISING CAN ALSO HELP END CHILD LABOR ABUSE
[From Global Exchange <http://www.globalexchange.org>]
The All Candy Expo, a huge candy industry trade convention, opened in
Chicago on Tuesday, 14 June 2005. At the 2004 Expo, schoolchildren
dressed up as M&Ms joined Global Exchange activists in handing out
flyers asking chocolate companies to make sure their products aren't
made using illegal child labor. They encouraged chocolate manufacturers
to buy their cocoa beans from farms that are Fair Trade certified,
ensuring that farmers are paid a decent wage and children aren't
enslaved or working under illegal conditions.
This year, Global Exchange is taking the campaign for Fair Trade
chocolate to a Chicago-based company whose name is familiar to anyone
who has done fundraising for a school or youth group: World's Finest
Chocolate.
More than 40,000 schools and youth groups depend on World's Finest
Chocolate for their annual fundraisers. The profits from these sales
support a wide range of programs and make up an integral part of many
school budgets. But while nearly fifty cents of every one-dollar bar
goes to support local schools or charity groups, scarcely pennies reach
impoverished cocoa farmers and their families.
Global Exchange is working with schools, churches, and charitable groups
across the country to call upon World's Finest to offer Fair Trade
chocolate bars. This is an important way the company can contribute to a
comprehensive solution to child-labor abuses in the cocoa industry,
using its products to support community development for children
everywhere, not just in the U.S. communities where the chocolate is sold
to raise funds.
The president of World's Finest has agreed to meet with Global Exchange
representatives on Thursday, 16 June 2005. Please take action TODAY to
make sure that World's Finest understands the depth and breadth of
support for Fair Trade chocolate.
Take Action
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Send a fax to World's Finest, encouraging the company to do the right
thing by using fair trade certified cocoa:
http://www.globalexchange.org/getInvolved/actnow/worldsfinestfax.html
More Information
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http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/index.html.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=8745540
http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=143&sid=5855253
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