Slavery and exploitation in cocoa trade

By Tim Costello, Brisbane; Courier Mail, 19 March, 2008

It is almost unthinkable to have Easter without Easter eggs. This year we will spend more than $200 million on them.

And as a father of (now grown-up) children, I have witnessed over many years the joy they bring. Yet there are hundreds of thousands of other children who are profoundly effected by Easter eggs and not for the better.

They are the children who work in the cocoa plantations of West Africa – they toil to produce cocoa that goes into the 924,000 tonnes of chocolate Australians eat each year.

It is estimated that in the West African nation of the Ivory Coast alone more than 600,000 children work on cocoa fields. Research in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, which together make up 60 per cent of the world's cocoa, reveal up to 80 per cent of children in the cocoa fields are being exposed to dangerous practices such as unprotected use of chemicals, carrying heavy loads, brush burning and using machetes. About half of these children do not go to school.

There is also evidence of children being trafficked. The study estimated up to 12,000 children had been trafficked for cocoa in West Africa. I have just returned from West Africa where I have seen the problem. I have seen the mug shots of the traffickers; spoken to children, cocoa farmers, authorities and local organisations desperately trying to help trafficked and exploited children. It was an experience that saddened me but also made me determined to do all I can to change the plight of these children.

It is difficult to estimate the scope of trafficking of children for cocoa in the Ivory Coast but what evidence police have uncovered reveals it is a sophisticated network involving fake identity papers and established smuggling routes. The trafficked child will often live with the cocoa farmer's family but as a second-class citizen. That child won't go to school, won't get paid and will do the dirtiest and most dangerous work on the cocoa field. World Vision Australia has launched the Don't Trade Lives campaign, designed to focus public attention on the modern-day trafficking and enslavement of people across the world.

More than 200 years after British parliamentarian William Wilberforce successfully campaigned for the abolition of state-sanctioned slavery – slavery still exists. It is estimated that trafficking enslaves 27 million people worldwide today.

In September 2001, members of the chocolate industry signed a voluntary protocol – the Harken Engel Protocol – to establish credible standards of public certification that ensured cocoa production was free of the worst forms of child labour practices in Ivory Coast and Ghana.

This process was to be completed by July 2005. The industry failed to meet this deadline and it has now extended to July 2008. It is also critical that manufacturers outline a plan of action by Christmas to ensure the chocolate we eat is free of human exploitation.

We don't want people to stop eating chocolate or to boycott some brands; this will only further hurt the children we are trying to help. But consumers must send a message to chocolate makers that they are watching.

To help people make the right choice, World Vision had made available a "Good Chocolate Guide". People can also find out more about this problem and what action they can take at www.donttradelives.com.au.

Chocolate and Easter eggs bring so much joy to children in Australia but let's do all we can to ensure it doesn't continue to bring misery to children on the other side of the world.

Tim Costello is chief executive of World Vision Australia.

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