The Girl Scouts of the USA said on Wednesday that child labor has no place in its iconic cookies, and urged the two companies they bake to act quickly to address possible palm oil abuses in their supply chains.
The comments were sent in the form of a tweet to Associated Press reporters announcing an investigation On Tuesday, Girl Scout cookies and the supply chains of other well-known food brands connect an estimated ten thousand children who often work long hours in hazardous conditions unpaid to help harvest palm fruit on plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia.
“Child labor has no place in Girl Scout Cookie production,” the Girl Scouts tweeted. “Our investment in the development of the youth of our world may not be facilitated by the underdevelopment of some.”
The Girl Scouts also referred to a non-profit global organization to which he belongs, called the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, which promoted and produced ethical production, including the treatment of workers: ‘If certain suppliers do not follow ethical practices , we expect our bakers and RSPO to act quickly to rectify the exceptions. ”
The Girl Scouts did not respond to repeated requests from the AP for comment on the findings before Tuesday’s story, which found that many children working in the palm oil industry do not have access to adequate school or health care and that some never learn to read or do not write. . The story set out how others live in fear of being taken away by the police and thrown into detention centers because they were born on plantations for parents who work illegally, and how girls are vulnerable to sexual abuse.
Reporters tracked down child labor in the supply chain of one of the Girl Scout cookie bakers, Little Brownie Bakers, owned by Italian confectionery Ferrero, which did not comment on the findings. The other bakery and its Canadian-based parent company, Weston Foods, did not provide details about its supply chain, citing its own reasons. Both said they are committed to obtaining sustainable palm oil.