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Child Labour in the Chocolate Industry

What are the conditions like for farmers?

Where are child workers used in the chocolate industry?

A young cocoa slave said, "Some of the bags were taller than me. It took two people to put the bag on my head. And when you didnt hurry, you were beaten".

Why are child workers used?

It is reported that over 200,000 children are trafficked yearly in West and Central Africa, majorly in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. The Ivory Coast has the biggest cocoa prodcution and plantation in the world, with over 600,000 cocoa farms, and 60% of export income is recieved from its cocoa. The estimated number of children forced to work as slaves on these farms on the Ivory Coast is as high as 15,000.

Many children are "sold" to traffickers or farm owners by their own relatives, who aren't aware of the unsafe environment they are put in to work, and the lack of provision for an education. Up to 280,000 children are working in cocoa farms that are in dangerous conditions. They use hazardous equipment such as chainsaws for clearing trees, and machetes to expose the beans. Every strike of the machete has the possiblity to slice the flesh, causing severe cuts and infections. A majority of children have scars on their body from the equipment used. These farming regions also deal with high insect populations, and apply pesticides to spray the pods with large amounts of toxic chemicals. Many young children spray these chemicals without protective clothing, causing severe burns to the skin. They also have a large amount of snake infested feilds, with no footwear worn when working. Since these regions have no money to afford help from a co-operative, who can help increase ecological land techniques, they are stuck with dangerous environmental conditions.

The child slaves of these cocoa farms are surrounded by intense poverty, and a major amount begin work at a young age to help support their families, as well as living hood. Some of these children end up on the cocoa farms looking for jobs for money, and workers as well as traffickers deceive them, and tell them that the job pays well. Due to the lack of ecological land techniques to increase the growth of cocoa trees and farming support, the cocoa trees decrease in populations, which result in decreases of jobs and money. Children are then taken away to work in these farms, as they dont have to be paid, and can go through to adulthood, with no loss in workers.

Why is the use of child labour seen as a problem?

What is the work that children do in this industry?

What is the Harkin/Engel Protcol?

Child labour is seen as a violate to the ILO (International Labour Organization) standards. It includes illegal kidnappung of children from families in different regions and across borders, and forcing them to work in conditions and surrounding young children aren't capable of, and shouldn't work in. Young children shouldn't be deprived from their childhood. They should be recieving proper education, whole nutritious food meals, getting the love from their families, and living a happy life.

How can they be helped by "Fairtrade" or other similar groups?

These children are forced to spend long days tending the cocoa plants, clearing the cocoa trees and collecting the pods. A child's typical workday would begin ly as six in the morning to very late in the evening. Besides overworking, the farmers do not pay the childrem, neither do they feed them properly. They provide them with the cheapest food supplies available, such as braised banana and corn paste. Children would be locked up at night to prevent them from escaping. They would sleep on wooden planks or even on the ground, and have no access to clean water or sanitary bathrooms, A small tin can is what most children are given if any need to waste. Throughout the day, children would pack the pods into sacks that weigh over 45kg, and when full they would drag them through the feilds and forests to where they are being collected and exported.

In the year 2001, Congressman Eliot Engel introduced law-making alterations to fund the development of a "No child slavery" label for chocolate products sold in the United States. Tom Harkin became involved with the process, and changed the alterations, primarly creating the Protocol for the growth and process of cocoa beans on cocoa farms in West and Central Africa. Very little progress has been made to minimize slavery and child labour in the cocoa industry these days. The protocol was signed by 8 major companies, who acknowledged the problem of child labour in those regions, and agreed to eliminate the worst forms of child labour.

Fairtrade guarantees to supply fair prices for a livable income, to support families, maintain a proper living, and afford sustaining life items. Fairtrade provides $1/450g, and also give extra money after the season concludes. Fairtrade would also insure increases in ecological land management techniques, to preserve and maintain healthy and safe conditions during work. These include shade cultivation, composting, and reducing the use of toxins and chemcials, effecting the environmental growth and human body. Fairtrade also prohibits the use of forced labour and child slaves. A safety fund has also been provided called a "premium", whcih allows farmers develop safety facilities and have access to medical emergencies.

Who are these children and how old are they?

Bibliography

These slave children come from different regions of West and Central Africa, and even across the borders. Often, traffickers kidnap children from small villages in neighbouring African countries, such as Mali and Burkina Faso, two of the most indigent countries in the world. Once they have been brought and forced to work on these cocoa farms, these children may never see their families again. Most of these children are aged between 12 and 16, but there have also been significant reports that children are found labouring the crops as young as 5 years. 40% of these children are girls, whilst 60% are boys. Many girls stay for a few months, but leave as they look after their families and living. Most male farmers end up working the cocoa farms through to adulthood, as they are more capable and productive to deal with the work given, reasoning the large precentage of male workers.

60% of the children working on cocoa farms do not attend school. Preventing these children from an education, lead them with little hope of ever breaking poverty.

On average, cocoa farmers earn less than $2 per day, an income below the poverty line. Due to the result, they often use child labour to keep their prices high and competitive. Most adult farmers recieve no money at all from cocoa farming, so they have to leave to the city to find a better job, and recieve extra money for a living, and to support their family. If they were unsuccessful in finding a job, they would sell small food supplies and anything they have to make more money. Farmers only get about 1-7cents for each chocolate bar sold, even though 80% of the production was made by the farmers, not the companies. Many chocolate companies such as Nestle buy their cocoa from these farming communities, but many other chococlate companies who aslo get their chocolate from these farms do not pay the right income to these farmers, and raise the prices up on their bars when sold, making it highly unfair.

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