While we enjoy the sweet taste of chocolate, the reality for African children is very different.
In 2001, consumers around the world were outraged to discover child labor and slavery, human trafficking and other abuses on cocoa farms in Ivory Coast, which produces nearly half the world’s cocoa. With that comes a lot of negative publicity and consumer demand for answers and solutions.
Two members of the U.S. Congress, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa and Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, addressed the issue by adding a label to the farm bill that proposes a federal system to certify and Mark chocolate products as slave-free.
The bill passed the House and spelled potential disaster for Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland Mars, Hershey, Nestle, Barry Callebaut, Saf-Cacao and other chocolate makers. Desperate to avoid legislation that would force chocolate companies to put “child labor free” labels on their products (many major chocolate makers do not qualify), the industry fought back and finally agreed to a voluntary agreement to avoid abuse and forced use by children. Quit working on a cocoa farm by 2005.
The chocolate industry fought back. In the end, the two sides reached a compromise to end child labor on Ivorian cocoa farms by 2005. In 2005, the cocoa industry failed to comply with the terms of the agreement, with a new deadline set for 2008. In 2008, the conditions of the Protocol were still not met, and the 2010 deadline was again set.
Nearly a decade after chocolate companies, concerned governments and foundations spent millions of dollars to eradicate child labor and illegal trafficking from the international cocoa trade, has anything changed?
Miki Mistrati and U Roberto Romano launched a behind-the-scenes investigation into whether these allegations of child labor in the chocolate industry still apply today.
