Child Labor in the Chocolate Industry

Chocolate companies struggle to eradicate child labor in cocoa supply chains

Hundreds of thousands of small cocoa farms in Ivory Coast are the setting for an epidemic of child labor that the world’s largest chocolate companies promised to eradicate nearly 20 years ago.
The world’s chocolate companies have missed deadlines to uproot child labor from their cocoa supply chains in 2005, 2008 and 2010, and they probably will miss the next target date.
About two-thirds of the world’s cocoa supply comes from West Africa where, according to a 2015 U.S. Labor Department report, more than 2 million children were engaged in dangerous labor in cocoa-growing regions.
Chocolate companies still cannot identify the farms where all their cocoa comes from, let alone whether child labor was used in producing it.
With the growth of the global economy, Americans have become accustomed to reports of worker and environmental exploitation in faraway places. But in few industries, experts say, is the evidence of objectionable practices so clear.
Industry promises began in 2001 when, under pressure from the U.S. Congress, chiefs of some of the biggest chocolate companies signed a pledge to eradicate “the worst forms of child labor” from their West African cocoa suppliers.
The typical Ivorian cocoa farm is small — less than 10 acres — and the farmer’s annual household income stands at about $1,900, well below levels the World Bank defines as poverty for a typical family.
About 60 percent of the country’s rural population lacks access to electricity, and, according to UNESCO, the literacy rate of the Ivory Coast reaches about 44 percent.
At least 16,000 children, and perhaps many more, are forced to work on West African cocoa farms by people other than their parents.
The child migrants arrive amid a vast wave of people entering from Burkina Faso and Mali. Ivory Coast is home to 1.3 million migrants from Burkina Faso and another 360,000 from Mali, according to the United Nations.
The most somber of the three was Aboudnamune, a 13-year-old boy who arrived two years ago when he was 11. He rarely smiled and said he’d like to see his parents because “it’s been a while.” “Yes, it’s a little bit hard,” he said of his life on the cocoa farms. “We are hungry, and we make just a small amount of money.”
Chocolate companies have spent more than $150 million over 18 years to address the issue, but when the businesses initially made the promise to eradicate child labor, according to industry insiders and documents, the companies had little idea of how to do so.The chocolate industry's struggle to eradicate child labor in West Africa
Reports from news organizations and the U.S. State Department linking American chocolate to child slavery in West Africa gained prominent public attention 18 years ago.
Legislation was introduced in the US House of Representatives to create a federal labeling system indicating whether child slaves were used in growing and harvesting cocoa, but the industry resisted government regulation.
The Harkin-Engel Protocol was negotiated between the chocolate companies and lawmakers, which committed the companies to eradicate child labor from their supply chains and to develop and implement "standards of public certification."
The deadline for the protocol was July 2005, but the industry was not close to meeting it, and the companies sought to redefine the meaning of a key clause in the agreement.
The industry created the International Cocoa Initiative and supported pilot projects for monitoring child labor in West Africa, but some insiders say the early efforts were destined to fall short.
Three nonprofit groups - Fairtrade, Utz, and Rainforest Alliance - provide labels to products that have been produced according to their ethical standards, including a prohibition on child labor, but inspections for the labels are so sporadic and easily evaded that they do not eradicate child labor.
Ivory Coast signed the Harkin-Engel deal, passed laws defining child labor and setting penalties for its use, and built schools in rural areas, but child labor and trafficking have continued due to the country's inability to enforce the laws.
The industry established a goal to get a 70 percent reduction in child labor by 2020, but it is unlikely to be met, and there is still no plan for consumer labels.
The cocoa sector has sought "relatively little evidence relating to child slavery," according to a report by Embode, a human rights agency, for Mondelez.
A 2015 report for the US Labor Department found that the number of child laborers reported to have worked in West Africa the previous year had increased to 2.1 million from 1.8 million in the previous survey completed in 2009.
The companies have another program to combat child labor, one that now covers more than 200,000 West African farms, which relies on hiring a local farmer to check other farms for child labor and reduced child labor by 30 percent in pilot programs over three years.
Paying the farmers more for their cocoa might be the most straightforward means of addressing child labor, as alleviating their poverty would make them less desperate.
One small Dutch company, Tony's Chocolonely, is paying an extra 40 percent premium to provide a living wage, but this is not enough to lift the typical Ivorian farmer out of poverty.Tony's Chocolonely's mission to end slavery in the cocoa industry faces resistance from large chocolate brands
Tony's Chocolonely is a Dutch chocolate company that aims to end slavery in the cocoa industry
The company pays a premium price for cocoa beans to ensure fair wages for farmers and prevent slavery
Large chocolate brands are hesitant to follow Tony's Chocolonely's lead for fear of giving competitors a price advantage
Tony's Chocolonely's premium cocoa price adds less than 10 percent to the cost of a typical chocolate bar
The chocolate industry views Tony's Chocolonely's efforts as an experiment due to their relatively small scale
Tony's Chocolonely sources 7,000 tons of cocoa, which is a tiny amount compared to the overall industry
The scalability of Tony's Chocolonely's approach is an open question to industry experts
Tony's Chocolonely argues that it is madness that so many people suffer for a gift that no one really needs
Cocoa farmers often live in poverty and are vulnerable to being trapped in slavery
The cocoa industry has been criticized for not doing enough to address the issue of slavery in their supply chains
Tony's Chocolonely's mission has gained support from consumers and retailers who value ethical sourcing practices
Tony's Chocolonely hopes to inspire change in the chocolate industry and create a more sustainable and just supply chain.