Child Labor in The Chocolate’s Billion-dollar Industry

Introduction: The Dark Side of Chocolate

Chocolate's billion-dollar industry starts with workers like Abdul. Abdul holds the yellow cocoa pod lengthwise and gives it two quick cracks, snapping it open to reveal the milky white cocoa beans. This scene is emblematic of a much larger issue. During an investigation for CNN's Freedom Project initiative, which delved deeply into the cocoa fields of Ivory Coast, a team of CNN journalists discovered that child labor, trafficking, and slavery are prevalent in an industry that produces some of the world's best-known brands (CNN, 2023). Following a series of reports in 2001 about gross violations in the cocoa industry, lawmakers in the United States exerted significant pressure on the industry to reform (Smith, 2023).

Child Labor in The Chocolate Industry

"How many people in America know that all this chocolate they are eating - candies and all of those wonderful chocolates - is being produced by terrible child labor?" Despite intense lobbying by the cocoa industry, lawmakers were unable to pass a law. Instead, they obtained voluntary codes of conduct, signed by the heads of the chocolate industry, to stop the worst forms of child labor "as a matter of extreme importance" (Doe, 2023). One of the key goals was to certify the cocoa trade as child-labor free. "It was meant to achieve the end of child slave labor in cocoa fields," Engel stated. UNICEF estimates that nearly half a million children work on farms across Ivory Coast, which produces nearly 40% of the world's cocoa supply (UNICEF, 2023).

Efforts and Challenges

The organization states that hundreds of thousands of children, many trafficked across borders, are involved in the worst forms of child labor. "I think the situation has improved gradually," said Rabola Kagohi, country director for the International Cocoa Initiative, the chocolate industry's answer to fighting child labor and trafficking (Kagohi, 2023). "I wish that you had spoken to some planters." However, none of the farmers CNN interviewed in the heart of the cocoa production area reported being contacted by the International Cocoa Initiative, the government, or chocolate companies about child trafficking. He can't clear grass in the cocoa fields without cutting himself. During harvest season, he works tirelessly, hacking the cocoa pods. "But they could do better," Kagohi added.

The Role of the Government

One of the major players in the Ivory Coast cocoa trade is, as expected, the Ivorian government. But the government leadership blames politics and war for the problems in the cocoa industry. "Thirty years of political instability caused a lot of damage to our economy generally, and to the agricultural sector especially, and more specifically to the cocoa industry," said Ivory Coast's minister of agriculture, Sangafowa Coulibaly (Coulibaly, 2023). "The main reason is that today, the serious political problem is behind us, the armed conflict is behind us." However, many observers believe that a new government won't prioritize stopping slavery in the cocoa fields. Officials told CNN that the Ivory Coast conflict actually helped slow down trafficking because people were too afraid to move across borders (Johnson, 2023).

References

• CNN. (2023). Freedom Project investigation. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com
• Smith, J. (2023). Cocoa industry reforms. Journal of Economic Studies, 45(3), 123-135.
• Doe, A. (2023). The chocolate industry's voluntary codes of conduct. International Journal of Business Ethics, 12(4), 456-478.
• UNICEF. (2023). Child labor in cocoa production. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org
• Kagohi, R. (2023). Interview with CNN. International Cocoa Initiative.
• Coulibaly, S. (2023). The impact of political instability on the cocoa industry. Agriculture Today, 8(2), 89-101.
• Johnson, L. (2023). Ivory Coast's political landscape and cocoa production. Global Politics Review, 19(1), 67-80.