Child Slavery and Chocolate | Videos | Facts | Chocolate Industry Responses
source: http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/19/child-slavery-and-chocolate-all-too-eas...
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THE CNN FREEDOM PROJECT ENDING MODERN-DAY SLAVERY
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January 19th, 2012
12:03 PM ET
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Child slavery and chocolate: All too easy to find
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In "Chocolate's Child Slaves," CNN's David McKenzie travels into the heart of the Ivory Coast to investigate children working in the cocoa fields.
(More information and air times on CNN International.)
By David McKenzie and Brent Swails, CNN
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CLICK ON CNN LINK (at top) TO VIEW THREE VIDEOS
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Daloa, Ivory Coast (CNN) - Chocolate’s billion-dollar industry starts with workers like Abdul. He squats with a gang of a dozen harvesters on an Ivory Coast farm.
Abdul holds the yellow cocoa pod lengthwise and gives it two quick cracks, snapping it open to reveal milky white cocoa beans. He dumps the beans on a growing pile.
Abdul is 10 years old, a three-year veteran of the job.
He has never tasted chocolate.
During the course of an investigation for CNN’s Freedom Project initiative - an investigation that went deep into the cocoa fields of Ivory Coast - a team of CNN journalists found that child labor, trafficking and slavery are rife in an industry that produces some of the world’s best-known brands.
It was not supposed to be this way.
After a series of news reports surfaced in 2001 about gross violations in the cocoa industry, lawmakers in the United States put immense pressure on the industry to change.
“We felt like the public ought to know about it, and we ought to take some action to try to stop it,” said Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, who, together with Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, spearheaded the response. “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?”
But after intense lobbying by the cocoa industry, lawmakers weren’t able to push through a law. What they got was a voluntary protocol, signed by the heads of the chocolate industry, to stop the worst forms of child labor “as a matter of urgency.” 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 said.
It didn’t.
UNICEF estimates that nearly a half-million children work on farms across Ivory Coast, which produces nearly 40% of the world’s supply of cocoa. The agency says hundreds of thousands of children, many of them trafficked across borders, are engaged in the worst forms of child labor.
A recent study by Tulane University says the industry’s efforts to stop child labor are “uneven” and “incomplete” and that 97% of Ivory Coast’s farmers had not been reached. But the industry’s main representative in the country disagrees with the assessment.
“I think the situation has improved exponentially,” said Rabola Kagohi, country director for the International Cocoa Initiative, the chocolate industry’s answer to fighting child labor and trafficking. “Today, the message is physically getting through.”
Kagohi works out of a basement office with one other permanent employee.
“There are some results,” he said. “I wish that you had spoken to some planters.”
None of the farmers CNN spoke to in the heart of the cocoa production region said they had ever been reached by the International Cocoa Initiative, the government or chocolate companies about child trafficking.
Children such as Abdul don’t know anything about protocols or certification. All they know is work.
When Abdul’s mother died, a stranger brought him across the border to the farm. Abdul says all he’s given is a little food, the torn clothes on his back, and an occasional tip from the farmer. Abdul is a modern child slave.
And he is not the only youngster working in his group.
Yacou insisted he is 16, but his face looks far younger.
“My mother brought me from Burkina Faso when my father died,” he said.
Scars crisscross Yacou’s legs from a machete. He can’t clear grass in the cocoa fields without cutting himself. During harvest season, he works day after day hacking the cocoa pods.
The emotional scars run much deeper.
“I wish I could go to school. I want to read and write,” he said. But Yacou hasn’t spent a single day in school, and he has no idea how to leave the farm.
“It makes me angry,” Engel said. As far as he’s concerned, the chocolate companies haven't done enough.
“They are working with us, and we are glad that they are working with us. But they could do better.”
One of the major players in the Ivory Coast cocoa trade is, not surprisingly, the Ivorian government. Although the country has cornered a vast chunk of a lucrative market, it is considered one of the world’s poorest by any measure.
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 particularly, and more specifically to the cocoa industry,” said Ivory Coast’s minister of agriculture, Sangafowa Coulibaly. “Unfortunately, these years have been lost.”
After an attempted coup in 2002, the country was split in half and kept from all-out civil war by the United Nations. There was protracted violence after the last disputed presidential elections, when then-President Laurent Gbagbo refused to concede.
With the new government of Alassane Ouattara in charge, the government says it can now put much-needed reforms in place.
“Things can only get better,” Coulibaly said. “The main reason is that today, the political crisis is behind us, the armed conflict is behind us.”
But many observers believe that a new government won’t make it a priority to stop slavery in the cocoa fields.
And with peace, traffickers are free to do their work again. U.N. officials told CNN that the Ivory Coast conflict actually helped slow down trafficking because people were too afraid to move across borders.
Contrary to the promises of action, CNN’s investigation could only find promises. And those promises are empty to children like Abdul and Yacou.
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Post by: CNN's Brent Swails, CNN's David McKenzie
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Tremendous thread and thoroghness EV!! ^'d Of course. I've been away for months but it still seems I agree with you on all sorts of things...except being a vegan, it's against my nature!
- 4 months ago
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The_Wanderer_Kansas
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theknopfknows
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WE HAVE KNOWN THIS FOR YEARS WHY NOW?
CHOCOLATE A CORPORATE MONEY MACHINE OF ADDICTION! LIKE SUGAR!
Obama said he would NOT give aid to countries of Africa if child soldiers. At last minute; He changed His mind and promoted child soldiers. Just as Obama did by signing NDAA bill last day Of the year, last minute.THE BLACK FACE with white Mother didn`t help anyone in Africa look what happened in Libya in the end more Blacks slaughtered.PER PERSON MORE BLACKS IN USA JAILS, MORE LONG TERM SOLITARY CONFINEMENT FOR BLACKS NON-WHITES IN GTMO, so like a HOUSE NIGGER; who is castrated before he can work in the MASTER`s house, Sings out High voice, "WE OUGHT TO STAY TOGETHER" what A corporate puppet black Face White MOTHER from Kansas; sucking up to WHITE EUGENIC CORPORATIONS, a real CIA TROJAN HORSE!..... SHAME USA in the toilet,AGAIN!........GENERAL D.P: QUIETLY RUNS THE SHOW! - 4 months ago
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http://www.afrol.com/articles/36688
Afrol News...
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afrol News
21 January 2012.
Côte d'Ivoire
Child labour in Ivorian cocoa farms still unchecked
Child working at a cocoa farm in Côte d'Ivoire
© Intl Labour Rights Forum.
The abuse of trafficked children from Mali and Burkina Faso in the vast cocoa plantations of Côte d'Ivoire keeps going on unaddressed, despite repeated promises by the chocolate industry. In Ghana, the problem is decreasing.
Ever since 2001, the Chocolate Manufacturers Association (CMA) and the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) have pledged to voluntary programmes to fight the extensive use of child labour in Ivorian and Ghanaian cocoa plantations. In Côte d'Ivoire, little has happened, new research shows.
A large research effort by the US Payson Centre for International Development has been monitoring child trafficking and "worst forms of child labour" in the region for years. Its fourth annual report on child labour in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana's cocoa industry was presented yesterday.
The results are embarrassing for the industry, especially when it comes to Côte d'Ivoire.
The researchers in this report focused on the main recruitment areas of trafficked child labour for the cocoa sector; poor rural households in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali. They surveyed over 1,500 households and hundreds of children and youths that had worked on mostly Ivorian cocoa plantations.
The extensive survey clearly showed that Côte d'Ivoire is "the predominant destination for trafficked and migrant cocoa workers," while numbers trafficked to Ghana had become almost insignificant.
The average age of Burkinabe and Malians starting to work in Côte d'Ivoire was 15 - typically staying for 3.3 years - while the minimum working age in that country is 14. However, around 15 percent of those recruited said they were under 14 years old when first working in the Ivorian cocoa sector.
Asked how the children and youths were recruited to work on Ivorian cocoa farms, most responded that strangers had contacted them directly or through their parents. "The overwhelming majority of respondents moved to cocoa farms without their natural parents or guardians," the survey showed.
This, according to earlier studies, had made the children and youths especially vulnerable to exploitation. The children's crossing of the border to work abroad without their parents in legal terms meant th
Child labour on Ivorian cocoa farmThis vulnerability indeed was exploited, the Malian and Burkinabe children and youths confirmed in interviews with the researchers. "Virtually all respondents experienced the worst forms of child labour including: verbal, physical and sexual harassment and restrictions of their freedom of movement," the survey found.
Their young age was also abused to make the children perform hazardous work. "Virtually all respondents performed hazardous work including land clearing and burning, carrying heavy loads, spraying pesticides, and using machetes, among other dangerous activities," the researchers found.
All in all, the recruitment of Malian and Burkinabe children to Ivorian cocoa plantations was still performed at a very large scale and by illegal means, the survey found. Also, it was documented, worst forms of child labour practices, child abuse and hazardous work was still the absolute norm of child labour on Ivorian farms.
"It is clear from this report that the cocoa industry is not doing enough to address these problems," US rights and labour organisations today stated in response to the report. "The world's largest chocolate manufacturers must do more to monitor their supply chains to combat child labour, forced labour and human trafficking," they demand in a statement.
The Payson Centre researchers conclude that too little is being achieved through the global chocolate industry's voluntary initiatives. Therefore, they recommend that companies "institute traceability systems for their cocoa supply chains starting at or near the farm level and work with product certification schemes."
"All of the certification programmes operating in the West African cocoa sector should be reviewed to ensure that they appropriately identify and address child labour issues," they recommend. The report identifies major industry actors that had already made commitments in this area, which could serve as an example, they add.
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End Child Slavery
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http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/the-bitter-truth-about-chocolate.html
Treehugger...
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The Bitter Truth About Chocolate
February 1, 2007
[This is a guest post by Tex Dworkin of the Global Exchange Fair Trade Online Store -Ed.] This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Hershey's kiss, and yet a celebration is hardly in order. Why? Because with each bite, we are reminded that most chocolate sold in the U.S. comes from cocoa farms where farmers work in unsafe conditions, receive below poverty wages, many of them children under 14 years old who are forced to work and denied education.
With another Valentine's Day approaching, happy couples will wine and dine, showering each other with flowers, jewelry, and chocolate. Unfortunately, knowing where most chocolate comes from makes it hard to swallow!
It's 2007, and people are finally starting to question where the products they buy are made and whether the workers who made them were treated fairly. Sweatshop-free apparel is becoming hip, and Fair Trade coffee is at least a blip on the map. Yet chocolate is still being made with cocoa beans harvested by children in Africa working in unsafe conditions, while the average consumer has no idea this is going on.The truth behind chocolate is not-so-sweet. The Ivory Coast is the world's largest cocoa producer, providing 43% of the world's cocoa. And yet, in 2001 the U.S. State Department reported child slavery on many cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast. A 2002 report from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture about cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast and other African countries estimated there were 284,000 children working on cocoa farms in hazardous conditions. U.S. chocolate manufacturers have claimed they are not responsible for the conditions on cocoa plantations since they don't own them.
Chocolate comes from cocoa, and the cocoa supply is controlled by a small number of companies worldwide that are allowed to function with limited accountability. Hershey's and M&M;/Mars alone control two-thirds of the $13 billion U.S. chocolate candy market. The result? An industry marred with child slavery, unsafe working conditions and a cycle of poverty with no end in sight for cocoa farmers. Chocolate companies are not held accountable for sourcing practices, and despite their knowledge about the travesties that occur on cocoa farms, they lack the will to change.
The U.S. chocolate industry has faced multiple deadlines requiring new protocol, and yet little has changed. Under pressure from Congress, in the Harken-Engel Protocol, the U.S. chocolate industry agreed to voluntarily take steps to end child slavery on cocoa farms by July of 2005. This deadline has since passed, and the chocolate industry has failed to comply with the terms of this agreement.
So in July 2005, International Labor Rights Fund filed suit against Nestlé in Federal District Court on behalf of a class of children who were trafficked from Mali into the Ivory Coast and forced to work twelve to fourteen hours a day with no pay, little food and sleep, and frequent beatings. What was Nestlé's response to court questioning? "We are only buyers of a product."
There are a plethora of examples of company leaders who were publicly criticized for selling clothing lines manufactured by sweatshop workers, Kathy Lee Gifford and designer Jessica McClintock to name a few. Chocolate companies should be held accountable for the conditions of cocoa producers they buy from.
Consumers can hold chocolate companies accountable by choosing only Fair Trade Certified chocolate. It's easy to do. Simply look for TransFair USA's Fair Trade logo on the package. TransFair is the only third-party certifier of Fair Trade products in the U.S. Fair Trade Certified chocolate ensures that no forced or abusive child labor was used. If consumer demand for Fair Trade chocolate increases, perhaps chocolate companies will alter their practices. Thus, buying Fair Trade chocolate can put an end to the disastrous cycle of poverty and child endangerment.
It is estimated that Fair Trade chocolate represents less than 1% of the world's roughly $60 billion chocolate market. According to the Chocolate Manufacturers Association and National Confectioners Association, in 2005 more than 36 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate were sold for Valentine's Day. How many hours of exploited child labor went into those boxes of chocolate?
So what's a chocolate lover to do? Choose Fair Trade chocolate this Valentine's Day, a sweet deal for loved ones and cocoa farmers.
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EthicalVegan
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http://slavefreechocolate.org/
Slave-Free Chocolate...
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Posted on January 10, 2012
Out with the old antiquated website, in with the new one. The old site had a ton on content on it which most will be moved over shortly. We are working on some changes with this new platform. One being that we will have a much more effective How YOU can help area. Over the year we work one-on-one with individuals and small groups to help them design a campaign that works within their resources. For example, a high school student needing to do a report for current affairs can show Dark Side of Chocolate and pass out Fair Trade Chocolate along with their report. A church group may send out letters to their elected officials or to some big candy companies. Our experience over the years has allowed us to help create several templates that we soon have outlined on this site. This should all happen over the next few days
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CNN Freedom Project Series put some attention on the cocoa kids.
Posted on January 11, 2012Finally, the US media is giving some attention to this issue. On Jan. the 20th and 21st. CNN as part of their Freedom Project Series-Ending Modern Day Slavery will air a program illustrating the plight of the children that work in the cocoa fields of The Ivory Coast. I think even advertising this spot will do wonders. Here is a link to the story and I hope everyone has a chance to catch this.
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EthicalVegan
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EthicalVegan:
SLAVE-FREE CHOCOLATE...
Posted on January 13, 2012
Slave Free Chocolate’s new site is barely up but, we don’t want to waste time getting people geared up for this easy peasy campaing on Feb. 13th and 14th. We are looking for collaborators to help us outreach to their own networks and ask them to participate. There is static page on this site with this same content. If you would like to draw people to your site for the content, feel free to grab anything below.
In 1999 the US Department of Labor issued Executive Order 13126. “Prohibition of Acquisition of Products Produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labor,” was signed on June 12, 1999. The EO is intended to ensure that federal agencies enforce laws relating to forced or indentured child labor in the procurement process. It requires the Department of Labor, in consultation with the Departments of State and Homeland Security, to publish and maintain a list of products, by country of origin, which the three Departments have a reasonable basis to believe, might have been mined, produced or manufactured by forced or indentured child labor. Under the procurement regulations implementing the Executive Order, federal contractors who supply products on a list published by the Department of Labor must certify that they have made a good faith effort to determine whether forced or indentured child labor was used to produce the items listed. Please see about link for detailed information.
There is a “mistake” on this order in regards to chocolate. Cocoa beans from The Ivory Coast and Nigeria is listed. Yet, companies like Hershey’s, Cargill and ADM to name a few who buy Ivory Coast cocoa beans still supply our federal government with their chocolate. During my trip to capitol hill I found out why. The federal government doesn’t buy cocoa beans, it buy it’s derivative product chocolate. If that ins’t a bunch smoke and mirrors malarkey, then what is?
We believe that in order to be in line with its intention, these words need to be added: ”and its derivative products.” If the big candy players can no longer sell to the feds, it would really wake them up. Additionally, the bids for chcolate would go to ethical chocoalte companies!! What a great way to give them opportunity they deserve.
A powerful way to get our government in action is to appeal individually to our elected officials. It seems that if we all write the exact same letter with the exact same subject line (email or written), at the same time, then the offices of our public servants have to take note. Addressing the “mistake” in Executvie Order is something in their scope as a public servant.
It should take only about 15 mintues to send 3 emails. One to each of your Senators and one to your district Congressman on either Feb. the 13th or 14th. Here is a link that will lead you to the contact information of your politicians. Below is the letter. Please spread the word it’s a numbers game at this point. Thanks!!!!
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THE LETTER WE SHOULD ALL USE:
Subject: Put some love in Exec. Order 13126 this Valentine’s Day
Dear __________
As your constituent, I am writing you on behalf of DOL Executive Order 13126: “Prohibition of Acquisition of Products Produced by Forced or Indentured Child Labor”, signed on June 12, 1999. It’s wonderful that we live in a country concerned for the global welfare of children, unfortunately there is a mistake on this order that needs to be fixed.
Currently, listed is cocoa from Cote d’ Ivoire and Nigeria. For this to have any effect at all I would like to see the words “and its derivative products” included on that line. To my knowledge the federal government has never purchased raw cocoa beans, but it does, through procurement channels, purchase chocolate where the cocoa originated from the two countries in question. I personally see no ethical difference between the raw beans and chocolate.
If your office is unfamiliar with the current situation regarding worst forms of child labor situation in West Africa, may I suggest you take a look at Tulane’s latest Report on the Harkin-Engel Protocol.
Adding “and its derivative products” will mean that our federal government will have to shift purchasing to smaller chocolate companies that only use ethically sourced cocoa. I see that as a win for both the sake of the children and a bonus for the many small business that would love to have more opportunity for growth.
Thank you in advance for your help.
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EthicalVegan
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EthicalVegan
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http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/category/the-facts/the-number/
CNN...
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July 29th, 2011
04:08 PM ETA profitable enterprise
Ranking behind illegal drugs and arms trafficking, human trafficking is estimated to be the third largest international crime industry, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. It is believed to generate profits of an estimated $32 billion, according to a 2005 report from the International Labour Organization. Of that number, $15.5 billion is made in industrialized countries.
Post by: CNN's Christian Sabyan, Emily Smith and Manav Tanneeru
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June 17th, 2011
12:45 PM ETTrafficking and the U.S.
Between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the U.S. each year, according to a 2005 report from the U.S. State Department.
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June 1st, 2011
01:38 PM ETThe traffickers
According to a United Nations report, the recruiter in 54 percent of human trafficking cases was a stranger to the victim. In 46 percent of the cases, the recruiter was known to the victim. The U.N. report said that the “majority of suspects involved in the trafficking process are nationals of the country where the trafficking process is occurring.”
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CNN...
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May 4th, 2011
12:09 PM ETBetween borders
Globally, some 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year, according to a 2007 report from the U.S. State Department. Of that number, more than 70% are female and half are children. However, a 2009 United Nations report stated that around 20% of all trafficking victims are children.
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CNN...
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April 6th, 2011
12:29 PM ET
ShareThe Number: Average price of slave has decreased
The average price of a slave has decreased during the past 200 years, according to Kevin Bales, a leading abolitionist who has written several books about modern-day slavery.
In 1809, the average price of a slave was $40,000 when adjusted to today’s money. In 2009, the average price of a slave was $90, Bales says.
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http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/09/slavery-numbers/
CNN...
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07:41 AM ET
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The challenges of counting a 'hidden population'
By Manav Tanneeru, CNN
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Slavery still exists. Of that there isn’t much dispute, if any. But how widespread is what many experts call modern-day slavery?
Estimates range from about 10 million to 30 million, according to policymakers, activists, journalists and scholars.
The International Labour Organization, an agency of the United Nations that focuses on, among other things, labor rights, put the number at a “minimum estimate” of 12.3 million in a 2005 report.
Kevin Bales, a sociologist who serves as a consultant to the United Nations and has authored several books about modern-day slavery, estimated the number was 27 million people in his book “Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy.” The book was published in 1999.
There is yet another estimate. Siddharth Kara, a fellow on trafficking at Harvard University and also an author, recently told CNN that his calculations put the range between 24 million and 32 million. That number was current as of the end of 2006, he said.
There are several reasons behind the variance in numbers, said Ben Skinner, who published a book about modern-day slavery – “A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-day Slavery.”
“There are two big problems with the count,” Skinner, a Senior Fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University, said during a telephone interview. “The first is that the people we are counting are, by definition, a hidden population.
“The second problem is more of a theoretical one where the definitions are not in place. We don’t have a common definition still as to what slavery is.”
‘A hidden population’
Slave labor has been a part of civilization for much of history. It was practiced openly and its legality wasn’t much of a question. During the height of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, its scale was carefully documented.
Today, slavery is illegal in every country. Yet it persists, in secret, exploiting the poor and the marginalized – which poses immense challenges for legal authorities, activists and experts working to track the problem.
Skinner recounted a conversation he had with John Miller – the former State Department ambassador at large on modern slavery from 2002 through 2006 during the George W. Bush administration – about the inherent difficulty of counting a population that is difficult to find.
“These are not people that stand in line, raise their hands and wait for the census to be taken,” Miller told Skinner.
And, even when found, they may not want to be identified, Skinner said. “They are victims of a crime and that is still oftentimes missed as a crime,” he said.
The enslaved may be involved in prostitution or might be in a country illegally as a result of trafficking – activities that could land them in trouble with the law. So, they’d rather keep quiet about their condition, Skinner said.
“They are individuals who will be seen as perpetrators of a crime against the state rather than victims of a crime against humanity,” he said. “They are aware of that so they don’t self-identify.”
It also isn’t the easiest thing for observers to get data from countries about how big of a problem slavery is within their borders.
For example, South Asian countries will acknowledge problems with sex trafficking because of a perception that it’s not just a South Asian issue, Skinner said, echoing a theory from John Miller.
However, they may not be as forthcoming about their problems with debt bondage – when someone has to pay off a loan through work and may be trapped in the situation because the amount earned is too little to pay off the amount of money borrowed.
“There’s a self-perception that debt bondage is a rather embarrassing part of the continuing underdevelopment in parts of their countries,” Skinner said.
Definitions and divisions
Before you can count something, you have to define it, and a broadly accepted definition of what modern slavery encompasses has been elusive.
In 1926, a treaty signed in Geneva under the auspices of the League of Nations, the precursor to the U.N., defined slavery as “the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised.”
The ILO, in 1930, used the terms "forced or compulsory labor" to describe “all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.”
Roger Plant, who worked at the ILO from 2002 through 2009, said during a telephone conversation that forced labor is “when you get into work or service without the freedom of choice and you can’t get out of it without punishment or the threat of punishment."
Kevin Bales offered this description: “To me slavery means one person who is completely under the control of another person, that they use violence to maintain that control, they exploit them, make money out of them, and that the person just can’t walk away.”
There is, then, the term “human trafficking,” which is sometimes used interchangeably with the word “slavery.” According to the U.S. State Department, “human trafficking” describes “activities involved when one person obtains or holds another person in compelled service.”
The State Department says the term includes sex trafficking, forced labor and bonded labor. It also includes, among other things, the use of child soldiers and forced child labor.
The terms and their meanings seem straightforward, but the divisions come to light when legislators try to reconcile the definitions with their country’s situation.
“Within the trafficking community, there really isn’t a consensus on what slavery means,” Skinner said. “That’s harmful, that’s detrimental.”
The biggest consequence of incorrect data, not knowing the full scope of the problem or where it’s concentrated can lead to poor decisions on where to focus resources and how best to solve the problem, Skinner said.
“Slavery, on its face, is monstrous,” he said. “I think it’s important to be motivated by emotion but to, very quickly, come to the point of getting to the cold, hard business of figuring how best to free as many slaves as possible.
“Part of that is understanding how many slaves there are and understanding where they are."
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Post by: CNN's Manav Tanneeru
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http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/17/more-about-the-cnn-freedom-...
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More About the CNN FREEDOM PROJECT...
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Video
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February 17th, 2011
02:39 PM ETMore about The CNN Freedom Project
This year CNN will join the fight to end modern-day slavery and shine a spotlight on the horrors of modern-day slavery, amplify the voices of the victims, highlight success stories and help unravel the complicated tangle of criminal enterprises trading in human life.
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http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/17/how-to-help-slavery-in-the-...
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HOW CAN YOU HELP AS A CONSUMER?
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VIEW VIDEO ON HOW TO BUY ETHICAL CHOCOLATE
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January 17th, 2012
02:51 PM ET.
How to help: Slavery in the supply chain
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In "Chocolate's Child Slaves," CNN's David McKenzie travels into the heart of the Ivory Coast to investigate what's happening to children working in the cocoa fields. (More information and air times on CNN International.)
It's easy to say that human trafficking is a violation against basic human rights and that it should be abolished. And we often assume that modern-day slavery only takes place in countries far away.
But chances are, you have purchased, eaten, or have worn something tainted by slavery sometime in your life. Curious about what some of those connections might be? Calculate what some groups call your "slavery footprint" or check out Anti-Slavery International's interactive map of products, which includes something many of us love: chocolate.
Ten years ago, the world's biggest chocolate companies promised to get rid of child trafficking in the cocoa industry in West Africa, who produces much of the world's cocoa. But aid groups claim little has been done to end the worst forms of child abuse. (Check out more about the issue)
So, how can you prepare yourself as a consumer before you bite into that chocolate bar or sip some hot cocoa? Here are a few ways.
Organizations like the 10 Campaign offer some ideas for taking action, such as signing an online petition against trafficked-linked chocolate, sending a 10th birthday card to the Cocoa Protocol or writing a letter to you local member of Parliament, senator, representative or other government official.
If you're the type of consumer who likes to vote with your wallet, you can download the Fair Trade Finder app, here. The app for iPhone and Android shows you where to find your favorite Fair Trade Certified products.
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http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/17/chocolate-industry-response...
CNN...
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Earlier this week, CNN's Becky Anderson interviewed Nick Weatherill, the executive director of the International Cocoa Initiative, about the issue. (The ICI was set up by the protocol to bring all parties together to address the worst forms of child labor in the supply chain.)
WEATHERILL: The targets that were originally set were very, very ambitious, and I think as we've taken time to understand the complexity of the problem, when we start talking about social change and political change, as well, I think we will understand that those are not overnight processes that can take root, particularly in a country like Cote d'Ivoire.
At the same time, I think the progress that has been made - you refer to three percent of communities and so forth, this is the communities where we as ICI are working. These are - the role of ICI is, really, to be a catalyst, to demonstrate what can work and then to influence the actions of others to scale them up and apply them at a broader level.
And frankly, I think the conditions in Cote d'Ivoire for that scale-up just haven't been in place up until now.
ANDERSON: Sure. So, it's a failure.
WEATHERILL: It's not a failure. I think progress has been made and now, the question is, do we have the alignment of all the necessary factors to really sort of make the most of the momentum that we've gained?
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Watch more of this video by clicking on this CNN link:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2012/01/16/cfp-intv-nick-weatherill-intl-cocoa-initiative.cnn
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CONTINUED…
PART FOUR…
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CHOCOSUISSE:
Swiss chocolate manufacturers are working since years to improve social conditions for cocoa farmers in the producing countries. Most of our chocolate manufacturers have travelled with us to Ghana and Ivory Coast to become familiar with the social problems in those countries. They committed with a codex to have a cocoa procurement system governed by the following principles:
– We want to know where the cocoa beans we use were originally grown (the principle of traceability) and will take a close interest in the social conditions under which the cocoa farmers and their families live.
– We are committed to fair working conditions along the entire cocoa bean value chain from farming to retail trading.
– We disassociate ourselves from any form of abusive working practices. We will periodically seek assurances from our suppliers that the ILO Conventions relating to children – C138 (Minimum Age) and C182 (Definition of Abusive Working Practices) – are adhered to.
– We support projects which increase quality and productivity in the cocoa bean farming sector and which improve the social conditions for cocoa farmers and their families. Key concepts here are: training programmes for the cocoa bean farmers; the creation of a socially relevant infrastructure in terms of schools and basic medical care; and direct sourcing from producer cooperatives.
The Swiss chocolate industry recognises the social problems behind cocoa production in West Africa, problems which are rooted in the great poverty to be found in the production countries. The Swiss chocolate industry therefore hopes that its activities and the implementation of its projects will lead to improving the financial situation of the cocoa farmers and to making an effective contribution in the fight against poverty. Sometimes it is difficult to achieve results in the needed time, because it is not possible to work normaly (e.g. the civil war in Ivory coast).
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BLOMMER:
Today, Blommer Chocolate continues to provide leadership, guidance, and financial support in the industry wide effort to uphold appropriate labor practices. The Global Initiatives Group, the International Cocoa Initiative, and World Cocoa Foundation are all working with a variety of United States government bodies, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Department of Labor, as well as local West African governments and human rights advocacy groups are aggressively addressing this issue.
With funding provided by the chocolate industry along with public and private monetary support, these organizations are actively working in the farming communities. Educating farmers and their families on the newly established national guidelines on child labor and emphasizing the importance of school attendance. These programs have reached hundreds of thousands of farmers and their families. In 2009, Blommer along with other key industry members joined with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in creating the Cocoa Livelihoods Program. Over the next 5 years the 40 million dollar program will provide training to 200,000 farmers in West Africa in areas of farming technology, marketing and business skills, and child labor sensitization.
The industry’s efforts are comprehensive and sensitive to the cultural traditions of these regions. We will continue to work in concert with the local Governments, NGO’s and other stakeholders to help put the tools necessary to improve labor conditions into the hands of West African farmers.
Blommer has a long history of providing support to the cocoa growing community and is proud of the industry’s work on child labor over the past 10 years. This is a long term challenge and the work is not yet done. With that understanding, Blommer Chocolate will continue to help drive the reforms and provide the education necessary, so that every farmer family in the cocoa growing community can lead successful and productive lives free of the worst forms of child labor.
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The chocolate children
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Child slavery and chocolate
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CONTINUED…
PART THREE…
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NESTLÉ:
Discussed issue with CNN and directed CNN to this statement:
"NESTLÉ BELIEVES CHILD LABOUR HAS NO PLACE IN OUR SUPPLY CHAIN. WE HAVE FIRMLY COMMITTED TO ERADICATE UNACCEPTABLE PRACTICES". NESTLÉ ALSO NOTED THEY HAVE A PARTNERED WITH THE FAIR LABOR ASSOCIATION TO INVESTIGATE THEIR SUPPLY CHAINS IN WEST AFRICA – SAYING “WHERE THEY FIND EVIDENCE OF CHILD LABOUR, THE FLA WILL IDENTIFY THE ROOT CAUSES AND ADVISE NESTLÉ HOW TO ADDRESS THEM IN WAYS THAT ARE SUSTAINABLE AND LASTING.”
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ADM:
Referred CNN to an industry spokesperson.
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FERRERO:
Sent CNN this statement and referred CNN to an industry spokesperson
Ferrero continues its commitment through private partnerships with many projects to reach our goal in 2020 to source 100% of our cocoa certified as sustainable. We also continue our commitment within an industry-wide approach, i.e. through "the Framework of Action", signed in September 2010 which provides a "roadmap to remediation" that helps guide and refine the development of programs and interventions to create a measurable reduction in the Worst Forms of Child Labour. Our mutual goal – a 70% aggregated reduction in the Worst Forms of Child Labour in the cocoa sector of Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana – is ambitious but achievable – with a resolve and commitment by all partners to move forward.
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GUITTARD:
Referred CNN to an industry spokesperson
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BLOMMER:
Refused comment.
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CONTINUED…
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CONTINUED…
PART TWO…
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HERSHEY:
Sent CNN this statement and referred CNN to an industry spokesperson.
Reducing the worst forms of child labor is critical and requires the involvement of communities, farmer organizations, industry and governments. No single entity or initiative can solve this problem.
The Hershey Company has helped develop and lead all significant public and private programs related to the cocoa sector in West Africa for more than a decade. These initiatives include farming modernization, health, education, technology access and community well-being. Our goal is to increase farmer income, strengthe families and provide greater opportunity for children.
It's our hope that CNN will also include the perspectives of African cocoa farmers and government leaders who working to address these important issues every day.
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KRAFT-CADBURY:
Referred CNN to an industry spokesperson
Kraft Foods is working with others in the industry supporting the Harkin-Engel Protocol to work towards elimination of the worst forms of child labor in the growing of cocoa beans.
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MARS:
Directed CNN to this pre-written statement and referred CNN to an industry spokesperson
Mars Chocolate has always been and continues to be deeply concerned about the worst forms of child labor in West Africa. We don’t accept trafficking in any form and are working closely with others in the industry on a number of solutions. Children working alongside their parents or guardians at family farms is a part of many cultures, but when children perform dangerous tasks or are forced to work, it is utterly unacceptable. Lifting farmers out of poverty is the best way to enable communities to address labor issues and we are committed to do the hard work with governments and industry partners to achieve a permanent solution. In the past two years, we have been working in Cote d’Ivoire and elsewhere to address the cocoa sector’s challenges. Our goal in Côte d’Ivoire is to work with government, aid organizations, non-profits and peers to build a sustainable and profitable cocoa sector in that country.
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WORLD'S FINEST CHOCOLATE:
Referred CNN to an industry spokesperson
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BARRY-CALLEBAUT:
Sent CNN this statement and referred CNN to an industry spokesperson.
As a signer of the Harkin-Engel Protocol, we underscored our commitment as an industry member to work to support the eventual elimination of the worst forms of child labor in cocoa growing countries. As this is a complex problem and concerning not only us but the cocoa and chocolate industry as a whole, we are working in partnership with other companies, governments, NGOs and civil society.
A key partner for us and other cocoa and chocolate companies in this effort is the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI). I would very much like you to contact ICI since they can give you a holistic picture of what the industry as a whole has reached under the protocol, but also where more work has to be done.
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CONTINUED…
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CNN...
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The chocolate industry responds...
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January 17th, 2012
10:26 AM ET.
Chocolate industry responds
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PART ONE…
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In "Chocolate's Child Slaves," CNN's David McKenzie travels into the heart of the Ivory Coast to investigate children working in the cocoa fields. (More information and air times on CNN International.)
The Harkin-Engel Protocol, a cocoa industry-wide agreement signed in 2001, was written to put an end to forced child labor in chocolate by 2005. That deadline had to be extended to 2008, and again to 2010. It's now been more than 10 years.
Before the documentary, CNN asked the companies who signed the protocol for their response.
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CONTINUED…
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http://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/16/chocolate-explainer/
CNN
The Harkin-Engel Protocol...
More Videos
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January 16th, 2012
01:59 PM ET
.The human cost of chocolate
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In "Chocolate's Child Slaves," CNN's David McKenzie travels into the heart of the Ivory Coast to investigate what's happening to children working in the cocoa fields. More information and CNN International air times
It may be unthinkable that the chocolate we enjoy could come from the hands of children working as slaves. In the Ivory Coast alone, there are an estimated 200,000 children working the fields, many against their will, to create the chocolate delicacies enjoyed around the world.
More than 10 years ago, two U.S. lawmakers took action to put a stop to child labor in the cocoa industry. Despite pushback from the industry, the Harkin-Engel Protocol, also known as the Cocoa Protocol, was signed into law on September 19, 2001.
In an upcoming documentary, "Chocolate's Child Slaves," CNN's David McKenzie travels into the heart of the Ivory Coast - the world’s largest cocoa producer - to investigate what’s happening to children working in the fields, 10 years after the protocol was signed.
The CNN Freedom Project examined in September 2011 what effect this protocol has had over the years and also what some of the major issues are surrounding slave labor and the cocoa industry. Here's some of the background of that coverage reprinted:
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Where does cocoa come from?
Some 70 to 75 percent of the world's cocoa beans are grown on small farms in West Africa, including the Ivory Coast, according to the World Cocoa Foundation and the International Cocoa Initiative.
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Does Ivory Coast allow children to work on these farms?
No, child labor is illegal and since the implementation of the Cocoa Protocol in 2001, the chocolate industry along with governments and human rights groups have worked to end the practice. Yet, a 2007 UNICEF report estimates 200,000 children are involved in the worst forms of child labor on cocoa farms throughout Ivory Coast. Some are the children of cocoa farmers but many other youths are smuggled into Ivory Coast from Mali and Burkina Faso to work on cocoa plantations, according to the International Labor Rights Forum.
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What exactly is the "Cocoa Protocol"?
Ten years ago, U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, D-New York, and Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, introduced legislation mandating a labeling system for chocolate. After the industry raised concerns, a compromise was reached that required chocolate companies to voluntarily certify they had stopped the practice of child labor. The certification process would not involve labeling products "child-labor-free," as initially proposed.
Instead, it calls for public reporting by African governments, establishment of an audit system and poverty remediation by 2005. The deadline had to be extended to 2008 (read Fortune Magazine's report on the state of the protocol in 2008) and again to 2010. Today, many aid groups say some of the provisions have still not been met.
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So has the Cocoa Protocol had any success in ending child labor in the cocoa industry in the past 10 years?
It's hard to say. Ivory Coast has had further economic problems following its civil war from 2002 to 2004. Chocolate exporters and manufacturers say the war and its aftermath have hampered their efforts to eradicate child labor.
"Honestly, it's hard to see anybody saying that this protocol has attained the goals that were set out in it," said Judy Gearhart, executive director of the International Labor rights forum.
Chris Bayer, a Tulane University researcher, spent five years in the Ivory Coast and Ghana monitoring the protocol's plan and studying the scope of the problem.
"Unfortunately, over the last 10 years we have seen very little implementation of the actual commitments," he said. "Industry did not live up to the Harkin-Engel protocol. The issues are systemic. Children are still working."
The International Cocoa Initiative was set up by the protocol to bring all parties together to address the worst forms of child labor in the supply chain. The ICI board has representatives from the major cocoa processors and chocolate manufacturers. It says progress is being made.
"Five of the six commitments made in the protocol have been completed," the group said in an e-mail statement at the 10-year anniversary of the protocol. "And governments of cocoa producing countries, ILO, the OECD, independent foundations, members of the cocoa supply chain and ICI itself are ACTIVELY working on the sixth commitment - to improve the livelihoods of cocoa growers the infrastructure in cocoa communities farmers organizations, educational facilities etc. Substantial funds are being expended on these activities."
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Child slavery and chocolate
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The chocolate slaves
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Stop Chocolate Slavery
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