A New Kind of Chocolate Bar
by Tony Maddalone
October 2006
A new bar just opened in New York City. You don’t need to be twenty-one years old to be served there, because it’s a chocolate bar. Israeli restaurateur, Max Brenner’s new chocolate bar in Union Square serves only chocolate. “People love chocolate. It makes them smile. I believe the happiness it causes does magic things for your health,” says Brenner. Unfortunately, there is very little happiness, magic or smiling for the child slave laborers in the cocoa fields of the Ivory Coast; the children who are harvesting the cocoa that goes into the truffles, fondues and chocolate bars.
Forty-three percent of the cocoa used in chocolate comes from the Ivory Coast of Africa. In 1998, the International Labor
Organization conducted an investigation on the labor practices in the cocoa fields of Africa. What they uncovered was shocking and bittersweet. Most of the labor on the cocoa fields was done by children from as young as nine up to sixteen. It is estimated that there are up 15,000 children working as slaves on the cocoa farms.
The children are often sold by their own families or tricked into slavery. Parents in very poor countries such as Mali, Faso, Burkino and Togo sell their children to traffickers, hoping that they will get an honest job and be able to send some money home to the family. The children are taken and then subjected to cruel and inhumane conditions. They don’t get paid for their labor. They are forced to work long days that start at 6:00 in the morning. They pick the cocoa pods, slice them open and scoop out the cocoa beans. They are exposed to intense heat and dangerous pesticides. Their day doesn’t end until 6:30 at night. They are not feed properly. Their meals are usually only fried bananas or just corn paste. They are locked up at night in a tiny room (only twenty by twenty-four feet) with only a small hole in it for air along with eighteen other slave workers and forced to sleep on wooden boards. They are beaten if they don’t work hard enough or try to escape.
Aly Diabate was eleven years old when he was tricked into working on a cocoa farm. He was from a very poor family in Mali that really needed the $150 he was promised. Once he arrived on the farm, he was treated like a slave and was never paid. “The beatings were a part of my life,” said Aly. “Anytime they loaded you with bags [of cocoa] and you fell while carrying them, nobody helped you. Instead, they beat and beat you until you picked it up again.” Aly still has scars from the bicycle chains that were used to beat him. Another sad fact is that most of these children, who labor hundreds of hours to produce just a pound of chocolate, have never even tasted it.
One of the main factors leading to the problem of child slave labor in the Ivory Coast is the low income of cocoa producers. It is estimated that the average cocoa producing family has an annual income of $30 to $100 per family member. It is impossible for a family to meet its needs on such a low income level. They are not getting enough money for their cocoa. That is due to the unstable pricing of cocoa. In addition, cocoa producers only get half of the market price. They are exploited by unethical middlemen. The farmers are forced to cut their labor costs and resort to using “free” child labor just to sustain a low level of living.
Another factor is the extreme poverty of nearby countries. Families from countries such as Mali, one of the poorest countries in the world, have no choice but to sell their children in hopes of getting some income. This situation continues a terrible cycle of poverty. The child slave laborers are not getting an education and consequently not getting any hope of improving their life.
Sadly, the United States imports the majority of the cocoa produced on the Ivory Coast, which is used in the production of chocolate candy by most of the major manufacturers. The biggest chocolate manufacturers, Hershey’s and M&M/Mars use cocoa from the Ivory Coast of Africa. The other companies thought to use the child slave labor cocoa are Ben & Jerry’s, Godiva, Kraft, Nestlé, See’s and Toblerone. Although none of these companies condone child slave labor, they have not stopped buying the “tainted” cocoa.
After the horrors of child slave labor on the cocoa farms of the Ivory Coast were exposed to the world in 2001, the chocolate industry implemented a program to monitor and control the labor conditions. The Chocolate Manufacturers’ Association proposed the Harken-Engle Protocol, which was based on a bill sponsored by Congressman Eliot Engel and Senator Thomas Harkin. The Protocol suggests the implementation of labor standards and better reporting and monitoring of labor conditions. The goal was to establish a system by 2005 that would allow chocolate to be produced from cocoa that was not farmed by child slave labor. The July 2005 deadline has passed and very little has been done to improve the situation. A foundation was started by some chocolate manufacturers to work with other organizations to “save” and educate the child laborers. The impact of this has been minimal. Some believe that the chocolate manufacturers really don’t want to do anything about the problem, because if the child slave labor stopped, the price of cocoa and chocolate would rise. This could have a negative affect on profits. The chocolate industry says they need three more years to certify that half of the Ivory Coast is not using child slave labor.
Many are not willing to wait that long. On July 14, 2005, International Labor Rights Foundation (ILRF) along with some civil rights firms filed a lawsuit against Nestlé and other chocolate manufacturers. The charges are that Nestlé has knowingly been involved in the trafficking, torture and forced labor of children on the cocoa farms in Africa. The complaint also charges that Nestlé is guilty of misleading the public. They have done nothing concrete to prevent the use of child labor on cocoa farms but they led the public and their stockholders to believe that they have. The plaintiffs in the case are three children from Mali who are representing all of the Malian child slaves. Nestlé and other chocolate manufacturers argue that they don’t buy cocoa directly from the Ivory Coast. They buy the cocoa from middlemen such as Cargill and ADM that purchase the cocoa from slave and non-slave farms. The final cocoa product is a mix. Nestlé has no way of knowing if the cocoa is coming from the farms using slave labor. They also argue that putting pressure on chocolate manufacturers to stop buying cocoa from the Ivory Coast would only hurt the poor families there. A boycott on cocoa would also only financially hurt them even more.
Fair Trade cocoa is one option to help put an end to child slave labor in the Ivory Coast. Fair Trade is a group from Bonn, Germany that uses a system of global monitoring and certification. Under the Fair Trade Labeling Organization, cocoa farmers are given a higher price for their cocoa and they allow their farms to be inspected regularly. Therefore, the farmers have a sufficient income to support their families and follow fair labor practices. Purchasing only Fair Trade certified chocolate is a way of helping to put an end to child slave labor in Africa. Cadbury is one of the few chocolate companies that has taken a strong stand against child slave labor and actively supports Fair Trade.
Unfortunately, only 1.3% of chocolate exports come from Fair Trade certified farms that are free of child slave labor. The big name manufacturers need to take a stand and actively purchase Fair Trade cocoa, as well. In addition, there are laws in the United States that prohibit the importing of goods made with “forced or indentured child labor”. We just need to enforce the existing laws. The biggest impact on putting an end to the slave labor in the Ivory Coast will come when the large US chocolate manufacturers use their money and power to change the situation.
Americans spend thirteen billion dollars a year on chocolate. It’s not likely that the demand for chocolate will decline, even with the new awareness of the child labor problem. But perhaps, if you stop into Max Brenner’s chocolate café in New York City for a cup of hot chocolate, which is served in a “hug mug” (oval-shaped cups tapered at one end so customers can affectionately cradled them in their hands), you will think about the child behind the cocoa. Hopefully, the United States will wrap its arms around the ongoing problem of child slave labor in the world and make a difference.
Sources Used:
http://www.american.edu/TED/chocolate-slave.html
http://www.laborrights.org/projects/childlab/cocoa.htm.
http:www//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060929/od_nm/restaurant_chocolate1_dc
http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/Forbes/2006/04/24/1389402
http://www.globalexchange.org/cocoa.gxWinter2002.html
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Mariko Curran