July 14, 2014
Child labour in Turkish hazelnut harvesting
The campaign Stop Child Labour – School is the best place to work expresses its
serious concern about child and underpaid labour in Turkish hazelnut harvesting.
Dutch TV news magazine EenVandaag on the 19th of October broadcasted a feature
story showing that children – from around 8 years of age – are working around 11
hours a day in hazelnut harvesting. Turkey is producing around 75% of all hazelnuts in
the world.
In open letters to Ferrero, Verkade and Royal Wessanen - companies using Turkish
hazelnuts in their products - Stop Child Labour is urging them to eliminate child labour from
their supply chain and ensure that adults are paid a decent wage. Companies who are likely
to import hazelnuts from Turkey but thus far refused to say where they are grown, are asked
to be transparent about their origin and take similar action on child labour and decent work.
Among these companies are Unilever, Mars, Nestlé, Kraft and Ahold.
More information:
- Minister Ploumen: Efforts against child labour in Turkish hazelnut production will be continued (ICN, Jul 11, 2014)
- Parliamentary Questions by members Voordewind (ChristianUnion), Gesthuizen (Socialist Party)
and Van Laar (Labour Party) to the Minister for Foreign Trade and Development on a new study on
large-scale child labour and other violations of labour rights in the Turkish hazelnut production (subm. Jun 16, 2014)
- Child labour, long hours and low wages still rife in Turkish hazelnut production (Stop Child Labour, Apr 28, 2014)
- FLA confirms child labour in Turkish hazelnut harvest – Nestlé comes with Action Plan (Stop Child Labour, Mar 6, 2012)
-
Answer to Question to the European Commission by Members of European Parliament Thijs Berman and Emine Bozkurt (S&D) (submitted Nov 11, 2011) on child labour in Turkey (Feb 1, 2012)
- Letter European Commissioner Stefan Füle to Member of European Parliament Emine Bozkurt (S&D) on child labour in Turkey (Nov 18, 2010)
- Multinationals acknowledge problem but remain vague about solutions (Stop Child Labour, Nov(?) 2010)
- Written questions Member of European Parliament Emine Bozkurt (S&D) on child labour in Turkey (Nov 3, 2010; with answers Dec 3, 2010)
- Bitter Hazelnuts: Stop Child Labour urges companies to transparency and action (press release Stop Child Labour, Oct 20, 2010)
- Hazelnut chain under fire
(SOMO, Oct 20, 2010)
 Turkish children work for our hazelnuts (EénVandaag, Oct 19, 2010) Dutch language!
- Quick Scan Hazelnut Sector (SOMO, Oct 2010) Only available in Dutch!
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India Committee of the Netherlands - June 16, 2012