Chocolate’s bitter tasteForced, child and trafficked labour

in the cocoa industry.Australians have quite a sweet tooth. We love chocolate in all its forms; hot chocolate, chocolate bars,

chocolate sauce, chocolate milk, chocolate biscuits – we can’t get enough of the stuff! However, the sweetness quickly sours when we dig deeper into the story behind the chocolate we all enjoy.

Much of this cocoa is harvested in West Africa using some of the worst forms of child labour, child trafficking and other forms of labour exploitation. The global cocoa industry has known about this issue for many years and in 2001

made a commitment to eradicate it. However, labour exploitation still occurs in the cocoa industry today.

Key facts:• Australians consume between $1.3-$3 billion worth of chocolate a year.1

• Australia ranks ninth in global chocolate consumption per person beating the USA, Japan and Brazil.2

• The Ivory Coast and Ghana are the world’s two largest cocoa producers.3

• Approximately 95 percent of the chocolate sold today is not certified to be free from the use of forced, child or trafficked labour.4

Map courtesy of The General Libraries The University of Texas at Austin.

The cocoa supply chain can differ from company to company. In some cases companies have visibility over the whole process. Other companies outsource these different stages to external partners.

From cocoa farms to you

Cocoa farms: It is commonly reported

that forced, child and trafficked labour is used

on cocoa farms to help grow and harvest cocoa.

Cocoa buyers: Dealers or “middlemen” buy cocoa from farmers for a low

price and sell on to processors and exporters.

Exporters: Exporters buy cocoa beans from a network of local buyers and sell

on to processors.

Processors: Processors turn the raw

product into different cocoa products – such as cocoa

butter, cocoa powder and refined chocolate – which is then sold on to

different companies.

Manufacturers: Manufacturers package

cocoa products ready for distribution.

Retailers: Retailers sell cocoa

products to the public.

The issue

What is trafficking?Human trafficking is putting or keeping someone in an exploitative situation for profit. They are not free and they are exploited for profit over and over again. It is a serious crime and men, women and children can be trafficked.

Many children from neighbouring countries have been reported as trafficked into cocoa growing areas and forced to harvest the crop.9 Many people profit from this including brokers who arrange for the children to leave their home communities with promises of an education or better working opportunities; farm and business owners who profit from cheap labour; international companies who profit from cheap cocoa in their products; and consumers around the world who indirectly drive the demand for unethically sourced cocoa products.

What is child labour?Child labour is any kind of work that deprives a child of their childhood, their potential and dignity. It involves work that is harmful to their physical or mental development. Often this work interferes with their education by depriving them of the opportunity to attend or stay in school, or requiring them to combine school attendance with excessively demanding work.

In developing countries around the world it may be normal for children to help their parents on the farm or in the home, just like children in Australia. However as a result of extreme poverty, children often have to work long days where they are exposed to dangerous chemicals or equipment for little or no pay.

Across Ghana and the Ivory Coast, there are an estimated 1.5 to 2 million small cocoa farms.5

Farmers who do not own their land must give high proportions of their profits to the land owner, meaning little is left to pay for basic necessities like food, shelter and healthcare.6

Cocoa buyers often pay incredibly low prices to farmers. Hampered by limited bargaining power, farmers must accept whatever price they are offered.7

Often children must work to harvest cocoa to help support their families. Children as young as six years old work on cocoa farms under extremely hazardous conditions. Carrying heavy loads, using machetes to clear land and inhaling harmful pesticides are all in a day’s work.8

1. World Vision (2012) Our Guilty Pleasure: Exploitative Child Labour in the Chocolate Industry – 10 Years on From the Harkin-Engel Cocoa Protocol. Available from: https://www.worldvision.com.au/Libraries/Reports/WVAReport_Our_Guilty_Pleasure.sflb.ashx

2. http://www.sfu.ca/geog351fall03/groupswebpages/gp8/consum/consum.html

3. World Vision (2012) Our Guilty Pleasure:Exploitative Child Labour in the Chocolate Industry – 10 Years on From the Harkin-Engel Cocoa Protocol. Available from: https://www.worldvision.com.au/Libraries/Reports/WVAReport_Our_Guilty_Pleasure.sflb.ashx

4. Ten Campaign Briefing Paper, 19/09/2011 10 Years of Unfulfilled Promises to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labour in West Africa’s Cocoa Sector. Available from: http://www.10campaign.com/static/faq.pdf

5. Ten Campaign Briefing Paper, 19/09/2011 10 Years of Unfulfilled Promises to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labour in West Africa’s Cocoa Sector. Available from: http://www.10campaign.com/static/faq.pdf

6. Anti-Slavery International (2004) The Cocoa Industry in West Africa: A History of Exploitation. Available from: http://www.antislavery.org/includes/documents/cm_docs/2008/c/cocoa_report_2004.pdf.

7. International Labour Organization, About Child Labor. Accessed on 5 July 2012. Available from: http://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/lang--en/

8. International Labour Organization, International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). Accessed on 5 July 2012. Available from: http://www.ilo.org/public//english//standards/ipec/themes/cocoa/download/2005_02_cl_cocoa.pdf

9. International Labour Organization, International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). Accessed on 5 July 2012. Available from: http://www.ilo.org/public//english//standards/ipec/themes/cocoa/download/2005_02_cl_cocoa.pdf

What can you do?• Write to your favourite chocolate companies and ask them to do more

to eradicate forced, child and trafficked labour from their supply chain.

• Learn more about other products that may use child labour and ways you can help. Go to worldvision.com.au/buyethical

This guide lists chocolate products that are ethically certified and available in Australia. Information correct as at February 2015.

© 2015 World Vision Australia. World Vision Australia ABN 28 004 778 081 is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. Ref # 7590

Positive changes in the chocolate industrySince 2008, World Vision has been calling on the global chocolate industry to guarantee farmers a fair price for their cocoa and eliminate forced, child and trafficked labour from cocoa production.

The table below tells you which of the major chocolate companies in Australia are doing the most to end exploitation in the cocoa industry, by only using ethically certified cocoa in their products. To find out more click here.

Entire Australian product range uses ethical cocoa

Public timetabled commitment to the future use of ethical cocoa across entire Australian product range

Some of Australian product range uses ethical cocoa

Cadbury 7 7 3

Cocolo 3 3 3

Ferrero 7 3 7

Green & Black’s 3 3 3

Haigh’s 7 3 3

Lindt 7 3 7

Mars 7 3 3

Nestlé 3 3 3

The information contained in this scorecard has been sourced from a range of sources and, according to such sources, was correct at the time of publication (February 2015). However as this information is subject to frequent change, please refer to the relevant company, standard or certification website for current information. The information provided should not be considered an endorsement, or lack of endorsement of any company or product referred to by World Vision Australia