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Corporate Social Responsibility
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3.14.2008 - 03:03pm ET
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Verite Convenes Consultative Meeting in Efforts to Eliminate Child Labor in West African Cocoa Farming
Bringing together NGOs, industry, unions and academics to examine independent verification of cocoa farms in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire
(CSRwire) LONDON, UK - March 14, 2008 - Verité, the US-based nonprofit that
provides solutions to labor abuses worldwide through innovative corporate
social responsibility, is convening a landmark one-day consultative
meeting called "Why Verify? Making Cocoa Verification Count," in London,
UK. The goal of this initiative is to assist in the process of eliminating
the worst forms of child labor and forced adult labor in the West African
cocoa industry through independent verification of the certification
effort of the Harkin-Engel Protocol. The meeting on March 31, 2008, is the
second consultative meeting hosted by Verité that brings stakeholders
together to create a transparent, effective and credible verification
process. The cocoa verification initiative to began in 2001 with the
Harkin-Engel Protocol and has accelerated with the newly formed
International Cocoa Verification Board (ICVB) called for in Verité's
Road Map. Verité is acting as the interim Secretariat of the ICVB.
Representatives from several African NGOs, the International Labor
Organization, UNICEF, Global Witness, Anti-Slavery International, trade
unions, academics and many others are joining with representatives from
the global cocoa industry to collaboratively discuss the challenges to
independent verification and ways to strengthen this effort. The parties
expect this robust dialog to result in stronger and more credible
verification. The question remains, however, "Why verify?"
Information gathered during the National Surveys has already resulted in
improvements for the National Plans to Combat Child Labor in both Ghana
and Côte d'Ivoire, but to ensure a fully transparent process the need
for independent verification remains. The larger goal of verification is
to ensure that these groundbreaking nationwide efforts to assess and
improve conditions on the ground are robust and that remediation efforts
are based on accurate data that is effectively targeted.
Attendees will hear directly from the top government officials who have
conducted the surveys that assess the impact the Harkin-Engel Protocol has
on their countries. NGO panelists will address the work that they are doing
on the front lines of efforts to combat child trafficking, the ways this
effort impacts their work, and the very real need to ensure that the
independent verifiers use child-centered interview techniques in their
work.
Results from this meeting will inform the next ICVB meeting on April 3 and
4, 2008, when the Board will select verifiers. Independent verifiers will
be in the fields for the first time beginning in May, 2008. This is the
crucial next step in the larger effort to identify and remediate the worst
forms of child labor abuses nationwide in both Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire.
To register for "Why Verify? Making Cocoa Verification Count," please fill
out the brief registration
form and return it to aroscoe@verite.org by March 17.
Keynote speakers at the meeting are Mme. Amouan Assouan Acquah, Special
Counselor to the Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire and member of the
ICVB, and Mme. Akosua Frema Osei-Opare, Deputy Minister, Ministry of
Manpower, Youth and Employment and Member of Parliament of Ghana.
Other speakers include Evelyne Adom of Afrique Secours et Assistance,
Côte d'Ivoire; Anita Sheth, Senior Analyst, Advocacy, Policy &
Research of Save the Children Canada; Jeff Morgan, Director of Global
Programs, Mars, Inc. and member of the ICVB; Franciska Isaaka, Founder,
CENSUDI, The Centre for Sustainable Development Initiatives, Ghana; and
Théodore Séka, President, RENFCAP, a Leading Capacity Building and Child
Rights NGO, Côte d'Ivoire.
The conference will take place in the Exeter Suite of the Strand Palace
Hotel.
For reservations or directions contact:
The Strand Palace Hotel
372 Strand, London, WC2R 0JJ, England
+44 (0)20 7836 8080
http://www.strandpalacehotel.co.uk
About Verité
Verité ensures that people worldwide work under healthy, safe, fair
and legal conditions and provides solutions to labor abuses worldwide
through innovative corporate social responsibility. Verité works in
over 60 countries to empower companies, factories, NGOs, governments, and
workers to create sustainable workplace practices in the factories and
communities where our consumer goods are made.
In 2007 Verité was awarded one of ten Skoll Awards for Social
Entrepreneurship and named a Social Capitalist Award winner by Fast
Company magazine/Monitor Group, having been recognized as one of the top
organizations able to "translate their vision into action, and meet the
harsh market standards of performance and accountability." For more
information visit www.verite.org.
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