Turkey: Labour Ministry shuns unions in hazelnut child labour discussions

IUF affiliated unions in Turkey and Dutch national centre FNV representatives were excluded by the Labour Ministry from a round table conference on child labour in hazelnut harvesting on July 4.

FNV and the “Stop Child Labour – School is the best place to work” campaign issued a report on the use of child labour in the harvesting of hazelnuts after media exposure of the issue in the Netherlands.

Hazelnuts harvested using child labour are used in the supply chain of major companies like Nestlé and Ferrero. Nestlé was a joint sponsor of the roundtable that excluded Turkish and Dutch unions from this process.

It is perhaps not surprising that unions are excluded from a multi-stakeholder platform in a country where union rights are routinely repressed and union leaders are arrested.

The IUF is calling for Turkish and Dutch unions to be allowed to play their part in addressing this critical human rights issue.