Economics of cocoa

This article discusses child labor and human trafficking related to west African cocoa production.

West African production of cocoa

Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is the world's largest producer and exporter of cocoa, supplying 46% of the world cocoa production. West Africa, collectively supply nearly 80% of the world cocoa.cite web
last = Nkamleu
first = GB
authorlink =
coauthors = Anne Kielland
title = Modeling farmers’ decisions on child labor and schooling in the cocoa sector: a multinomial logit analysis in Cˆote d’Ivoire
work = Agricultural Economics, vol 35, pp 319-333
publisher =
date = 2006
url = http://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/info-center/document-research-center/documents/Nkamleu2006.pdf
format = PDF
doi =
accessdate = ] Large chocolate producers such as Cadbury, Hershey's, and Nestle buy cocoa at commodities exchanges where Ivorian cocoa is mixed with other cocoa, as reported in a study by Oxfam.cite web
last = Oxfam
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = The cocoa market: A background study
work =
publisher =
date = 2002
url = http://www.maketradefair.com/en/assets/english/CocoaStudy.pdf
format = PDF
doi =
accessdate = ]

Children in cocoa production

30% of children under age 15 in sub-Saharan Africa engage in child labor, mostly in agricultural activities including cocoa farming.cite web
last = International Labor Organization
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Rooting out child labour from cocoa farms: Paper No. 4 Child labour monitoring – A partnership of communities and government
work =
publisher =
date = 2007
url = http://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/download.do;jsessionid=0a038009cee0ccecc1079524dd2be22e7bc286da8c5.hkzFngTDp6WImQuUaNaLa3D3lN4K-xaIah8S-xyIn3uKmAiN-AnwbQbxaNvzaAmI-huKa30xgx95fjWTa3eIpkzFngTDp6WImQuxbN8Nbh4SahiK8OexhOaOgzX9i4j38QfznA5Pp7ftolbGmkTy?type=document&id=6447
format =
doi =
accessdate = ] Of the 200,000 children working in the Ivory Coast cocoa industry, a maximum of 6% (12,000 children) may be victims of human trafficking or slavery.

tudies and reports

1998

* A 1998 report from the Ivory Coast office of UNICEF concluded that some Ivory Coast farmers use enslaved children, many of them from Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin and Togo..

2001

* The report "A Taste of Slavery: How Your Chocolate May be Tainted" won a George Polk Award. It claimed that traffickers promise paid work, housing, and education to children who are forced to labour and undergo severe abuse, that some children are held forcibly on farms and work up to 100 hours per week, and that attempted escapees are beaten. It quoted a former slave: "The beatings were a part of my life" and "when you didn't hurry, you were beaten."cite web
last = Raghavan
first = Sudarsan
authorlink =
coauthors = Sumana Chatterjee
title = Slaves feed world's taste for chocolate: Captives common in cocoa farms of Africa
work = Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
publisher =
date = June 24, 2001
url = http://www2.jsonline.com/news/nat/jun01/slave24r062301.asp
format =
doi =
accessdate = ] cite web
last = Raghavan
first = Sudarsan
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Two boys tell of descent into slavery
work = Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
publisher =
date = June 25, 2001
url = http://www2.jsonline.com/bym/news/jun01/slave26062501.asp
format =
doi =
accessdate = ] cite web
last = Raghavan
first = Sudarsan
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Traffickers target boys in cocoa trade
work = Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
publisher =
date = June 24, 2001
url = http://www2.jsonline.com/news/intl/jun01/slave25062401.asp
format =
doi =
accessdate = ] See also [cite web
last =
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = SAJAers In The News
work =
publisher =
date = 2002
url = http://www.saja.org/chocolate.html
format =
doi =
accessdate = ] [cite web
last = Foldvary
first = Fred
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Chocolate worker slavery
work = The Progress Report
publisher =
date = 2001
url = http://www.progress.org/archive/fold201.htm
format =
doi =
accessdate = ] [cite web
last = Chatterjee
first = Sumana
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Chocolate Firms Launch Fight Against 'Slave Free' Labels
work = Philadelphia Inquirer
publisher =
date = August 1, 2001
url = http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0801-03.htm
format =
doi =
accessdate = ]
* The BBC reported that some children from Sikasso, Mali, were believed sold as slaves. According to the article, 15,000 children from Mali, some under age 11, were producing cocoa in the Cote d'Ivoire, and Mali's Save the Children Fund director described "young children carrying 6kg of cocoa sacks so heavy that they have wounds all over their shoulders."cite web
last = Hawksley
first = Humphrey
authorlink = Humphrey Hawksley
coauthors =
title = Mali's children in chocolate slavery
work =
publisher = BBC
date = 2001
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1272522.stm
format =
doi =
accessdate = ]
* A British television documentary claimed that many Ivory Coast cocoa plantations use forced labor. A ship was found near West Africa allegedly carrying child slaves.cite web
last = Blewett
first = Kate
authorlink =
coauthors = Brian Woods
title = Slavery: A global investigation
work =
publisher =
date = 2001
url = http://truevisiontv.com/slavery/index.htm
format =
doi =
accessdate = ]
* The Chocolate Manufacturers Association (see above) acknowledged that slaves harvested some cocoa. [cite web
last = Chatterjee
first = Sumana
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Chocolate Firms Launch Fight Against 'Slave Free' Labels
work = Philadelphia Inquirer
publisher =
date = August 1, 2001
url = http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/0801-03.htm
format =
doi =
accessdate = ]

2002

* S. Chanthavong reported that children in neighboring countries are often found traveling or begging and lured to the Ivory Coast, where they are sold. [cite web
last = Chanthavong
first = Samlanchith
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Chocolate and Slavery: Child Labor in Cote d'Ivoire
work = TED Case Studies Number 664
publisher = American University
date = 2002
url = http://www.american.edu/TED/chocolate-slave.htm
format =
doi =
accessdate = ]

2005

* A report from the International Labor Organization noted that of the 200,000 children working on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast, 12,000 are not working with or in the vicinity of their relatives, suggesting possible trafficking in a maximum of 6% of cases of child labor. cite web
last = International Labor Organization
first =
authorlink = International Labor Organization
coauthors =
title = Combatting Child Labour in Cocoa Growing
work =
publisher =
date = 2005
url = http://ilo.law.cornell.edu/public/english/standards/ipec/themes/cocoa/download/2005_02_cl_cocoa.pdf
format =
doi =
accessdate = ]
* One book was published: Lowell J. Satre, "Chocolate on Trial: Slavery, Politics & the Ethics of Business", Ohio University Press (2005), 308 pages, hardcover ISBN 0-8214-1625-1, trade paperback ISBN 0-8214-1626-X

2006

* A study showed many children working on small farms in the Ivory Coast, often on family farms. Over 11,000 people working on small Ivorian cocoa farms were surveyed.
* Another book was published: Carol Off, Bitter Chocolate:Investigating the Dark Side of the World's Most Seductive Sweet. Random House Canada (2006), 336 pages, hardcover. ISBN 978-0-679-31319-9 (0-679-31319-2)

2007

* UNICEF's Representative in Côte d’Ivoire, stated that:

Likewise, children from neighbouring countries such as Burkina Faso, Togo and Mali are brought to Côte d’Ivoire to work in its robust cocoa farming industry, among other outlets for child labour. Their rights are not respected and they are exposed to wide-ranging exploitation and abuse. [http://www.unicef.org/protection/cotedivoire_39995.html]

* The International Labor Organization [cite web
last = International Labor Organization
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Rooting out child labour from cocoa farms
work =
publisher =
date = 2007
url = http://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/viewProduct.do?productId=6444
format =
doi =
accessdate = ] and BBC [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6517695.stm] released reports.
* A report funded by the U.S. Department of Labor concluded that "Industry and the Governments of Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana have taken steps to investigate the problem and are implementing projects that address issues identified in the Protocol."

2008

* Fortune magazine reported that [http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/24/news/international/chocolate_bittersweet.fortune/ "little progress has been made"] in a report featuring responses from Cargill and Hershey's.

Certification process

Efforts are underway to establish an industry-wide voluntary certification process for cocoa produced without the use of child labor. However, these efforts are not yet complete, and there are currently only a few small independent firms claiming to produce chocolate without the use of child labor or human trafficking (see Economics of cocoa#Companies).

Harkin-Engel Protocol

The Harkin-Engel Protocol of 2001 (see Appendix 1 ofcite web
last = Payson Center for International Development and Technology Transfer of Tulane University
first =
authorlink = http://www.childlabor-payson.org
coauthors =
title = First annual report: Oversight of public and private initiatives to eliminate the worst forms of child labor in the cocoa sector in Cote d-Ivoire and Ghana
work =
publisher =
date = October 31, 2007
url = http://www.childlabor-payson.org/FirstAnnualReport.pdf
format = PDF
doi =
accessdate = ] ) was a commitment by the industry groups [http://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/ World Cocoa Foundation] and Chocolate Manufacturers Association (now known as the [http://www.chocolateusa.org/ Chocolate Council of the National Confectioners Association] ) to develop and implement voluntary standards to certify cocoa produced without the "worst forms of child labor," (defined according to the International Labor Organization's Convention 182) by the year 2005. This deadline was not met. In 2004, a Verification Working Group was funded by industry; however, funding was discontinued in 2006.

Organizations, activists and legislation

*In September 2005, Dutch member of parliament Femke Halsema filed a motion to abolish European imports of slave-processed cacao. [http://www.groenlinks.nl/2ekamer/nieuws/Nieuwsbericht.2005-09-21.2628/view]

*Statements have been issued by Anti-Slavery International [http://www.antislavery.org/archive/other/cocoa-statement.htm] , the Anti-Slavery Society [http://anti-slaverysociety.addr.com/chocolates1.htm] , Fred E. Foldvary, the Organic Consumers Association [http://www.organicconsumers.org/starbucks/chocolate.cfm] and StoptheTraffick UK. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6533405.stm]

* Teun van de Keuken is another notable activist. [http://www.rvu.nl/kvw/index.php?n=331] [http://www.nos.nl/nos/artikelen/2007/02/art000001C749EA0E82A561.html] [http://www.chocolonely.com/] [http://www.medinge.org/press/2008/01/international-think-tank-announces-2008.html] [http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/chocolonely_award.php] [http://www.chicagofairtrade.org/aboutFairTrade/chocolate/dutch-jounalist-teun-van-de-keuken-seeks-prosecution-for-eating-chocolate/] [http://www.rvu.nl/wwwdata/spspIMG502.gif]

Companies

It is claimed that Fair Trade chocolate products contain no cocoa linked to trafficking. [http://www.internet-encyclopedia.org/index.php/Chocolate_and_slavery#Chocolate_which_Helps_the_Third_World.] It is also claimed that slave-grown cocoa is not a problem for South American chocolateFact|date=May 2008. A list of companies claiming to sell fair trade chocolate can be found [http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/chocolonely_award.php here] . FLO-CERT certified cocoa producers can be found [http://www.fairtrade.net/cocoa.html here] . International Fair Trade Association-certified cocoa producers can be found [http://www.ifat.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=164&Itemid=1 here]

ee also

* Big Chocolate
* International Labor Rights Fund
* Cocoa Protocol
* Child Labor
* Nestle

Further reading

*Henry W. Nevinson, "A Modern Slavery", (1906), reprint Schocken (1968), ISBN 1-121-28400-0

References

External links

tudies and reports

* [http://www.american.edu/TED/chocolate-slave.htm TED Case Studies: Chocolate and Slavery: child labor in Cote d'Ivoire]
* [http://www.childlabor-payson.org/FirstAnnualReport.pdf First annual report of Tulane University Payson Center project on Oversight of Public and Private Initiatives to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor in the Cocoa Sector in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana]
* [http://www.chocolateusa.org/pdfs/Tulane-Report-Response-Nov-2007.pdf Industry response to Tulane University report]
* [http://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/info-center/document-research-center/documents/Nkamleu2006.pdf Nkamleu and Kielland 2006 study in the journal "Agricultural Economics"]
* [http://www.maketradefair.com/en/assets/english/CocoaStudy.pdf Oxfam (2002) The cocoa market: a backgrond study] .

Media reports

* [http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fortune/0802/gallery.bloodchocolate.fortune/index.html The human cost of chocolate]
* [http://truevisiontv.com/slavery/index.htm Slavery: A global investigation]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1272522.stm Mali's children in chocolate slavery. BBC News]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6517695.stm Continued exploitation of children in cocoa industry. BBC News]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1311982.stm Ivory Coast accuses chocolate companies. BBC News]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2002/02/14/slavechocolate_020214.html Slave-labour chocolate must go. CBC News]
* [http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/04/07/027203 A Taste of Slavery. Democracy Now!]
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20010415/ai_n13958484 Chocolate and child slavery: a bitter brew. The Sunday Herald.]

Editorials, Essays and Blogs

* [http://www.progress.org/archive/fold201.htm Chocolate Worker Slavery]
* [http://www.foodrevolution.org/slavery_chocolate.htm John Robbins (2002) "Is There Slavery In Your Chocolate?" Earthsave magazine, Spring 2002 edition.]
* [http://archie.lipsmusic.net/archives/2007/05/30/personal/pics-n-videos/chocolate-and-slavery/ Bloggers on Chocolate Slavery ]
* [http://jlundberg.livejournal.com/tag/social+issues Chocolate/slavery redux. LundBlog]
* [http://www.chocolatework.com/chocolate-slavery.htm Chocolate and slavery. chocolatework.com]

Educational materials

* [http://vision.ucsd.edu/~kbranson/stopchocolateslavery/ Stop Chocolate Slavery]
* [http://www.solehi.k12.pa.us/fullertonj/chocolate/ A taste of slavery]

Interviews

* [http://writerscafe.ca/book_blogs/writers/carol-off_bitter-chocolate.php Carol Off: Bitter Chocolate. The Writer's Cafe]
* [http://bookbits.ca/joomlatest/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=26 Carol Off-Bitter Chocolate. Bookbits.ca]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/valentines/qa-off.html The Dark Side of Chocolate. Interview with Carol Off. CBC]
* [http://www.tvo.org/cfmx/tvoorg/theagenda/index.cfm?page_id=7&bpn=279060&ts=2006-12-18%2020:00:00.0 Dark chocolate: Journalist Carol Off on the not-so-sweet story. TVO]
* [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2907832149074565942&q=chocolate+slavery&total=31&start=10&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=7 Investigating Chocolate. Carol Off interview. CBC]

Activism

* [http://www.laborrights.org/stop-child-labor/cocoa-campaign International Labor Rights Fund]
* [http://www.antislavery.org/archive/other/trafficking-children-wafrica.htm Cote d'Ivoire and Mali. Anti-slavery]
* [http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/charlieaction.html Make My Wonka Bar Fair Trade!]
* [http://www.stopthetraffik.org/chocolatecampaign/ Stop the Traffik: Chocolate Campaign]

Businesses

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3X3saJUs8f4 YouTube - Tony Chocolonely]
* [http://www.organicconsumers.org/starbucks/chocolate.cfm Starbucks Fair Trade Campaign]

Other links

* [http://www.wikinfo.org/index.php/Chocolate_and_slavery Wikiinfo page on chocolate and slavery]
* [http://www.garstangfairtrade.org.uk/slave-trade-fairtrade/chocolate-slavery.html Chocolate and Slavery]
* [http://fairtrade-chocolate.org Fair Trade Chocolate]