Child labour in cocoa production

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Chocolate and slavery are alleged to be linked in contemporary chocolate plantations in west Africa. Some west African states have been accused of allowing the practice of slave labour in cocoa plantations. In the Cote d'Ivoire boys aged between 12 and 16 have been documented as being sold as slaves. Most slaves are impoverished young men and boys from Benin, Togo and Mali, especially Mali. Children found alone at bus stations or begging for food are lured to the Ivory Coast and sold there. [1]Traffickers promise them paid work together with housing and education; instead they suffer forced labour and severe abuse working on cocoa farms. The Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa is the largest producer and exporter of cocoa beans. West Africa, notably the Ivory Coast, supplies nearly 50% of world cocoa. Slavery is persistent and hard to detect in remote Ivorian farms. [2]

Disclosure

A 1998 report from UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, concluded that some Ivory Coast farmers use enslaved children, many of them from the poorer neighboring countries of Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin and Togo. A report by the Geneva, Switzerland- based International Labour Organization, also found that trafficking in children is widespread in West Africa.

The practise first reached a wider public with a 2001 British television documentary , Slavery made by Kate Blewett and Brian Woods. This claimed that 90% of Ivorian cocoa plantations use forced labour. Also a ship was found near West Africa allegedly carrying child slaves. Afterwards, a Knight Ridder reporter travelled deep into the Ivory Coast where farms used child slaves. [3] He claimed the Ivorian government is involved in the practice as are the farmers and chocolate manufacturers in America and Europe and chocolate consumers may not know of the problem associated with the chocolate they buy. After the programme was broadcast some British consumers demanded that the United Kingdom’s major chocolate producers, Cadbury, Nestle and Mars source chocolate untainted by slavery. These large companies buy cocoa at International Exchanges and Ivorian cocoa is mixed with other cocoa making it impossible to tell which cocoa is slave produced.

The Chocolate Manufacturers Association, a trade group for American chocolate makers, acknowledges that slaves are harvesting cocoa on some Ivory Coast farms. [4]

A BBC reporter, Humphrey Hawksley [5] reported in 2001 that uncounted numbers of children have been reported missing in Sikasso, Mali. Many of them are believed kidnapped and sold as slaves for about US$30. Other children are sold by their parents. In the poor parts of Mali street sellers and other slum families sometimes sell their children into slavery for a few dollars. It is believed 15,000 children or more are in the Cote d'Ivoire, some under 11. They are unlikely ever to be reunited with their families. Often they are held forcibly on farms and made to do tiring work for 80 to 100 hours per week. Those who attempt to escape are beaten. A former slave, Aly Diabate said,

The beatings were a part of my life, anytime they loaded you with bags (of cocoa beans) and you fell while carrying them, nobody helped you. Instead they beat you and beat you until you picked it up again.

}[6] Malick Doumbia who used to be a child-slave said that he had escaped but thousands are still there and if just one was freed through the report that would be good. The Sikasso police chief is sure the children have gone to slavery. He says the children are overworked till they become sick and some die.

Save the Children Fund established a refuge for former slave-children. Currently no child is there. Mali's Save the Children Fund director, Salia Kante, has stated,

People who are drinking cocoa or coffee are drinking their blood. It is the blood of young children carrying 6kg of cocoa sacks so heavy that they have wounds all over their shoulders. It's really pitiful to see.

} One man claimed that workers get no money after a year. If they ask for money they are beaten and still get nothing.

Calls to action

Action has been called for by a range of anti slavery groups. Consumer boycotting has been suggested. A general boycott of cocoa products would be relatively ineffective, as non-slave products would also be harmed.

Anti-Slavery International states,

Because of the way the chocolate industry buys its cocoa it is not possible to ensure that slave or other forms of illegal exploitation have not been used in its production.

In the organisation’s opinion companies ought to buy from plantations directly to ensure proper treatment of workers. If they use Middlemen or exchanges they should work with the governments of the countries, which grow cocoa to enforce acceptable conditions of work.[7]

In 2001 Carole Pearson [8] of the American lobby group Organic Consumers Association claims that forced labour is frequently involved in chocolate production. She states that as much as 40% of ordinary chocolate which does not bear the Fair trade label includes slave produced cocoa. and urges readers to work against slavery by boycotting main brands and instead buying only chocolate with a Fair Trade Label. [9]

Fred E. Foldvary of the Department of Economics, Santa Clara University, California suggests the following action:-[10]

government legislation requiring, "made by slaves" labels on products so that public pressure can be applied worldwide and people know what they are buying and that people should apply pressure onto their governments to get such labelling.
people write to their elected representatives and to chocolate and cocoa manufacturers, this includes Hershey Foods Archer Daniels Midland and See's in areas where they trade as well as those in the section above. [11]
activists to expand Fairly Traded cocoa produce to North America and other areas. Fair trade cocoa produce is currently mainly based in Europe. [12]

In September 2005 the Dutch member of parliament Femke Halsema filed a motion to abolish European imports of cacao based on slave labour. In a gesture to compensate cacao producers the motion also included the proposal to increase the minimum percentage of cacao required in chocolate. [13]

in 2005 Dutch documentary maker Teun van der Keuken attempted to introduce a slave trade free chocolate bar at the premiere of the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in London [14]. He is also pursuing a case of receipt of stolen property against his own person as he has turned himself in. He is reasoning that when he eats chocolate knowing full well cacao is derived from slave labour he is in fact committing a crime, when convicted it would will become easier to prosecute European cacao converters. [15]. There is a campaign giving out critical leaflets when, “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” is screened. [16]

Obtaining Fairly-Traded Chocolate

Fairly-Traded Chocolate are the only chocolate products at present which are guaranteed not to contain any sourced from a slave plantation. A full range of high quality fairly traded chocolate products are available to consumers through shops in the UK. In the USA and elsewhere fairly traded chocolate products are available online. This link has more information about how to get fairly traded chocolate online. [17]

Response to Action

The Chocolate Manufacturers Association is surveying Ivorian farms. The United States Labor Department is trying to end West African child labour in cooperation with the International Labor Organization.

References

One reference Imported from Wikinfo

Child labour in cocoa production

Contents

Disclosure

Calls to action

Obtaining Fairly-Traded Chocolate

Response to Action

See also

Further reading

References