In a first joint event on 9 November 2020, around 130 members of the three European platforms for sustainable cocoa (Beyond Chocolate, Forum Nachhaltiger Kakao e.V. and SWISSCO) discussed the responsibility of the various actors for respecting human rights along the cocoa supply chain.
After a welcome address by the EU Commissioner for Justice, Didier Reynders, and a presentation of the Swiss "Responsible Business Initiative", Sarah Bollermann from the Aldi South Group gave the participants an exciting insight into the retailer's human rights due diligence concept.
In the panel discussion that followed, representatives of the various stakeholder groups along the cocoa supply chain - from COCOBOD from Ghana and ISEAL to Barry Callebaut, Nestlé and Colruyt, a Belgian retailer - discussed ways of cooperating to jointly ensure the implementation of human rights due diligence.
The working groups then took a closer look at the responsibilities of the individual actors, identified tools for effective cooperation and discussed the role of multi-actor platforms. It became clear that the "pre-competitive" space created by multi-actor platforms, in which not only best practices but also challenges are (or should be) shared, is particularly valued by the members of the platforms and should be further strengthened across platforms. Along with this, one recommendation ran through all working groups: Transparency along the supply chain must be improved in order to develop information-based measures to ensure human rights compliance along the cocoa supply chain.
A documentation of the event can be found here.
