Press Room

April 2008- Verité convenes NGO-Industry Consultative Meeting in London, England.  NGO, government, and industry representatives met on March 31, 2008 to discuss the future of cocoa verification in West Africa and how it can best improve future certification and remediation efforts.

April 2008 – Corporate Watchdog Host Bill Baue interviews Verité Senior Policy Advisor Mil Niepold on Verité’s involvement in the work of the International Cocoa Verification Board (ICVB): How to End Child Labor on West African Cocoa Farms. Listen to the interview here.

March 2008 - Key presentations from the  NGO-Industry Consultative Meeting "Why Verify? Making Verification Count" that took place in London, England on March 31, 2008.

Mme. Acquah, Special Counselor to the Prime Minister of Côte d'Ivoire, Government of Cote D'Ivoire, International Cocoa Verification Board. "La certification: une opportunité de développement en milieu rural."

Mme. Frema, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Ghana, Government of Ghana.  "Eliminating WFCL in Cocoa in Ghana."

Speakers:
Jeff Morgan, Mars Incorporated "Certification in the Cocoa Sectors of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana"
Anita Seth, Save the Children Canada. "Increasing the Wellbeing of Children in Cocoa Production via the Harkin-Engel Protocol."

Presenters:
Evelyne Adom, Afrique Secours et Assistance
Theodore Seka Seka "Reduce and Eliminate Child Labor."

March 2008 – Cocoa Verification Meeting Reminder – Verité hosts NGO-Industry Consultative Meeting, “Why Verify? Making Cocoa Verification Count” will be held on March 31, 2008 in London. Register Now!

Important Background Documents for “Why Verify? Making Cocoa Verification Count” :
2001 Harkin-Engel Protocol
2005 Joint Statement
2007 Certification for Cocoa Farming: Submission  to Tulane University

February 2008 – Tangled up in Blue, by Veronica Horwell discusses Rachel Louise Snyder’s book Fugitive Denim: a Moving Story About People and Pants in the Borderless World of Global Trade. Part four of Snyder’s book focuses on Auditing, highlighting Verité’s groundbreaking work in the field.

February 2008 - Verité Welcomes New Board Member, Jeffrey Hollender, President and Chief Inspired Protagonist of Seventh Generation. Read more

February 2008 – Register now for Verité’s second NGO-Industry Consultative Meeting, to take place in London, UK on March 31, 2008: “Why Verify? Making Cocoa Verification Count.”
Space is limited! Register by March 17, 2008.

February 2008 – Verité’s  involvement in the International Cocoa Verification Board (ICVB) makes Valentine’s Day news: CSRwire Weekly News Alert: How Green Is Your Love? Companies, Investors Make Valentine's Day Sustainable, by Bill Baue

2007-Verité hosts first of several meetings to guide verification process. On December 18, 2007, Verité convened a multi-stakeholder consultative meeting titled "A New Way Forward for Verification". The discussion and outcomes that resulted from this meeting will strengthen the verification process – the crucial next step in the larger effort of identifying and remediating the Worst Forms of Child Labor on West African cocoa farms. Material from the conference:

A New Way Forward for Verification

Certification: NGO Briefing by Jeff Morgan

Verification Challenges by Anne Kielland

Cocoa Certification and Verification: The Realities on the Ground by Sylvia Hinson

2007 – Verité and CREA selected by State Department to develop global standards for social monitors.  The two nonprofits will leverage their combined twenty-plus years of experience as practitioners of social compliance and their collaboration under the RAISE Institute to ensure that the resulting standards of knowledge and skills provide a firm foundation for the improvement of working conditions worldwide.  Also learn more at www.raiseinstitute.org.

2007 – Verité Executive Director, Dan Viederman, discusses sweatshops and offers consumers insight to responsible business practices on National Public Radio’sTalk of the Nation. Listen to the interview.

2007 – Verité Announces Major Step Forward in Improving Labor Conditions
Verité announced today an important milestone in the creation of an independent, transparent and credible process to build public confidence that labor conditions in cocoa production meet international standards.

2007 – Verité takes part at the World Cocoa Foundation’s Labor Certification Panel: Verité presents the new design for standardizing labor verification of West African Cocoa production.

2007 – Markkula center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University: Kirk Hanson Interviews Dan Viederman of Verité on CSR. Listen here.

2007 - Concord Monitor: Green rules Timberland steps up its efforts to be environmentally conscious, By Ethan Wilensky-Lanford

2007 – Slate.com: Checking on Sweatshops: How does the Gap know if its clothes are made by child laborers? By Michelle Tsai.  Verité Executive Director, Dan Viederman, offers his expertise on labor conditions and violations. October 31, 2007

2007 – Cocoa Industry: Verité Selected For Key Role in Improving Labor Conditions in Cocoa Production, Verité brings together industry, governments, nongovernmental organizations, unions and academics to create a transparent, effective and credible Verification Process

2007 – LegalTimes.com: Key Report, Deadline Near for Cocoa Industry, By Jeff Horowitz

2007 – CSR Asia Weekly: Verité Symposium on Worker Engagement and Social Responsibility in China, By Michelle Brown

2007 – Verité Conference in Shenzhen: China Symposium: Worker Engagement and Social Responsibility in
China: Ways Forward, October 15, 2007

2007 - Timberland's Report for 2006 on Corporate Social Responsibility and Global Human Rights: 2006 CSR Report

2007 - SocialFunds.com: BSR Proposes Going Beyond Monitoring to Achieve Truly Sustainable Supply Chains By Bill Baue

2007 - BusinessWeek Debate Room: Overseas Sweatshops Are a U.S. Responsibility
By Daniel Viederman, Verité

2007 - Principal Voices_CNN: Keeping an Eye on Business

2007 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: China's besieged factories Activists aim to expose unscrupulous labor practices to shame companies By Craig Simons

2007 - Marc Gunther: Verite, Skoll and Social Justice

2007 - WFCR, Amherst, National Public Radio: WFCR's Bob Paquette interviews Verite's Dan Viederman on the 2007 Skoll Award

2006 - BusinessWeek online: Secrets, Lies, And Sweatshops

2006 - PLENTY Magazine: FASHION CONSCIOUS Rock-inspired clothing line Edun is out to make a difference in the developing world.

2006 - BusinessWeek Online: How China's Labor Conditions Stack Up Against Those of Other Low-Cost Nations