The dark secret of chocolate

Transcription

Report
No.
12
The dark secret of
chocolate
A report on the working conditions
on the cocoa farms of West Africa
SwedWatch
SwedWatch
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SwedWatch is a non-religious and non-political voluntary organization. Its mission is to review
the trade and activities of Swedish companies in developing countries, in order to reduce
unsatisfactory social and environmental conditions. SwedWatch has five member
organizations: Church of Sweden, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, Fair Trade Center,
Education for Aid Activities/Latin America and Friends of the Earth Sweden.
The Church of Sweden works for a just world without hunger, poverty and oppression. The
Church of Sweden works to exert an influence on public opinion, and works with
development cooperation and emergency relief work together with local partners in around
40 countries.
West Africa
Atlantic Ocean
(Ivory Coast)
Title: The dark secret of chocolate.
Cover photo: Issouf Sanago/Pressens bild.
Authors: Örjan Bartholdson and Mats Valentin, SwedWatch.
May 2006.
Website: www.swedwatch.org
This document has been published with financial support from Sida, but Sida has not
participated in the design nor does it take a position on the content of the document.
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Preface
Chocolate and cocoa comprise a product that clearly links consumption patterns in the
North with working conditions for farmers and farm workers in the South. For most
Swedes, various types of chocolate products are a source of pleasure and joy. But for
many farmers and farm workers, cocoa production is associated with terrible working
conditions, poor wages and major health risks.
Several organisations working with development cooperation and human rights have
drawn attention to the serious situation. In 2000 and 2001 several alarming reports
showed that children were suffering on the cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast. These
promoted a reaction from both cocoa companies and political decision-makers, but
progress is slow and major problems remain. Our report confirms that there have only
been marginal improvements in conditions so far, and that the working conditions for
thousands of workers and farmers are totally unacceptable.
The Church of Sweden is positive to the initiatives taken by the chocolate-producing
companies as a result of the Harkin-Engels Protocol. However, we feel that the
problems are still so serious, and that the progress towards improved conditions is too
slow, that the problems must be given a higher profile in Swedish public debate than
has been the case so far.
We feel it is important that attention is drawn to child trafficking and the use of child
labour on the farms, but it is also important to highlight the problem from a broader
perspective of worker rights. The discussion and measures must be based on the
working conditions of both the child workers and the older workers, which is what the
report tries to illustrate.
We hope that the report will stimulate a discussion about how companies and
consumers can improve the conditions for those people working in cocoa production.
May 2006
Karin Lexén
Policy Manager, Church of Sweden
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Contents
Summary
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Part 1: The dark secret of chocolate
1.2 Cocoa cultivation
1.3 Trends in the price of cocoa – a bad deal for the farmer
1.4 Work on the cocoa farms
1.5 Child labour and child trafficking in West Africa
1.6 Poverty creates child labour
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Part 2: Environmental problems
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Part 3: The tough conditions in the Ivory Coast
3.1 The Ivory Coast – a country in conflict
3.2 Cocoa – a crop used in the conflict
3.3 The Ivory Coast’s trading structure
3.4 Human rights and labour rights in the Ivory Coast
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Cocoa is harvested regularly, and the harvest takes place all year round. Machinery cannot be
used during the harvest, because the fruits on the same tree ripen at different rates. The ripe
pods are cut down with machetes. After just over a week, the pods are opened, and the wet
cocoa beans are removed for drying. They are then packed in sacks for export to the buyers,
who are mainly in Europe and USA.
Photo: Issouf Sanago/Pressens bild.
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3.5 Child labour on the farms in the Ivory Coast
3.6 Forced labour
3.9 Pesticides
3.10 The difficult conditions for the workers
3.11 Interviews with cocoa workers
3.12 Interviews with owners of the cocoa farms
3.13 Conclusion: the vicious cycle in the Ivory Coast
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Part 4: The problems in Ghana
4.1 Trading structure in Ghana
4.2 Human rights and labour rights in Ghana
4.3 Incidence of child labour
4.5 Working conditions
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Part 5: Initiatives to reduce child labour in cocoa production
5.1 American proposal for legislative amendments forces the companies
to take action
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Part 6: What are the chocolate companies doing to reduce the problem
6.1 Cloetta Fazer
6.2 Kraft Foods
6.3 Nestlé
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Part 7: Initiatives to improve the farmers’ situation
7.1 Fairtrade/Rättvisemärkt and KRAV-labelled chocolate
7.2 Cooperatives
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Conclusion
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Recommendations
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Footnotes
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References
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Appendix 1 – Comments by the companies
Comments by Cloetta Fazer
Comments by Kraft Foods
Comments by Nestlé
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Summary
We see positive messages about chocolate everywhere, and the health-enhancing
properties of cocoa are lauded. This is mainly due to the skilful marketing of chocolate
products in Sweden by the chocolate companies. Advertisements, articles and features
in newspapers and on radio and TV promote all the positive benefits of chocolate.
But chocolate has a dark side that seldom reaches the media. People producing the
cocoa used in the chocolate sold in Sweden are often forced to work in very difficult
conditions. Many of these are children and young people. In cooperation with the
Church of Sweden through Church of Sweden, SwedWatch has carried out a survey of
the working conditions on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast and Ghana.
Responsibilities of the chocolate companies
The survey shows that the chocolate companies operating in Sweden, Kraft Foods,
Nestlé and Cloetta Fazer, cannot guarantee that their products are produced in a way
that respects human rights. The conditions for both farmers and workers are worst in
the Ivory Coast.
Kraft Foods products include the well-known chocolate brands of Marabou,
Toblerone, Twist, Dajm and Japp. Cloetta Fazer’s products include Dumle,
Kexchoklad, Geisha and Plopp, while Nestlé markets After Eight, Kit Kat and
Smarties.
A fundamental reason why people working on the cocoa farms are so vulnerable is that
the farmers are paid too little for their cocoa. This has serious repercussions for both
the farmer and the workers. Small-scale farmers grow nearly 90 percent of all the
cocoa produced in the Ivory Coast, on farms of less than five hectares. The situation is
the same in Ghana.
Profitability is very low. The price of cocoa beans has fallen drastically since the
1980s, and is now only a quarter of what it was 20 years ago. One of the strategies that
the cocoa farmers employ to try to survive the crisis is to force down the price of
labour as much as possible.
Children exploited on the farms
What have attracted most attention in the media are the children working under
slavery-like conditions on the cocoa farms. However, children that suffer on the
farms comprise only a small part of the workforce. Most of the people living in
very difficult conditions on the farms are men over 18 years old. Virtually all
measures taken by international associations, states and non-governmental
organisations are aimed at reducing hazardous child labour, and the situation for
normal workers has been overlooked, which is a problem. Mechanisms must be
found that respect the rights of both groups. This report also shows that many
adults started working as children and then continued into adult life. The
vulnerability of the children, young people and adults on the cocoa farms
comprises an integrated whole.
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An intensive international debate has considered the actual scale of child trafficking.
However, such a discussion risks concealing the social and economic structures
relating to child labour. By all accounts only a small proportion of the child workers
are sold by professional traffickers. Many young people under 18 years of age move
voluntarily to earn money for the family and themselves. Often a relative or friend
has told them what to do and whom they should contact. The majority of those
interviewed in the SwedWatch survey report they were recruited by a representative
from a farm, usually a relative, who then arranges transport to the farm. There are
also professional agents that smuggle groups of people from Mali and Burkina Faso
in to the Ivory Coast and Ghana, and then deposit them at different cocoa farms.
Regardless of how the children and young people end up on the farms, they can get
into trouble. The biggest problems are the lack of formal agreements and all forms of
monitoring, so they are totally unprotected. Many of the children and young people
are related to the owners of the farms, which usually means they are treated a little
better than those that have no ties to the owner at all.
The worst problems on the cocoa farms
Hazardous child labour
Hazardous child labour occurs primarily on farms in the Ivory Coast, but also in
Ghana. However, this is a highly sensitive issue politically, and international reports
and organisations describe the phenomenon differently. Both the Ivory Coast and
Ghana have ratified ILO Convention No. 182, in which the countries undertake to
ensure that children do not work with activities that jeopardise their health.
According to a recent survey, involving and funded by the chocolate industry, just
over 200,000 children and young people work under hazardous conditions in the
Ivory Coast.
Unlike Ghana, the Ivory Coast has ratified ILO Convention No. 138 about the
minimum age for employment. This convention states that children under 14 may not
be employed, and children under 18 may not work with activities that jeopardise
health. However, surveys by SwedWatch and other organisations indicate that this
convention is not applied.
The work on the farms is strenuous, and the heavy lifting can cause skeletal and
muscular injuries. Furthermore, many children are seriously injured when they work
with machetes. Another problem is that the children often handle dangerous
pesticides, and without safety equipment. No safety equipment was available on any
of the farms that were included in the SwedWatch survey. In addition, hours of work
are seldom regulated.
Trafficking of children, young people and adults
Trafficking and smuggling of workers to the cocoa farms occurs in both the Ivory
Coast and Ghana. The workers come mainly from the neighbouring countries of
Burkina Faso and Mali.
However, the most common procedure is that agents know both the farm owner and
people in the villages where they recruit labour. The main reasons why children and
young people look for work on the cocoa farms are the low standard of living in the
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neighbouring countries, and the need to generate income for both themselves and
for their families. In the work to improve the situation for children and young
people, it is important to consider all forms of recruitment, and not to focus simply
on trafficking.
Vulnerability of the migrant workers
The majority of the workers on the cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast are foreign nationals,
mainly from Burkina Faso and Mali. These workers often lack formal residence permits
in the country, so they are very vulnerable. It also makes it difficult to fulfil the
requirement to give them formal employment contracts. The armed conflict in the Ivory
Coast has further exacerbated their situation. The government has claimed that many of
the migrant workers are allied with the rebel forces in the northern part of the country,
so they are exposed to reprisals from the government forces. Many workers and even
farmers have been forced to return to their home countries. This problem affects adults,
as well as children and young people.
Forced labour
By all accounts, forced labour occurs on the cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast. ILO, the
UN body for labour rights, defines forced labour as work or service demanded of a
person under threat of punishment. Some of the people interviewed in the SwedWatch
survey said they had experienced this. The most usual way of preventing workers from
leaving a farm is, quite simply, that they are not paid until after one year, so they do not
want to, or cannot, leave the farm in spite of poor treatment.
Many workers interviewed by SwedWatch said that they had been punished in
various ways when the employer was dissatisfied with them. An example is that
employers have refused to give food to people that were ill.
Employers commonly pay for travel and bribes so that the workers can come to the
farms in question from one of the neighbouring countries. They have then deducted
these costs from the workers’ wages, which is not always agreed upon in advance.
Pesticides
The farmers and workers interviewed report that they have not been given any training
in handling pesticides. Some say that the person selling the pesticide has provided
information. The workers also say that they use the chemicals without any safety
equipment at all, i.e. no gloves and facemasks. This causes both serious accidents and
chronic injury from toxins.
Many of those people interviewed on the farms in Ghana deny that
children are used as labour when pesticides are being used, except when
they fetch water to mix with the pesticides. Others say that they use child
labour in all phases in the cultivation of cocoa, including those having to
do with pesticides. A conclusion from this is that the children used for
fetching water are probably also exposed to the pesticides when they walk
through the sprayed areas.
In the Ivory Coast, all the respondents report that they work with pesticides, and
several say that they became ill afterwards. None of them had used safety equipment,
nor had they received medical treatment.
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One of the pesticides that the workers say they have used is Paraquat. This
substance is very hazardous, both for people and the environment. Eye injuries,
skin rashes and nosebleeding are common among those that work with the
substance. Paraquat attacks the lungs and can, at worst, cause death through
suffocation. Paraquat also accumulates in the ground, so the groundwater can be
contaminated.
Lack of formal contracts
Workers that SwedWatch interviewed in the Ivory Coast and in Ghana have no formal
contracts. Consequently, it is difficult for the workers to claim breach of contract.
They are not paid overtime, even if the agreed hours of work are exceeded. There is no
regulation of working conditions, no social protection, and no guarantee that the
workers are paid the amount agreed with the employer at the start.
Difficult to organise themselves collectively
For several decades, both Ghana and the Ivory Coast have been among the countries
ratifying ILO Conventions No. 87 and No. 98 about the right to organise and bargain
collectively. However, this does not seem to have led to any tangible improvements
for the workers engaged in cocoa production.
The interviewed workers in both Ghana and the Ivory Coast said they had never heard of trade
unions. In Ghana, the TUC trade union tried to organise farmworkers, but had not succeeded in
covering the whole of the country. Furthermore, the farm workers often felt that they had no time
and opportunity to take part in the work of the trade unions.
Workers do not seem to be organised at all in the Ivory Coast, so there is no party
to represent them in disputes or in different fora.
Salaries too low to live on
The workers themselves say that their biggest problem is the low pay, which is inadequate to
support themselves and their families. SwedWatch’s survey also shows that the employers often
pay a lower wage than that agreed at the start. The lowest wages are paid to the children and young
people that work on the farms.
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What is being done to improve the situation
The alarming reports in 2001 about children suffering on cocoa farms in the Ivory
Coast helped to force both cocoa companies and political decision-makers into
action. The chocolate industry, the governments of the United States and the Ivory
Coast, and human rights organisations agreed on an action plan, the Harkin-Engel
Protocol, to improve the poor conditions. The action plan contained five datespecific goals that were to be attained. The most important targets were to conduct a
thorough survey of the scale of the problem and to develop a monitoring and
certification system for cocoa production that was completely independent of the
chocolate industry. This system was to be in place by 1 July 2005. The aim was that
inspectors were to make random inspections of cocoa farms, in order to guarantee
that the cocoa was produced under acceptable working conditions.
Cocoa’s route to the consumer is complicated. At present, a series of interim stages
between the chocolate manufacturers and the cultivators makes it difficult to trace the
cocoa back to a specific farm. This is one of the reasons for the delay in the
introduction of an overall monitoring and certification system. According to the latest
information, this will not now come into effect until 1 July 2008. The UN body for
labour rights, ILO, is the advisor to the Protocol.
In 2002 the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) foundation was set up, based in Geneva.
The foundation includes both the international cocoa and chocolate industry and
human rights organisations. The main purpose is to work to eliminate the worst forms
of child labour in cocoa production (ILO Convention No. 182). This is to be done
through monitoring work in the field in West Africa and through political lobbying.
ICI has also started pilot projects in the Ivory Coast and Ghana that are to serve as
models for sustainable and just production of cocoa. ILO’s programme for eliminating
child labour, IPEC, supports ICI with resources, advice and statistical data.
The Swedish chocolate producers are helping to develop the monitoring system
described above through their membership of the trade organisation, CAOBISCO. This
organisation is one of the driving forces in developing the monitoring and certification
system, which has been postponed until 1 July 2008. However, the Swedish chocolate
industry lacks control over the conditions on the cocoa farms.
Several non-governmental organisations are also working actively to improve the
situation for those children working on the cocoa farms. Save the Children Canada has
devoted a lot of resources to the problem, and has conducted lobbying activities in an
attempt to help the different parties keep to the time schedule for the action plan
specified in the Harkin-Engel Protocol.
Sustainable Tree Crops Programme is an institute formed by countries and the
chocolate industry. It runs projects aimed at increasing the cocoa farmers’
understanding of sustainable cultivation, so that they can increase their income. The
programme does this through training courses for cocoa farmers, the Farmer Field
Schools. Farmers achieving greater profitability can, for example, treat their
workforce better and reduce the use of child labour. The Sustainable Tree Crops
Programme works under the auspices of the International Institute for Tropical
Agriculture.
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Both Save the Children Canada and the UN children’s rights organisation, UNICEF,
are engaged in projects in Burkina Faso and Mali aimed at preventing children and
young people being exploited on the cocoa farms of the Ivory Coast and Ghana.
Even if most human rights associations feel that the Harkin-Engel Protocol is a step in the right
direction, they stress that the main reason why people suffer on the cocoa farms is that the farmers
are paid too little for their cocoa.
One of the recommendations of SwedWatch and The Church of Sweden is that the
chocolate companies must try to create an interim monitoring system for production
in the Ivory Coast and in Ghana, before the international monitoring and certification
system comes into effect on 1 July 2008.
A complete list of SwedWatch’s and Church of Sweden’s recommendations is
presented later in the report.
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Part 1: The dark secret of chocolate
Chocolate is one of the joys of life. There are many myths about the properties of the
cocoa bean and, through the centuries, it has been used both as medicine and as an
aphrodisiac. Carl von Linné devoted his life to giving Latin and Greek names to flora
and fauna, and called the cocoa tree Theobroma, the food of the gods. Today there are
metres of shelves with various chocolate products in every convenience store. Wellknown brand products have been with us since the early 20th century and awaken
positive associations. Sweden and Norway are major consumers of chocolate –
Norway is in fifth place, and Sweden in eighth, in terms of chocolate consumption per
person and year.1
But the colourful wrappers and clever advertising films conceal a different reality. A
reality that includes both human trafficking and working conditions similar to slavery.
In September 2000, the British TV company, Channel 4 Television, showed a
documentary of how young boys from Mali were used as slaves on cocoa farms in the
Ivory Coast. Many international organisations conducted follow-up studies, and
reported that the working conditions in cocoa production in West Africa were both
unacceptable and unregulated. The research institute, the International Institute of
Tropical Agriculture, estimates that over 600,000 children and young people work on
cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast.2 An estimated one-third of these children work under
hazardous and health-jeopardising conditions.
The institute reported that children participate in the work on West African cocoa farms.
They keep the fields free from brushwood and other undergrowth using machete knives,
they use pesticides, and they harvest and process the cocoa. The work is tough and
injuries are common, and children working on the cocoa farms are exposed to risks
such as muscular and skeletal injuries caused by the monotonous work and heavy
lifting. Working with machetes results in both minor injuries and actual amputations of
body parts, as a result of accidents. Furthermore, the work with pesticides causes a
variety of injuries because of poor quality safety equipment when handling pesticides.3
American reaction to the reports was strong. A Congressman, the Democrat Eliot
Engel, introduced a bill in the U.S. Congress to change the law. The proposal included
a labelling and monitoring system that guaranteed that labelled chocolate products
were not produced using forced labour and the worst forms of child labour. The House
of Representatives approved the bill. In the Senate, Senator Tom Harkin supported the
proposal.
To avoid the risk of a consumer boycott and a legislative amendment that would result
in the chocolate industry violating the law, its representatives gave notice that
measures would be taken to solve the problems associated with child labour. A joint
action plan was produced by the chocolate industry, the governments of the United
States and the Ivory Coast, human rights organisations, and international trade unions.
The action plan was called The Harkin-Engel Protocol, and was formalised in the
autumn of 2001.
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In this report, SwedWatch and The Church of Sweden intend to review the current
situation in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, two of the biggest cocoa producing countries.
At the same time, we want to know what the chocolate companies in Sweden are
doing about the issues relating to the working conditions on the cocoa farms in the
Ivory Coast and Ghana. The chocolate producers active in Sweden that were reviewed
in this report are Cloetta/Fazer, Marabou/Kraft and Nestlé.
Cocoa cultivation
After cereals, sugar and coffee, cocoa is the biggest agricultural raw material on
the global market.4 Production, sales and processing of cocoa have developed
into a global industry. In 2003-04 world production of cocoa was 3.1 million
tons.5
The world market for chocolate products was worth just over SEK 550 billion in 2001,
an increase of around one-fifth since 1996. Europe is the biggest individual market,
accounting for 42 percent of all imports. 6
Cocoa is grown in a belt around the Equator. West Africa (the Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ghana and
Cameroon) is the biggest producer, with an output of 2.1 million tons. Asia is second with 435,000
tons and then Central and South America with 258,000 tons. The biggest single cocoa-producing
country is the Ivory Coast, with Ghana and Indonesia in second and third places. In 2002, West
Africa accounted for nearly 70 percent of the world production. Several countries in South and
Central America, such as Brazil, Ecuador and Venezuela, also produce small amounts of cocoa. 7
An estimated 3.5 million people in the Ivory Coast are employed in the production of cocoa. The
corresponding figure for Ghana is 3.2 million.8
Amsterdam in the Netherlands is the port that handles the biggest proportion of cocoa
in the world, approximately a fifth of the world production, corresponding to 600,000
tons annually.9 Most of the cocoa processing takes place in Western Europe, just over
35 percent. Grinding and other processes are mainly carried out in Germany and the
Netherlands.10
Trends in the price of cocoa — a bad deal for the farmer
The price of cocoa plays a crucial role in the export income of the West African
countries. The Ivory Coast’s economy is entirely dependent on the world price of
cocoa. The strong dependence on income from cocoa, together with fluctuations in
the price of the raw material, causes economic fluctuations and has social
consequences. The downward price trend for cocoa has resulted in many West
African countries having trade deficits.
As with other trading goods, the price of cocoa depends on supply and demand.
The price of cocoa is fixed on the commodity exchanges in London and New York.
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The cocoa tree
The cocoa tree can grow to up to 15 metres in height, and has large, shiny, dark green
leaves. The cocoa fruits grow directly on the trunk and on the thick branches. They are
approximately 20 cm long and resemble large walnuts or melons. During the ripening
process, the colour changes from yellow to orange to red, and finally they become
reddish-brown. Each fruit contains 20-50 almond-like cocoa beans, surrounded by sticky
white pulp. It takes 3-5 years before a cocoa tree provides fruit, and then the tree
provides fruit for approximately 25 years.
Botanically, the commercially cultivated cocoa tree comprises three main species:
Criollo: Dominated the market up until the mid-19th century, but today there are
only a few examples left of the species.
Forastero: The biggest species. Cultivated and wild plants are found in large areas of
Brazil, West Africa, Ecuador and Mexico.
Trinitario: This is often counted as Forastero but in reality it is a cross between Criollo
and Forastero. The cultivation began in Trinidad but has since spread to Venezuela,
Ecuador, Cameroon, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Java and Papua New Guinea.
The cocoa harvest
The cocoa is harvested regularly, because the seed pods ripen at different times. The
fruit is harvested all year round, but the harvest is most intensive in December and
June. Machines cannot be used because the fruits on the same tree ripen at different
times, and the flowers beside the ripe fruits must not be harmed. Ripened seed pods
containing cocoa beans are cut down by hand, using long machete knives. After seven
to ten days, the seed pods are opened, and the wet cocoa beans are removed for
drying before being packed into sacks for export to mainly Europe and the United
States. The cocoa beans then undergo various refinement processes and are made into
cocoa butter, cocoa powder, and cocoa mass.71
The history of cocoa
The cocoa tree originates from the rain forest area around the Orinoco and Amazon
rivers in South America. It was in the Maya kingdom that the farmers started to
cultivate cocoa for the first time. The Maya Indians lived in an area that
corresponds to present-day Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia and Honduras. The oldest
remains from this culture can be traced back to 1500 BC. The Maya believed that
cocoa had healing properties, and used it as medicine. Cocoa beans were also used
in connection with different ceremonies. Cocoa beans were coveted, durable and
easy to transport, and were therefore often used as a means of payment. When the
Maya traders went out on their travels, the cocoa beans were an important part of
the cargo. In this way, the news of cocoa was spread.
After conquering Mexico at the start of the 16th century, it was the Spaniards who took
cocoa beans to Europe. Cocoa became a fashionable drink in Europe’s finest circles.
The drink also had a reputation as an aphrodisiac, enriching both the soul and the love
life. The increasing demand for cocoa in Europe resulted in the colonising countries
spreading the cultivation of cocoa also to Asia and Africa.70
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From cocoa bean to chocolate
Each fruit contains 25-30 beans that must ferment for five to six days. After
fermentation, the beans must be dried for one to two weeks, after which they are
packaged and transported to the buyers.
The other processing takes place at the chocolate manufacturers. First, the beans are
roasted, and this is very important for the taste of the chocolate. Before the beans
are crushed, the shell and sprouts are removed by suction. When the beans are
crushed, they are ground to a mass and, from this, at least half of the fat is pressed
out in order to make cocoa powder. The fat that is removed is made into cocoa butter.
The cocoa mass, sugar and cocoa butter is then mixed, and rolled into chocolate. The
chocolate is then converted to a fluid consistency. Various flavourings are added,
such as vanilla or cinnamon.
Cocoa production increased drastically towards the end of the 1980s, when more export countries
broke into the market, attracted by the relatively favourable world market price. The current world
production of cocoa is nearly double what it was in the 1980s.11 The result was a major drop in the
price of cocoa beans, which is now only a quarter of what it was 20 years ago.13
The proportion of agricultural products in the EU’s total trade of goods with other
countries has fallen from nine percent in 1995 to six percent in 2003. Imports consist
mainly of tropical products such as cocoa, coffee, tea and spices.15 The decreasing
world market price has hit the small-scale farmers hard, and they fall into a vicious
cycle where they have less chance to invest in their farms and to cope with
unforeseen costs. An example is that the farmers have less money available to
combat the attack of disease on their crops, which in turn increases the risk of lower
yields. 16
Work on the cocoa farms
In West Africa, cocoa is the crop of the small-scale farmer, and the work is almost
entirely manually, without the use of machines. The International Cocoa Organisation
estimates that small-scale farmers with less than five hectares of cultivable land
produce nearly 90 percent of all cocoa. The yield for small-scale farmers in Ghana is
300 kg per hectare, and in the Ivory Coast 450 kg. Many of the farmers that grow cocoa
do not own the land themselves, and the cost of renting the land is between 50 and 66
percent of the income derived from the cocoa harvest.17
Cocoa farmers can be divided into three main groups:18
Farmers that cultivate their own land.
Most of the farmers that own and farm their own land grow cocoa as one of their crops. This
is the most common form in the older production areas.
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Farmers that grow crops on another person’s land in return for a share of the
yield. (Sharecroppers)
This category shares the yield with the landowner, usually in the ratio of
one-to-two or, less commonly, one-to-one. The system has existed for a
long time, but is most common in areas in the Ivory Coast that have been
brought into cultivation more recently. Many of these sharecroppers are
immigrants from Mali and Burkino Faso. These farmers receive a lower
share of the yield than farmers that own their own land, so a paid
workforce is unusual.
Farmers that manage a farm.
The managers are responsible for growing the crop, and are compensated
either through a fee, salary or promise of a future share in the farm. This is
most common on farms that are under development, i.e. before the start of
commercial production. It is also common that small-scale farmers, in
addition to running their own farms, are commissioned as managers by
larger-scale farmers. The same problem of a paid labour force applies as
for sharecroppers.
Immigrants have played an important role in building up the cocoa industry in both
the Ivory Coast and Ghana. It is estimated that half the farmers in the Ivory Coast and
30 percent in Ghana originally came from the neighbouring countries, mainly Burkina
Faso and Mali. The immigrants have mainly been involved in clearing the new
farmland areas, as they are more mobile than the local farmers.19
The labour force used on the farms can be divided into:
• The farmer
• The farmer’s immediate family
• The farmer’s relatives
• Labour paid by the day
• Labour in long-term employment
• Illegal labour (forced labour, slaves, child workers)20
Child labour and child trafficking in West Africa
The use of child labour in the West African (Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, Ghana and
Nigeria) cocoa industry has attracted increasing attention in recent years.
The Ivory Coast criminalized the employment of children under 14 in 1995, but the
law is only applied in the formal sector and not for work on family farms for
example.21 Ghana’s legislation prohibits children under 13 from working. Children
under 15 may only carry out “light work”, i.e. work that does not affect the child’s
health, education or possibility for development.22
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It is difficult to get precise information about the scale of the use of child labour. The
difficulties include the impossibility of making a random selection of farmers, as
these are not registered with any authority. Furthermore, the use of child labour is a
sensitive issue that is not made public, and the exploited children do not dare to
come forward. Consequently, the information about the number of children working
on cocoa farms varies according to the source and the method used.
Health risks for children working on cocoa farms, according to ILO: 23
• Muscular and skeletal injuries due to monotony, movements
and heavy lifting;
• Heatstroke;
• Minor injuries and total amputations of body parts caused by work with
machetes;
• Poisoning from different pesticides;
• Long working days;
• Snake and insect bites.
Poverty creates child labour
The small-scale cocoa farmers are completely dependent on income from cocoa for
their self-sufficiency. It is a crop that requires a stable climate, and it is also sensitive
to attack from diseases and insects. The fluctuating price on the world market, and the
leasing fee that the farmer often pays for the land he uses, makes the activity
financially vulnerable.
Cocoa production is labour intensive, and mechanised aids are rare. One way for the
cocoa farmers to keep costs down is to minimise labour costs. Often, the whole family
works on the farm, including children. The demand for cheap labour is often greater
than the local supply. This forms a breeding ground for the recruitment of people from
other areas, and who are then exploited. A study by the UN body for labour rights, ILO,
indicates that up to one-third of the cocoa farms use workers that are not members of
the family.24
A uniform picture of the nature of the migrant workers’ situation is not possible.
Some are paid for their work, while others get into a situation where they are
harassed and forced to remain against their will. Others are badly exploited, but can
at least leave the farm whenever they want to.
Many of the cocoa farmers in the Ivory Coast came originally from Burkina Faso.
One of these farmers describes the recruitment procedure when he collects
workers from his old home village in Burkina Faso:
“When I need workers, I return to my village in Burkina Faso and tell
my relatives that I need people for my cocoa farm. If they still have
children in the village they send them with me.
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12
Cocoa consumption
10.3
10
9.8
8.8
8.4
8.3
8.2
8.2
8
7.0
6.8
6
5.3
5.0
4.8
4.5
4
2
0
Irelan
Switzerl
and
d
Austria
UK
Norw
ay
Germany
Denmark
Swede
Belgiu
m
Finland
USA
Holland
France
Cocoa consumption in kg per capita and country.
Source: 2002 International Statistics of Cabisco/ICCO.
I make an agreement with the father about a price for each child and how
many years they will work. Their father sends them to the farm and if they are
too young to find the way, my brother goes to fetch them. I pay around CFA
100,000 (approximately SEK 1,300) for an older child, and approximately
CFA 70,000 (approximately SEK 950) for a young child.” 25
The future for these children is uncertain. Probably they remain in tough farmwork
for many years. Most of them are not registered in the school system, so they have no
chance of formal education either. They are at the mercy of the farmer in terms of
punishment and physical assault and the conditions they are to work under. Some of
the children return to their home villages after the agreed time with some money
earned, while others are not paid the amount agreed with the farmer and are forced to
remain on the farms much longer than was planned. It is primarily the parents’
poverty that causes their dependence on their children contributing to the household’s
income by working on a cocoa farm.
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Cocoa production by
country
150
Ecuador 3%
Cameroon 5%
90
Nigeria 5%
170
173
Brazil 6%
1240
307
Rest of the world 10%
Indonesia 15%
3%
Ghana 16%
450
495
The Ivory Coast 40%
Cocoa production by country, in thousands of tons. Source: 2004 LMC International, ICCO.
Production in developing countries
Cocoa beans
Cocoa mass
Cocoa powder
Chocolate
Production in developing countries, as a percentage of total world production.
Source: www.imf.org.
Method
SwedWatch’s conclusions about the workers’ conditions on the cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast and
Ghana are based on a number of sources. SwedWatch commissioned Kemby Consultants, under
the management of Dr Yao Bah Noel, to conduct a study in the district of Abengourou in the Ivory
Coast, which is an important area for cocoa farming. Lennart Rahm translated this study to
Swedish. Because of the tense situation in the Ivory Coast, we also held twelve in-depth interviews
with cocoa workers in Burkina Faso, on the border to the Ivory Coast. In addition, we held four indepth interviews with cocoa farmers. The interviews of two of these workers and two of the
farmers are presented in the section about the Ivory Coast. Denis Batienon, a research assistant,
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carried out the interviews. It is important to emphasise that these interviews do not
reflect a representative sample of people, and were only conducted on a random basis.
Sigrun Helmfrid, a social anthropologist conducting research focusing on Burkina
Faso, was invaluable in the work of collecting and evaluating data concerning
migrant workers from Burkina Faso.
SwedWatch’s own survey complements the very detailed report on the scale and
conditions of child labour on the cocoa farms of the Ivory Coast that was carried by the
African National Research Institutes/ International Institute for Tropical
Agriculture/ILO in collaboration with other parties, including the chocolate industry.
This report covers all the 20 cocoa producing regions in the Ivory Coast, and the
investigators visited 250 villages throughout the country.
SwedWatch’s field study in Ghana was carried out by the Institute of African Studies
at the University of Ghana, under the management of Dr Osman A-R Al Hassan. The
survey was carried out in the Sefwi-Wiawso district in western Ghana. Sefi-Wiawso
is an agricultural area, and one of the leading cocoa producing areas in Ghana. The
district is also the first area that migrant workers reach when they come from the
poorer northern Ghana looking for ways of supporting themselves. Sefi-Wiawso is
included in WACAP/IPEC’s pilot project about child labour. SwedWatch chose three
settlements at random, Fawokabra, Kramokrom and Bonwire, and interviews were
held with owners of cocoa farms, workers, cocoa buyers and representatives of local
authorities.
These SwedWatch studies are supplemented with reports produced by the World Bank,
the aid organisation Terre de Homme, UNICEF, the African National Research
Institutes/ International Institute for Tropical Agriculture/ILO and individual
researchers.
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The cocoa fruits are harvested with machetes, and workers on the farms often injure themselves on the
sharp blades. Photo: Anders Gunnartz.
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Part 2: Environmental problems
In West Africa, cocoa cultivation has been associated with the clearance of tropical
forest. A cocoa farmer clears tropical forest in order to start a new cocoa farm. The
annual yield increases gradually until the tree is approximately 18 years old. Yield
then drops off because of exhaustion of soil nutrients, erosion and increased attacks by
harmful insects and diseases. Between 20 and 30 years after planting, the farmer must
make a decision – he must either invest in replanting, which means first removing the
old cocoa trees, improving the soil, and reducing the attacks of diseases and insects, or
clear a new area of tropical forest. In less densely populated areas, clearing forest is
usually easier. The replanting option is usually too expensive for the small-scale
farmers. In the last ten years, the amount of forest in the Ivory Coast has been
halved.26
The cocoa tree is sensitive to attack from insects and fungi, so chemical pesticides and
fungicides are widely used. The most commonly used agents are Propoxur (Unden
200EC) and Lindan (Gamma BHC). Both these preparations are banned in Sweden.
Consumption of Propoxur causes acute poisoning, and can be directly fatal. Lindan is
toxic, not only when consumed, but also on skin contact and when the fumes are
inhaled. Both preparations are very harmful to aqueous organisms, and can affect the
water environment for a long time.27
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Part 3: The tough conditions in the Ivory
Coast
The Ivory Coast — a country in conflict
The Ivory Coast is a country in crisis, but when the country gained its independence
from France in 1960, the future looked bright. It was the most flourishing country in
West Africa, with rapidly growing production of coffee, cocoa, pineapples and palm
oil. Since1979 the Ivory Coast has been the world’s leading exporter of cocoa.
At the start of the 1980s, the falling price of cocoa, the general economic downturn in
the world, and severe drought, caused an economic crisis, and criminality in the country
shot through the roof.
The downturn also increased the ethnic tensions in the country. In the northern part of
the country, a large proportion of the population stems from the neighbouring country
of Burkina Faso. For many years, the cocoa industry in the Ivory Coast attracted guest
workers from neighbouring countries, mainly from Burkina Faso.
President Henri Konan Bedié used the ethnic tension to maintain power. In the 1990s,
he succeeded in preventing his main political opponent, Alassane Ouattara, from
contesting the presidency. The reason was that one of his parents came from Burkina
Faso. Bedié also increased ethnic tensions in the army. This led to a military coup in
1999 and Bedié was forced to flee to France.
In the next presidential election in 2000, the Supreme Court declared Ouattara’s
candidature invalid, which led to violent protests from the population in the northern
part of the country. The Ivory Coast increasingly took the character of a conflict
between the people regarded as “genuine” citizens of the Ivory Coast and those
regarded as immigrants from Burkina Faso, even though they might have lived in
the Ivory Coast for several generations. The conflict was further exacerbated by
religious tension, because the population in the north originating from Burkina Faso
largely comprises Muslims, while the rest of the population is mainly Christian and
Animist.
In practice, the Ivory Coast is currently divided into two parts after an unsuccessful coup against
President Laurent Gbagbo in September 2002. Rebels largely control the northern part of the
country, while the southern parts are in the hands of the government forces. The area between is a
zone guarded by the French army and UN forces. Violence broke out again at the start of
November 2004, when the former colonial power, France, almost completely destroyed the Ivory
Coast’s air force, in revenge for the deaths of nine French soldiers in a bomb attack against a rebelcontrolled city. The country is currently in a very tense situation, and new conflicts risk breaking
out at any time.
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The civil population has been badly affected by the chaotic situation in the country.
More than a million people are estimated to be on the run in the Ivory Coast. Half of
the 800,000 inhabitants of the city of Bouaké are estimated to have left the city.28
According to the UN organisation, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF),
approximately 15 percent of the children are undernourished in the rebel-controlled
northern part of the country and in the government-controlled western part of the
country. 29
There are many reports of massacres and other assaults on civilians. Both government
troops and rebels have set up roadblocks where they harass the civil population and
demand bribes to avoid assault. There are also reports that both sides conduct arbitrary
executions of people suspected of collusion with the opposition.30
The living conditions in the country differ considerably between poor and rich, and
access to food, housing and work is highly varied. This is partly due to widespread
corruption in the country, where some people are able to accumulate significant
resources.
Many children are forced to leave the school system already at the age of 12-14 because
of lack of money. In large areas of the Ivory Coast, the educational system has broken
down since the start of the conflict. Information indicates that less than 50 percent of
children and young people between 6 and 18 years attend school, and that
approximately half of the population in the country is literate. 31
The farmworkers tell SwedWatch that their biggest problem is the low wages. Photo: Anders
Gunnartz.
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Cocoa — a crop used in the conflict
At a time when foreign aid has been radically cut because of the conflict in the country, the profits
from cocoa production help to finance both the government-supporting forces in the south and the
cocoa-smuggling rebel forces in the north. Cocoa accounts for 43 percent of the Ivory Coast’s
gross national product. In an interview with the Reuters news agency, the rebels’ political leader
Guillaume Soro says that the cocoa produced in rebel-controlled areas is smuggled to the
neighbouring countries of Guinea, Togo and Ghana to prevent the Ivory Coast’s government
imposing a tax on the cocoa, thereby raising more funds for the army.32
The Ivory Coast’s trading structure
The Ivory Coast has approximately a million small family farms, each producing about
a ton of cocoa beans.33 The coffee and cocoa trade of the Ivory Coast is governed by
Bourse du Caffé et du Cacao (BCC) and the Coffee and Cocoa Regulatory Authority
(ARCC). Two-thirds of the BCC board consists of farmers, exporters and
representatives of the processing industry. The board’s quarterly task is to fix a
minimum price that is paid to the farmers for cocoa.34 ARCC is an independent public
body, with monitoring and international representation as its tasks. In an attempt to
prevent major exporters gaining a monopoly, the state has imposed a ceiling on the
amount of cocoa that an individual exporter can purchase per quarter.
Foreign multinational exporters have increased their grip on the cocoa exports from the
Ivory Coast, while domestic export companies have lost influence. This has affected the
country’s economy. When the Ivory Coast’s government tried to increase its income
from the cocoa trade by raising custom duties in 2001, the large exporters responded by
stopping exports until the new custom duties were reduced.35
Ten large companies, led by the US companies Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM),
control exports. In the 2001/2002 season, the Cargill Group was the biggest buyer of cocoa, with
13 percent of the total harvest. Next biggest was ADM with 10 percent of the total cocoa harvest,
followed by the French Bollore group with 8 percent. The biggest of the local exporters was
Coopyca, which was in nineteenth place with purchases corresponding to 12,631 tons, or less than
one percent of the harvest. 36
Travelling buyers visit the farms to collect the cocoa. These either work directly for, or
are contracted to, one of the major exporters. The farmers are paid cash. BCC sets a
guaranteed minimum price for export, but the price may be higher depending on
demand. The cocoa is usually transported to purchasing centres in large cities, where it
is then sold to buyers. The cocoa is then transported to any of the harbours in the cities
of Abidjan or San Pedro. The system means that exporters are compensated any losses
if the price of cocoa falls, and must pay a refund if the price rises.
A state-monitored fund was set up in 2002/2003 with the aim of stabilising prices
quarterly. Every quarter BCC sets a guaranteed minimum price for cocoa bought at
farms. A fixed price is also set for collection from the farms and transport to the
harbours in Abidjan and San Pedro.
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The Ivory Coast
Human rights and labour rights in the Ivory Coast
The crisis after the coup attempt has affected human rights in the country. Reports in
recent years have indicated that hundreds of people have disappeared for shorter or
longer periods, arbitrary executions and arbitrary deprivation of liberty occur, as well
as forced conscription. Many mass graves have been discovered. In the southern part of
the country, harassment of foreigners and people from the north is common. Torture,
corporal punishment and other inhumane treatment are forbidden according to the
constitution. However, there are reports of the use of severe violence and assault being
used against people that have disappeared or imprisoned in order to exact confessions.
The country’s constitution from 2000 includes a detailed list of civil liberties. As
described below, there is little respect for many of these civil liberties.37
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THE IVORY COAST
Type of government: Republic
Area: 322,460 km2
Capital: Yamoussoukro (200,000 inhabitants in 1998)
Highest mountain: Nimba (1,752 m)
Major rivers: Bandama, Komoé, Cavally, Sassandra
Population: 16.7 million (estimated, 2002)
Inhabitants/km2: 55
Average life expectancy: men 50, women 52
Literacy: men 60 %, women 38 %
Ethnic groups: Baulé, Bété, Senufo, Malinké, Dioula, Agni, etc.
Languages: French is the official language, around 60 domestic languages
are also spoken
Religion: Traditional religions approx. 35%, Islam approx. 40 %, Christianity
approx. 25 %
GNP/inhabitant: USD 698 (2002)
Proportion of GNP for different sectors: Agriculture 26 %, industry 26 %, service and
miscellaneous 48 % (1999)
Natural resources: timber, oil, gas and diamonds
Major exports: cocoa, timber, coffee, preserved fish, cotton
Membership of international and regional organisations: African Development Bank,
the West African cooperation organisation ECOWAS, UN, IMF, OAU, World Bank
Information taken from Länder i fickformat, Swedish Institute of International Affairs, 2004
Labour rights
In principle, discrimination in working life because of gender, skin colour, religion,
political views, nationality, or similar has not previously occurred, but the ongoing
crisis has changed the situation. For several years the authorities have tended to
recommend that employers recruit citizens of the Ivory Coast rather than people from
other countries.
The authorities decide on minimum wages that vary according to sector and the type
of employment. The most recent review was in 1996. The lowest minimum monthly
salary was then set at CFA 36,000 (approximately SEK 500) for an industrial worker,
which is not sufficient to support the employee and his family. Employees have a
statutory working time of 40 hours per week, they are to be paid overtime, and have
at least one rest period of 24 hours per week. In the informal sector, where most
people work, the conditions are often worse.
Forced labour is forbidden according to Ivory Coast law. According to the constitution,
all citizens apart from the police and military are entitled to join employee
organisations and have the right to collective bargaining. Only a small proportion of
the country’s employees are organised, because most people work in the informal
sector. Many bigger employers in the public and private sectors are bound by
collective agreements. The right to strike is guaranteed in the constitution, but certain
formal requirements, such as negotiations and notice, must first be fulfilled. The
country’s trade unions use the right to strike quite often, and the authorities usually
respect this.
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Child labour on the farms in the Ivory Coast
In the wake of the conflict, humanitarian organisations have reported on how children
are used as soldiers and workers. Homeless children are common in the towns and cities.
These children often support themselves by working. Even though the minimum age for
working is 14 years, child labour is common. A large proportion of the children that
work on the cocoa and coffee farms come from other neighbouring countries, and have
been attracted to the Ivory Coast by the promise of high wages and good working
conditions. However, for many, this has meant work under very harsh conditions.
Cooperation has started with certain neighbouring countries to suppress child
trafficking. One of these countries is Mali, from where agents organise child trafficking
in return for payment.
Small family farms account for most of the cocoa production in the Ivory Coast. These
farms are run both by nuclear families with a few family members and by extended
families, which can comprise 10-90 people.38 The labour force on most of the small
farms consists of unpaid family members. However, workers are given food,
accommodation and support if they become ill. The number of cocoa farms in the
Ivory Coast is estimated to be between 600,000 and one míllion.39 The majority of
these farms are very small, averaging between one and three hectares.
During the harvest period, several million people work on the farms. Children and
young people comprise part of the labour force. In recent years, there have been many
alarming reports about child labour on the cocoa farms, but this does not mean that
everyone suffers. It is natural for children and young people that have grown up on
farms to help their relatives, in the same way as they did in the Swedish countryside in
the past.
Unfortunately, large-scale exploitation of children and young people does occur on
many farms. It is easier to force the wages of children down and to control them as
workers, than it is for adults. In the Ivory Coast the salary for an average fully-grown
cocoa worker is approximately SEK 1,200 to SEK 1,500 per year, while a child under
18 only earns just over SEK 700.
The Ivory Coast is especially vulnerable. Over 600,000 children and young people
under 18 years of age work on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast.40. Of these, an
estimated 12,000 children lack family ties with the farmers. When the Institute of
Tropical Agriculture in 2002 carried out an extensive survey of the scale of child
labour on cocoa plantations in West Africa, and this showed that no less than 200,000
children and young people in the Ivory Coast work with hazardous activities.41 This
shows that family ties with the farmers does not guarantee that children will avoid
injuries while working.
The children and young people that come from the neighbouring countries of Burkina
Faso and Mali run the greatest risks. A study involving the World Bank and other
organisations showed that over 60,000 of the children and young people that work on
the cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast come from Burkina Faso.42 In a study by
SwedWatch in the Abengourou region in the Ivory Coast, over 80 percent of the
workers came from Burkina Faso. The origins of the rest of the workers were divided
equally between the Ivory Coast, Ghana and Togo.
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A study carried out by Save the Children Canada showed that children from the
countries neighbouring the Ivory Coast played a very important role in building up the
country’s cocoa production.43 The prelude to the alarming reports about child labour
on the cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast was a BBC documentary, which claimed that
many of children and young people from Mali lived in slavery-like conditions on the
farms. The documentary prompted many media reports around the world, and formed
the basis of the Harkin-Engel Protocol. There were several problems with both the
original and the ensuing reports, including the extent and form of trafficking and the
actual concept of slave trading.
An intensive debate has taken place about the actual extent of child trafficking.
However, such a discussion risks hiding the social and economic structure behind
the child labour. By all accounts, only a small proportion of child workers are sold
by professional traffickers. Many young people under 18 choose to leave home in
order to earn money for themselves and the family. In a major survey of child labour,
over half of the paid child workers said that they had left home to give themselves
and their families a better life. None of the respondents said they were forced to
leave home against their will.44 Furthermore, all of them stated that they knew they
would be working with the harvesting of cocoa.
Relatives or friends have often given the children information about what to do, and
whom they should contact.45 A representative from a farm, usually a relative, recruited
the majority of those interviewed in SwedWatch’s survey, and the representative also
handled the transport to the farm. No less than 94 percent of the paid child workers
state that they know the agent that recruited them.46
There are also professional agents that smuggle groups of people from Mali and
Burkina Faso into the Ivory Coast and Ghana, and then leave them at different cocoa
farms. A study published by the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) in 2002 states
that many cocoa farmers depended on agents to provide them with a labour force from
the neighbouring countries in order to be able to harvest and package their cocoa.47
Even if the information in the ILRF study was perhaps slightly overexaggerated, and
did not take into account the prevailing social and economic conditions in the area,
studies such as those by the World Bank and Terre des Hommes show that the problem
of child labour is serious.48 The survey focused on the migration from the neighbouring
country of Burkina Faso. One-tenth of the children in Burkina Faso had left their
parents in order to work. Of these, one-third lived in other countries, most of them in
the Ivory Coast. The average age of the children who left their parents in order to work
was 13. According to the statistics in the report, the overwhelming majority of the
children left home with a relative or friend. However, one-fifth travelled with someone
who they either did not know at all or who they had very distant contact with. Nearly
all children that left to work on cocoa farms were boys, probably because the work is
tough. Furthermore, the agents that smuggle children and young people into the Ivory
Coast also prefer boys, because the cocoa farmers pay considerably more for these.49
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Poverty was the main reason that the parents gave for allowing their children to leave
in order to work, but it is interesting that this applied to less than half of the children.
Many parents look on their children’s and young people’s work as part of their
upbringing, as an opportunity to create a better life, and as an integrated part of
supporting the family.50
Regardless of how the children and young people end up on the cocoa farms, they
can end up suffering. The children’s parents and representatives of the farmers
often enter into verbal agreements in the home villages. Once on the cocoa farms,
the farmers can break the agreements, and the children have no chance to assert their
rights. There are no written agreements, and the lack of formal agreements and
monitoring leave the children totally unprotected. Many of the children and young
people are related to the people that own the farms, which usually means that they
are treated a little better than those that have no ties to the owner at all.
The work on the farms is tough, and the heavy lifting can cause skeletal and muscular
injuries. Many children are also seriously injured when they work with machetes.
Another problem is that the children are often forced to work with dangerous pesticides
without safety equipment. When children are exposed to work that entails risk of
serious and long-term injuries, this violates the ILO Convention No. 182. This
Convention demands immediate measures to eliminate the worst forms of child labour.
The Ivory Coast has ratified this convention, but recent studies indicate that these forms
of child labour still occur in the country.
Finding a successful and quick solution for tackling the problem of child labour in the
Ivory Coast is not easy. The households in Burkina Faso and Mali often need the
children’s income, and if the incomes were to disappear, the parents would probably be
even less inclined to send their children to school. Several different measures must be
taken. The purchase price of cocoa must be increased, and both the authorities and the
chocolate-producing companies must inform the farmers that hazardous child labour is
not acceptable. Furthermore, an efficient random checking system must be developed
in order to monitor how the information is disseminated and its impact.
A study conducted by the World Bank in 1998 shows clearly that falling purchasing
prices for cocoa increases the recruitment of children on the farms.51 The fall in
price also results in the cocoa farmers cutting down on paid labour and increasing
the workload on the family. The farmers’ own children are forced to work more,
and this may affect their school education. In the Ivory Coast, children account for
on average of one-quarter of the family’s total work with cocoa.52
The study also shows that just less than two-thirds of all children in rural areas in
the Ivory Coast did not complete compulsory education, and that one-third of the
children did not go to school at all. The average length of education for child
labourers in the agricultural sector in the Ivory Coast is just over one year.53
However, the situation is even worse for the children and young people that were
engaged in paid work in cocoa production. Of these, 88 percent had never been to
school at all.54
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In those cases where the children’s families own the farms, only two-thirds of them
have ever been to school. Approximately 60 percent of the farmers that use paid child
labour are from the Ivory Coast, and the rest are from Burkina Faso.55
Forced labour
By all accounts, forced labour is common on the cocoa farms of the Ivory Coast. ILO
defines forced labour as work or service demanded of a person under threat of
punishment. Some of the workers that were interviewed state that they have
experienced this. However, the most common way of preventing workers from leaving
a farm is quite simply that they receive no pay until after a year, so they do not want to,
or cannot, leave the farm, in spite of poor treatment. SwedWatch’s survey shows that
the practice of paying workers after a year is common, and their ability to change this
is very limited. Cocoa farmers also say that children and young people are often not
paid by the farmers themselves but through an agent. There is therefore a great risk
that children and young people do not receive the sum that was agreed.
Several workers that SwedWatch interviewed say that they were punished in various
ways when the employer was not satisfied with them. An example is that the
employer has refused to give food to people that were ill.
A common practice is that the employers pay for the travel and the bribes required
for the workers to reach the farm in question from one of the neighbouring countries.
They have then deducted these costs from the worker’s salaries, which the parties had
not agreed on in advance, or the workers had not understood that this would happen.
Pesticides
Several farmers and workers that were interviewed say that they have not been trained
in how to handle pesticides. Some people say that the person selling the pesticide
provided information. Many of the workers also say that they use the preparation
without any safety equipment at all, i.e. without gloves and facemask, causing both
serious accidents and chronic poisoning injuries.
All interviewees say that they have worked with spraying, and several say that they
became ill afterwards. None of them had worn safety equipment, nor had they been
given medical treatment afterwards.
One of the pesticides that the workers say they have used is Paraquat, which was
banned in Sweden in 1983. The agent is highly hazardous both to people and the
environment. Eye injuries, skin rashes and nosebleeds are common among those people
handling the agent. Paraquat attacks the lungs and can, in worst cases, cause death
through suffocation. Paraquat accumulates in the ground, and risks contaminating the
groundwater.
Another agent that is commonly used on the farms is Lindan, which is also highly
dangerous to health.
In the SwedWatch survey in the Abengourou region, just under 40 percent of the
workers reported that they work with spraying. By all accounts, children and young
people spray to the same extent as the adults.56
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Just over a third of these say that they do not protect themselves when they spray with
pesticide. However, those people that say they use safety equipment claim that they do
not have access to complete protection. In some cases they have only used gloves and
boots. There was no complete safety equipment at any of the farms that were visited.
Complete safety equipment comprises an overall with long arms, hat, safety goggles,
boots, gloves and facemask. However, farmers in the Abengourou region say that they
usually appoint specialist personnel to handle the spraying against insects.
The difficult conditions for the workers
Over half of the people working on the cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast come from the
neighbouring countries of Burkina Faso and Mali. In Ghana the migrant workers
comprise approximately one-third of the workforce. The situation for the migrant
workers has deteriorated drastically in the last decade. Some people who originated
from the neighbouring countries have lost their right to vote, even though they have
lived in the Ivory Coast for several generations. One of the biggest problems for many
immigrants is that they have also lost the right to the land on which they have grown
cocoa all their lives.
The civil war has hit the migrants particularly hard, because the government forces
regard them as a security risk. Many refugees, both cocoa workers and farmers, are
currently in refugee camps in Burkina Faso and Mali.
Nearly all attention in the media and reports has focused on the children that work on
the farms. But often there is not a great difference between the respective situations for
children, young people and adults. Many of the workers have been recruited as children,
and continue to work on the cocoa farms as adults in order to earn money for
themselves and their families. It is important to demand that the rights of adult migrant
workers are also respected.
Among the workers that SwedWatch interviewed, there were no written contracts,
neither in the Ivory Coast nor Ghana. It is therefore difficult for the workers to claim
breach of contract. They are not paid overtime, even if the agreed number of hours of
work is exceeded. If a conflict occurs, the workers can only refer to verbal agreements.
Information about applicable working conditions often differs, the workers lack social
protection, and there is no guarantee that they will be paid the salary that was agreed
with the employer at the start.
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Many of the workers on the cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast come from the neighbouring countries of
Burkina Faso and Mali. They often lack a social safety net, and have been badly hit by the
armed conflict in the Ivory Coast.
Photo: Gustaf Eneroth
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The workers themselves say that their biggest problem is the pay, which is too low to
support themselves and their families. SwedWatch’s survey also shows that the
employers often pay a lower salary than was agreed at the start. The average annual
salary for workers on the cocoa farms is just over SEK 1,500, but Swedwatch has
reports of workers who received less than SEK 1,000 SEK. As noted above, children
and young people are paid less.
For several decades, the Ivory Coast has ratified ILO Conventions Numbers 87 and
98, about the right to free organisation and collective bargaining. However, this does
not seem to have improved the situation noticeably for the workers in cocoa
production. None of the workers that were interviewed had even heard that there were
trade unions, and there is no organisation of the workers at all. This means that the
workers have no one to represent them in conflicts or represent them in different fora.
In the study that SwedWatch carried out in the Abengourou region, over 97 percent of
the interviewed workers were illiterate.
Interviews with cocoa workers
“The toxin ran down our backs”
Bouba Bassole is 30 and comes from Burkina Faso, like so many other workers on
cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast. He first went to the Ivory Coast to work on cocoa farms
when he was only 13.
“I have worked with everything on the farms, cleared the undergrowth, picked and
peeled the fruits, and so on. Without a doubt, the toughest work was moving the sacks
of cocoa. They weighed nearly a hundred kilos, and we had nothing to help us.”
However, the task he thought was worst was spraying, using a small pump. One of the
substances uses was Paraquat. The workers had no safety equipment at all.
“Those of us that were spraying had to find bits of cloth to cover our noses. Our throats
stung afterwards, but we were not given anything to drink. The chemical leaked out
from the pump and ran down our backs, causing blisters. When I felt sick and wanted
to rest after the spraying, the farmer said I was lazy.”
Sick leave was never possible. The workers on the farm were forced to work, or they
were not given food.
Like many others, Bouba went to the Ivory Coast to try to earn some extra money. In
his home village, he had scraped a living from watching cattle. It was a distant relative
that persuaded Bouba to leave. The relative paid for his transport and the bribes the
border police demanded before Bouba could cross the border into the Ivory Coast. The
money was then deducted from his salary.
“When the boss wasn’t satisfied we got no food!”
Augustin Ouedraogo, 21, comes from the settlement of Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina
Faso. He went to the Ivory Coast when he was 17. He has worked on cocoa farms in
the country for nearly four years.
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“At home in the village I watched cattle, but it gave no money. I saw young people
from the village coming home with bicycles, radios and fine clothes. I decided to
move to a relative who runs a cocoa farm in the Ivory Coast so that I could also get
these things. Four of us went at the same time. An agent looked after the transport
himself and paid for our travel.
“I was to be paid 65,000 francs (just under SEK 1,000) for a year, but the employer
refused to pay us any money until we had been there for a year. He wouldn’t let us
leave to work anywhere else, but we could use our free day to work on someone else’s
farm to get some pocket money.”
Augustin never signed a contract, and there were no written guarantees at all. He
had never even heard of a trade union that represented the workers.
The work on the cocoa and coffee farm consisted of cultivating the soil, and clearing
the undergrowth and weeds using a machete.
“The hardest work was transporting the cocoa from the farm to the storage site. The
absolute worst was spraying the cocoa bushes. We used substances such as Paraquat,
which is really dangerous. I had nothing to protect myself with. I wore my normal
clothes, and no gloves.”
“One day I felt dizzy, and collapsed while working. My employer made sure I got
some cooked rice with loads of oil, and after a while I felt better. But even now, a
couple of years later, I still don’t feel well.”
Augustin explains the work began at 6.30 in the morning. There was a 30-minute food
break, and then work continued until 5 o’clock.
“Our boss gave us food and accommodation. We got enough food, but it was
barely edible. Sometimes he made us work even when we should have rested. He
didn’t pay us everything he owed us, and he punished us if he wasn’t satisfied
with our work. Then we didn’t get to eat for a whole day. Perhaps the worst thing
of all was that we never got any help when we were ill or after an accident. The
boss said we should look for medicinal plants in the wild, even if we had injured
ourselves on a machete.”
Interviews with owners of the cocoa farms
“I have never met the cocoa companies”
Zongo Koudraogo is 42 and comes from Burkina Faso. He has run a small cocoa farm of three
hectares in the Ivory Coast since 1985. He has earned very little from cocoa, yet it is the most
profitable of all crops. He has received no help from the state or a company.
“I remember we measured the farm once when we were to create a document of
ownership. That was the only time a state agricultural technician came to visit. Apart
from that I have never had any support.”
He sells his cocoa via an agent that comes to his farm. He has never seen the
companies that buy and export the cocoa.
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“The hardest part of all is selling the cocoa. There are far too many buyers and they
are skilled at forcing down the price.”
“It is usually me that sprays my farm. I don’t protect myself. After the treatment I
drink milk and vinegar. My neighbours have often asked me to come and treat their
farms too.”
Zongo has a few employees, only men.
“We don’t divide up the work tasks, we do everything together. Clearing the forest
is the toughest job, particularly when we have to fell large trees. In addition,
transporting the cocoa is dangerous to health – the cocoa is very heavy to carry.”
All farm owners that were interviewed claim that they have treated their workforce
well. Zongo is no exception.
“If a worker wants to break his contract, he can do. It happens sometimes. Some
people are good workers, but have bad character. When you’ve had enough of a
worker, it’s best to pay him for the time he has worked and let him go.”
“Children under 14 are not strong enough to carry the cocoa sacks on their
heads”
Adama Bationo is 43. He is from Burkina Faso, but has owned a cocoa farm of a few
hectares in the Ivory Coast since 1980. When the armed conflict broke out, he fled to
Burkina Faso with his family. He currently lives in a camp on the border to the Ivory
Coast.
“I bought my plot of land, partly for payment and partly by working for the former
owner. When I got the land, I divided it up into three parts that I rented out. I
monitored how they worked until they had harvested the cocoa fruits.”
“The first years were difficult. It took ten years before I could rent out the land. As well
as cocoa, I grew rice, yams and maize. I grew the cocoa to sell, and the other crops
were to eat.”
Adama could earn the equivalent of approximately SEK 50,000 per year. When he
had paid all the expenses, about half of the money was left. But the civil war more
than halved his income.
“It’s not worth growing cocoa any more. The only cheap thing is your suffering!
Adama was a member of a farmers’ cooperative, COOPAN. The cooperative
distributed equipment such as boots, machetes and insect repellent to the farmers.
Another advantage was that the cooperative paid more for the cocoa than other buyers.
The cooperative’s buyers then transported the cocoa to the cooperative for weighing.
The cooperative often did not pay for the cocoa until afterwards.
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The price per kilo is usually just over SEK 3, and each sack contains 80 kilo.
“I have never sold directly to a multinational company. Agents travel round to the
farms during harvesting and place bids for the cocoa. If the price seems good, you
accept it otherwise you have to wait. I have often accepted the price directly, because
often I can’t afford to wait.”
It was Adama and his brother, and their two wives, who ran the farm. Adama currently
has seven paid workers. They have been working for him for eight years, and all come
from Burkina Faso.
“I arrange the workers myself, through contacts. I think it’s important to know the
parents of the workers, as that causes fewer problems. If you recruit a worker
whose parents you don’t know, he can cause problems so that you lose the farm.
The workers pay for their own transport here.”
There is no division of activities on Adama’s farm. He points out that the young
people learn the skills through working with the adults. But children under 14 are
not strong enough to carry the cocoa sacks on their heads like the adults do. The
hardest work is when the farm is set up, according to Adama. The trees on the plot
must be cut down, the weeds removed, and the cocoa trees planted. Until the trees
start to produce fruit, the farmers have nothing to sell, and therefore have no
income.
“I have used many chemical agents on my farms, including Paraquat. If I am on
the farm, I do the spraying or otherwise one of the workers has to do it. We
usually wear gloves and a mask when we spray. We also make sure we do not
spray while people are working.”
Adama pays his employees just over the equivalent of SEK 2,000 per year.
“When I pay the children, I give the money to the agent that I commissioned to
recruit them, and he then pays the children. I don’t know if he makes money
himself on it, it’s none of my business.”
Adama feels that the children and young people that work for him have a good life.
“My absolute biggest problem is that I don’t have enough money. For example, you
should really spray six times a year, but it is hard to afford all the pesticide. But once
the cocoa tree has grown, it is easier to manage than most of the other crops.”
Conclusion: The vicious cycle in the Ivory Coast
The Ivory Coast has a number of problems. The cocoa sector suffers from antiquated
technology, low yields, and very poor profitability. All this contributes to the
farmers trying to cut down on one of the few factors that they can control – the
workforce. The result is terrible pay for the workers, who also lack formal contracts
and all forms of social security.
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The absolute cheapest workforce is the farmers’ relatives and paid children and
young people. Furthermore, the majority of the workers come from the
neighbouring countries of Burkina Faso and Mali, which makes them extra
vulnerable.
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Part 4: The problems in Ghana
Cocoa has been grown in Ghana since the mid-19th century. Between 1911 and
1976 Ghana was the world’s biggest producer of cocoa, accounting for 30-40
percent of the world’s total cocoa production. Cocoa is still one of the country’s
most important sources of income. The government is working to establish a
market economy, and one of the results is that state subsidies for what was
previously regarded as public utilities, such as water and electricity, have been
abolished, which has hit poor people hard. In theory, basic education is free, but in
practice different forms of school fees are very common, so many children never
have the chance of school education. 57 According to UNICEF, 81 percent of men
and 64 percent of women are literate.58 Approximately half of all Ghanaians lack
access to health care.59
Trading structure in Ghana
The importance of cocoa for Ghana’s economy led to the British government taking
control of cocoa production in the country during the 1930s. The situation today is
largely unchanged. When the country gained independence, the Ghanaian
government took over the monopoly. Ghana is the only country where the state still
has full control over cocoa trading. With a few exceptions, the state organisation,
the Ghana Cocoa Board, COCOBOD, has a monopoly on all trade involving cocoa
in Ghana.
COCOBOD’s activities cover virtually all aspects of cocoa cultivation in Ghana,
including purchasing, export, research, marketing and storage. Since the start of the
1990s, licensed private companies have been entitled to buy cocoa at a fixed price
and sell to COCOBOD’s subsidiary, The Producing Buying Company (PBC).60
During the harvest season of 2000, it was announced that these private companies
would be entitled to export up to 30 percent of their purchases directly, with no
involvement of state organisations, but the Day Chocolate Company reports that this
has not yet been implemented.61 To reduce the risk of being affected by a falling
price on the world market, COCOBOD sells cocoa up to a year before it is harvested.
The fixed price that is offered to the farmer is based on the price of future harvests,
together with forecasts of price trends.
The procedure for cocoa trading in Ghana is that the farmer transports the harvest to
different purchasing centres that are run by COCOBOD. The cocoa is weighed,
classified by quality, and packed into sacks for export. The farmer is paid a fixed price.
The cocoa is then transported to the COCOBOD collection centres, where it is sold to
COCOBOD’s subsidiary, The Cocoa Marketing Company (CMC). In turn, CMC sells
the cocoa for export or to domestic processing companies who then export the
processed product.62
Farmers may also sell their cocoa to cooperatives that act as agents, who then sell
the cocoa to COCOBOD.
Human rights and labour rights in Ghana
Respect for human rights in Ghana has slowly gained ground since the transfer to
civilian government in 1993. However, slavery-like conditions still exist, and the
country lacks legislation trafficking of women and children, which still occurs.
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Ghana
Bildtext Ivory Coast
Sefwi-Wiawso district
Labour rights
Trade unions operate freely, but must undergo a registration process with the
authorities. However, the proportion of the workforce with membership of a trade
union is low. There are legal rights to bargain and to strike. A labour rights law
regulates working hours and safety regulations, and the working conditions are well
organised in the formal sector. The problems primarily occur in what forms the
backbone of the economy, the informal sector. Here, the salaries are often lower
than the fixed minimum salary, the working hours longer, safety procedures almost
non-existent, and trade unions an unknown concept.
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GHANA
Type of government: Republic
Area: 238,537 km2
Highest mountain: Mt Afadjato (885 m)
Longest rivers: Mouhoun/Svarta Volta, Nakambe/Vita Volta
Capital: Accra (2.0 million inhabitants in 2000, including suburbs)
Biggest lake: Lake Volta (approx. 8,500 km2, artificial)
Population: 20.2 million (estimate 2002)
Inhabitants/km2: 79 (2000)
Literacy: men 74 %, women 66 % (2002)
Ethnic groups: Akan (inc. Ashanti and Fanti), Mole-dagbani, Ewe, Ga-andangme
Languages: English is the official language, Akan, Ewe, Mole-dagomba and Ga are the
biggest domestic languages
Religion: Christians 64 %, Animists 7-30 % (data varies), Muslims approx. 15 %
GNP/inhabitant: USD 299 (2002)
Proportion of GNP for different sectors: agriculture 36 %, industry 25 %, service,
trade and miscellaneous 39 % (2001)
Natural resources: gold, diamonds, manganese, bauxite
Key exports: gold, cocoa, wood products, diamonds
Membership of international and regional organisations: UN, Commonwealth,
AU, ECOWAS, IMF, World Bank
Information taken from Länder i fickformat, Swedish Institute of International Affairs, 2004
Children’s rights
Ghana has ratified the UN child convention. A programme run in cooperation with
different aid donors is in place to implement the child convention. An action plan
to eliminate hazardous child labour has also been produced in collaboration with
ILO.
Ghana is a country of origin, destination and transit for trafficking of women and
children. One of the reasons for this is the lack of a specific law that unequivocally
criminalizes trafficking. Within the framework of the initiatives of the regional
cooperation organisation, ECOWAS, Ghana has now undertaken to set up a
National Commission on Trafficking.
Child labour
Child labour is prohibited, yet is common in Ghana. According to one of the ILO
surveys of child labour, an estimated 1.27 million children younger than 15 in Ghana
work under difficult and hazardous conditions. In 2002 the International Institute of
Tropical Agriculture carried out a survey of 85 villages in the district of Brong Ahafo,
Ashanti, Eastern and Western region, areas that together represent approximately 90
percent av Ghana’s total cocoa production.63 The report showed that an estimated
38,700 children in Ghana helped clear land for cocoa cultivation. Of these, the
majority are 15-17 years of age, 44 percent are children between 10 and 14, and 3
percent of the children working to clear land are under 10 years old.
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Often, children work in a small family company. Forced labour and slavery-like
conditions also exist.
The Ghanaian state has taken certain measures to reduce the occurrence of child labour.
The government has ratified the ILO Convention No. 182, which prohibits the worst
forms of child labour.
In the past, the workforce on the cocoa farms in the area has mainly comprised family
members, but a growing drift to the cities has reduced the supply of labour, particularly
in the high seasons of June and December/January. This attracts migrant workers who
move into the area. The migrant workers largely comprise family members, who
accompany the person supporting the family from the northern parts of the country.
Children from these families comprise a major part of the workforce.
Narook Samuel, an officer at the Produce Buying Company (PBC) in Sefwi-Wiawso,
explains that child labour is a common problem in many sectors in society. The
production of cocoa is no exception. The children that work on the cocoa farms are
often members of families that migrated from the country’s northern parts, but the
proportion of children who migrate by themselves has increased recently. Narook
emphasises that the children who moved voluntarily to the area are just as vulnerable
as children that come via agents. The majority of the interviewees state that poverty is
the main cause of child labour.
Incidence of child labour
Stephen Obeng Nyamekye, responsible for children’s rights issues in the Child Labour
Monitoring System (CLMS) in the village of Fawokabra, describes child trafficking in
the area.
“In the Sefwi-Wiawso area, it is mainly the managers of the cocoa
farms who engage in trafficking children. When the manager is to
visit his home village in the northern part of the country, he informs a
number of cocoa farmers about the trip, and discusses any labour
needs. The manager takes orders for the number of children required,
and is responsible for recruiting and transporting the children.
On arrival in his home village, the agent contacts the children’s parents
or other guardians. The poverty in the north means that many people are
attracted by the prospect of an extra income, or simply by the fact that
there would be one less mouth to feed. Consequently, in many cases, the
parents or guardians receive no payment. Some parents hand over their
children voluntarily to the agent, but children from the north sometimes
arrive on the farms wearing their school uniforms. This may be a sign that
the children are collected during school hours without the approval of
their parents, but it may be that the school uniform is the only suitable
clothing the child has in which to travel.
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The agreed period of contract for the children is usually between one and two years, after
which a new contract period can begin. Reward can be both financial and take other forms.
For example, a common practice is a cash payment and a bicycle for boys, and a sewing
machine for girls, at the end of the period of contract.
When the children are handed over to the cocoa farmer, the agent receives payment. The
cocoa farmer now takes over responsibility for food, accommodation, health care and
protection. The cocoa farmer is obliged to report the child’s behaviour to the agent. The
agent acts as a substitute for the parents.”
The workforce varies according to the different stages of cocoa production. Men,
women and children work with different tasks. Children over 15 are used to prepare
the ground for new cultivation. Boys clear vegetation, and girls collect what has
been cleared.
When an area has been cleared, new planting takes place, mainly by adults but
boys of 15 and above often take part in this work.
When the Institute of African Studies interviewed the regional manager for agriculture
in Sefwi-Wiawso she says that only a few farmers have been trained in how to use
pesticides due to lack of personnel. The primary aim is to train farmers who can pass
on the information in their respective villages.
Interviewed farmers confirm that they have not been trained in handling pesticides.
Some say that the local salesman has instructed them. The farmers also say that
they use the preparation without any safety equipment. Farmers interviewed in
Bonwire say that colleagues have suffered acute skin and eye diseases because of
the pesticides. The majority of the interviewees deny that children are used as
labour when pesticide is being used, except for fetching water to mix with the
agent. Others say that they use child labour in all phases in the cultivation of cocoa,
including pesticide use. The conclusion from this is that the children fetching
water are probably also exposed to the pesticides when they walk through the
sprayed areas.
Working conditions
Trade unions were unknown to the interviewed workers. According to the Institute
of African Studies, only employees in the formal sector are members of trade unions.
The workers in Fawokabra say that regular wages are primarily paid to temporary
employees working for two to three weeks during the high season. The average wage
in the area for a man is the equivalent of approximately SEK 10 per day, and about
half for women and children between 14 and 17. Those people working on the cocoa
farms on a more permanent basis receive lower wages. It is common that the manager
of the cocoa farm is not paid until after three to six months work and, in some cases,
they are not paid until the cocoa is sold. On these occasions a contract sum has been
agreed that is paid after each harvest. Payment varies according to the worker’s health
and age, and the size of the cocoa farm. A figure mentioned is SEK 2,700. In addition
to financial payment, the administrator’s agreement includes the right to grow crops to
sustain the family on land that is part of the cocoa farm.
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Rainforest Alliance
Rainforest Alliance is an independent
organisation that has developed certification
systems for different product groups. Rainforest
Alliance currently has certified cocoa farms in
Ecuador and Brazil. A project has just been
started to certify cocoa farms in Ghana and in
the Ivory Coast. The long-term objective is to be
able to offer certificated cocoa from these
countries also.
Rainforest Alliance has set up social and environmental criteria. The producers must
work to reduce the use of pesticides. The chemicals used must be approved by
national authorities and the US environmental agency (EPA), and they must not be
listed by the Pesticide Action Network*. Chemicals that are forbidden in their
original countries or by national or international agreement may not be used. There
are rules about protective clothing, and how the pesticides are to be handled. The
criteria also state that ecosystems are to be preserved and allowed to recover when
possible. New and enlarged farms must not damage the ecosystems.
Employees must earn at least the minimum wage. Workforce agents are not
permitted. The working environment must be safe and healthy, and employees must
be trained in how to handle pesticides. Seasonal workers have the same rights as
permanent employees. The criteria also regulate the participation of children and
young people in the work. Specialists from local environmental and development
organisations carry out checks. The purpose of this is to give the certification a local
base. The checks are carried out each year, and sometimes without prior warning.
The checks include interviews with both management and employees.
Sources: Rainforest Alliance, Sustainable Agriculture Standard and Additional Criteria
and Indicators for Cocoa Production, 2000.
* PAN’s list comprises 17 highly toxic agents, including Paraquat.
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Part 5: Initiatives to reduce child
labour in cocoa production
Child trafficking and the use of child labour in the cocoa industry have attracted
major international attention. Consequently, authorities, public organisations, UN
bodies and chocolate companies have started different projects aimed at tackling the
problem.
American proposal for legislative
amendment forces the companies
to take action
As previously described in Chapter 1, several reports in 2001 showed that child labour
was used on West African cocoa farms. A Member of Congress, the Democrat Eliot
Engel, introduced a legislative amendment to the American Congress. The proposal
included a labelling and monitoring system that guaranteed that labelled chocolate
products were not produced using forced labour and the worst forms of child labour.
The House of Representatives approved the legislative proposal. In the Senate,
Senator Tom Harkin supported the proposal.
To avoid the risk of a consumer boycott and a legislative amendment that would result
in the chocolate industry violating the law, its representatives gave notice that measures
would be taken to solve the problem of child labour.
A joint action plan was produced by the chocolate industry, the governments of the
United States and the Ivory Coast, human rights organisations, and international trade
unions. The action plan was called The Harkin-Engel Protocol, and was formalised in
the autumn of 2001.
The protocol comprised five time-specific goals:
1. A study of child labour in the Ivory Coast was to be completed.
2. The participating organisations were to agree on a more detailed
action plan by 1 December 2001.
3. All participating organisations were to enter into a binding
agreement by 1 May 2002.
4. A foundation working in the Ivory Coast should be formed on 1
July 2002. The foundation was to be funded, but not controlled, by
the chocolate industry. The foundation’s board was to comprise
representatives from all participating organisations. The foundation’s
objective was to support projects aimed at releasing children, and
adult slaves from cocoa farms, and rehabilitating and returning them.
5. In July 2005 a monitoring, verification and certification system was
to be in place that was completely independent of the chocolate
industry. Its purpose was to make random inspections of cocoa farms,
thereby guaranteeing that the cocoa purchased is completely free from
all forms of hazardous child labour.
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Many human rights organisations felt that the Harkin-Engel Protocol was a step in the
right direction, but it was criticised for not attacking the root cause of child labour in
the cocoa industry, i.e. the unstable and often excessively low price of cocoa.
As a result of the Protocol, the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) foundation was
formed in July 2002, with its headquarters in Geneva. Its members are the international
cocoa and chocolate companies, via their international organisations, and NGOs such
as Free the Slaves, Global March Against Child Labor, Child Labor Coalition and
international employee and consumer organisations. ILO also acts as advisor to the
board. ICI is funded by the international chocolate industry, and has the task of
supporting projects to develop methods aimed at ending the worst forms of child labour
in cocoa production. It also aims to develop programmes for research, exchange of
information, and activities against child labour, and by doing so introduce
internationally agreed standards in cocoa production. ICI is also to develop an
independent monitoring system to appraise and report on compliance with these
standards.
In February 2005 Senator Tom Harkin announced that negotiations with the chocolate
industry had virtually broken down, and that the time schedule for getting a
monitoring system in place by 1 July 2005 could not be kept.64
The parties had not succeeded in introducing a monitoring system that eliminates the
harmful forms of child labour in the intended time, so the chocolate industry made a
joint announcement with Senator Tom Harkin. The international chocolate industry
has undertaken to have a functioning certification system in place, covering half of the
cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, within three years, i.e. by 1 July 2008.65
Another result of the chocolate industry failing to introduce a credible monitoring
system by the agreed date is that American civil rights and human rights organisations
issued a writ of summons on 14 July 2005 against the major cocoa buyers, Nestlé,
Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill. Since the Senate had not yet adopted the
legislative amendment submitted by Eliot Engel, the writ was based on two federal
laws, the Torture Victims Protection Act and the Alien Torture Claims Act.
Jacob Patton, manager of the Free the Slaves organisation, made a statement as
follows:
“Naturally it is a failure that we could not keep to the agreed time schedule.
Our level of ambition was too high. I see it as positive that non-profit
organisations, the international chocolate industry and authorities have united,
and are working together to solve the problems in the cocoa industry. We will
continue to cooperate with the chocolate industry to reach the objective of
eliminating slavery in cocoa production.”
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Part 6: What are the chocolate
companies doing to reduce the
problem?
Cloetta Fazer
In its Code of Conduct, Cloetta Fazer declares that the company respects the UN
Declaration of Human Rights and accepts its responsibility to maintain the rights of
employees and society in its business activities. On the subject of raw materials, and in
particular cocoa, Cloetta Fazer says that it is active in international cooperation aimed
at improving the conditions for the company’s producers of raw materials. Issues that
concern the right to collective bargaining and the right to join unions, and child labour,
are taken up in the company’s Code of Conduct under the heading “Relations with
employees”. Consequently, this cannot be deemed to cover any of the company’s
stakeholders other than those directly employed by the company.
Cloetta Fazer does not buy unprocessed cocoa beans. The raw materials it purchases
for its chocolate manufacturing are in the form of cocoa butter, cocoa mass and cocoa
powder, which is processed by Cloetta Fazer’s sub-suppliers in the Netherlands and
Germany. An example is Gerkens Cacao in the Netherlands, a subsidiary of the global
Cargill Group. The price Cloetta Fazer pays comprises the price of the cocoa beans,
(fixed on the cocoa exchange in London), the processing costs (the supplier’s
supplement), and the currency costs (as the cocoa is purchased in British pounds).
Production manager Jon Sundén says that the company mainly buys cocoa grown in
Ecuador and West Africa, primarily from the Ivory Coast and Ghana. He says that the
company is now more aware of the conditions on the cocoa farms in West Africa and,
as a result of this, joined the World Cocoa Foundation in December 2005. His view is
that this organisation works with tangible support projects related to the cocoa
industry in West Africa. As a member of the WCF Cloetta Fazer participates in the
projects currently run by the organisation. The company is not directly linked to any
specific project, but Jon Sundén says that Cloetta Fazer has the functions in place to
allocate funds for active support of individual projects. Cloetta Fazer is also a member
of CAOBISCO (Chocolate, Biscuit & Confectionary Industries of the EU), which
supports the work of the International Cocoa Initiative.
Cloetta Fazer has no representation of its own in any of the countries that produce the
cocoa it uses. Nor does the company carry out any checks of the working conditions on
the cocoa farms. According to Jon Sundén, the monitoring that is done comprises an
annual check of the sub-supplier. The method of checking is a physical visit to the
premises of the sub-supplier to review and check documentation, policies and
requirements. This is to monitor how the acquisition of the cocoa beans corresponds
with Cloetta Fazer’s own policies. In its general supplier requirements, Cloetta Fazer
states that its suppliers are to follow the company’s Code of Conduct, which takes a
position on these issues. Jon Sundén says that he does not know whether the
company’s sub-suppliers carry out any checks of individual farms regarding labour
rights or social aspects.
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Jon Sundén talks about the certification system that is under development as a result of
the Harkin-Engels Protocol. “The problems on the cocoa farms are not easy to solve. It
is unfortunate that a realistic time schedule was not set up from the start.”
He is doubtful whether a successful certification system will be in position according to
the new time schedule. “There are many factors involved, and if the civil war in the
Ivory Coast is not resolved, it will be difficult to get a successful monitoring system in
place.”
Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods has a general Code of Conduct that covers the activities of the entire
group, including purchase and processing of cocoa. According to the Code of Conduct,
Kraft Foods undertakes to work actively with its suppliers and other stakeholders to
eliminate child labour and forced labour.
Annemieke Wijn is sustainability director for the company’s international unit, Kraft
Foods International.
“We mostly buy processed cocoa from the sub-suppliers in Europe. The proportion
of cocoa beans that are purchased directly from exporters is only a very small
proportion of the company’s total purchases of cocoa. Kraft Foods has no
representation of its own in Ghana or the Ivory Coast, and at present does not check
the working conditions.”
Annemieke Wijn goes on to say that her company currently only checks that its
suppliers and sub-suppliers have a policy that corresponds with that of Kraft Foods.
“There is growing awareness of the importance of avoiding hazardous child labour
and forced labour further down in the supplier chain.”
Kraft Foods is currently certifying parts of its coffee purchases in accordance with the
criteria of the certification body, Rainforest Alliance. It is also planning to try to
certify some of the cocoa that is grown in West Africa, in accordance with Rainforest
Alliance requirements.
“The main long-term objective is to create the conditions whereby children are no
longer needed as cheap labour.”
Annemieke Wijn states that Kraft Foods has already started this certification process.
Kraft Foods is cooperating with the German aid organisation GTZ, the American aid
organisation USAID, and has selected two areas in the central and eastern parts of the
Ivory Coast (Delao and Abengourou). A project has recently started in these areas
aimed at supporting the farmers. Measures such as training in sustainable cultivation
will help to create the conditions so that the farms in the long term can be certified in
accordance with the Rainforest Alliance criteria. Over a three-year period, the project
will cover 3-4,000 cocoa farms. The plan is to gradually increase the scale of this
project.
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Irene Gulbrandsen, Scandinavian Information Manager at Kraft Foods in Norway,
emphasises that international chocolate companies, together with other parties, have
a responsibility for tackling the problems on the cocoa farms. Several initiatives
have already started in cooperation between international and local organisations,
and authorities in the countries concerned, to support the farmers’ attempts to
develop sustainability. She mentions in particular three areas in which Kraft Foods
is active: the company’s support to Save the Children’s work to prevent children
being recruited as soldiers and reuniting them instead with their families and offer
them education; cooperation with the aid organisation Winrock International, which
offers children and young people training in farming techniques; and thirdly,
financial support for the Farmer Field Schools. These are aimed at increasing the
cocoa farmers’ knowledge of sustainable cocoa cultivation, and also improving the
profitability of the farms.
“Mutual respect is important between the parties involved in the work to improve the
situation for the cocoa farmers. Instead of competing about how the work is to be done,
Kraft Foods tries to engage in open dialogue in the work towards the common
objective, which is to improve living conditions in the poor countries that produce raw
materials,” says Irene Gulbrandsen.
Nestlé
The Nestlé Group is the world’s biggest producer of food. Nestlé was founded in 1866,
and currently has 247,000 employees. It engages in activity in nearly all countries of
the world. In 2004 consolidated profits were SEK 40 billion. The same year, sales
were SEK 522 billion66.
In the group’s business principles Nestlé states that the company will follow the UN’s
ethical directive for business, Global Compact, and the ILO conventions. Nestlé
requires that the company’s suppliers ensure that production has not been based on
child labour or forced labour, that all employees are treated with respect, and that they
have a safe working environment. National legislation about working hours, salaries
and overtime pay are to be respected, and union rights are to be respected.
When SwedWatch contacts Nestlé we hear from information manager Marie
Louise Elmgren that the group’s American lawyers encouraged her not to answer our
questions about the company’s trade with cocoa. She explains that this is because of the
ongoing legal process in the United States involving the company. The background is
that Nestlé, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and Cargill, all of which are major players
in the cocoa business, have been sued by the American human rights organisation, the
International Labour Rights Fund (ILRF), for using cocoa that has been grown and
harvested using child labour. The process is based on testimonies from a group of
people that were taken from Mali to the Ivory Coast and were forced to work 12 to 14
hours a day without pay, minimal sleep and food, and were subjected to repeated
assault. The three who represent the prosecuting party are proceeding anonymously
because of the fear of reprisals from the farmers and local buyers of cocoa.
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ILRF’s legal representative, Natacha Thys, says in a statement:
“It is clear that Nestlé, ADM and Cargill for several years have ignored
repeated and well-documented reports about the farms that provide the
companies with cocoa. The reports show that the farms use child
labourers living under slavery-like conditions. They could have brought
about a change long ago, but they chose to look the other way. Our view
is that our last resort is to start litigation.”67
The case has yet to be tried.
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Part 7: Initiatives to improve the
farmers’ situation
Cocoa farmers are usually small-scale farmers who are unable to negotiate a price
for their harvest and who lack access to market information. This leaves them totally
in the hands of the cocoa buyers. Their ability to provide for themselves depends on
trends in the world price of cocoa. A number of different initiatives are in place to
improve the position of the farmers.
Fairtrade/Rättvisemärkt and KRAV labelled chocolate
Fairtrade/Rättvisemärkt is an ethical and social product labelling that promotes human
rights. Fairtrade/Rättvisemärkt is a member of Fair Trade Labeling Organizations
International (ILO), which works with 522 producer organisations in 52 countries
around the world.
Farmers with the Fairtrade/Rättvisemärkt label are guaranteed a fixed minimum price.
This protects the farmers against major price fluctuations.
Fair Trade organisations such as Fairtrade/Rättvisemärkt work to reduce the farmers’
dependence on the world market price. If the world market price exceeds the
minimum price that Fair Trade offers, the farmer is paid a premium per ton of cocoa.
The importer also undertakes to enter into a long-term agreement with the farmer,
thereby assuring the farmer a long-term and stable income that can support his family.
The farmer undertakes to cultivate crops in a socially and environmentally
responsible way. Fairtrade/Rättvisemärkt chocolate is now available from eleven
countries, including Ghana. However, Fairtrade/Rättvisemärkt does not yet apply to
any farmers in the Ivory Coast.
IFOAM is a global umbrella organisation for the organic movement in 108 countries.
The organisation accredits monitoring bodies, such as KRAV in Sweden. KRAV
represents quality in terms of environment, animal care, health and social
responsibility. Chocolate with the KRAV label, for example, means that is has been
produced without chemical pesticides and artificial fertiliser. No KRAV-labelled
cocoa comes from Africa.
Cooperatives
After the liberalisation of the cocoa trade in Ghana, the Kuapa Kokoo cooperative
was formed in 1993. The purpose was to buy the members’ cocoa and sell it to the
state purchasing unit, The Cocoa Buying Board, as well as promoting the farmers’
interests. Over the years, Kuapa Kokoo has developed into a powerful body on the
Ghanaian cocoa market. Today it has more than 35,000 farmer members from 937
settlements in five of the six regions where cocoa is grown in Ghana.68 Kuapa Kokoo
consists of five units.69
• Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Union, comprising village associations that elect
representatives to the national association.
• Kuapa Kokoo Limited, which handles cocoa trading.
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• Kuapa Kokoo Farmers Trust. Responsible for allocation of funding intended for
social projects.
• Kuapa Kokoo Credit Union. Offers credit and banking services to the farmers.
• Day Chocolate Company. London-based production and sales company for the
Divine chocolate label.
Kuapa Kokoo is run on democratic principles, and engages in buying and selling
cocoa, but also offers services such as credit, training, and advice about cultivation
techniques. In addition, the cooperative runs projects that support communities, such
as schools, drinking water, etc.
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Conclusion
In recent years, the chocolate companies have skilfully marketed chocolate products in
Sweden. The marketing has had a great effect. Advertisements, articles and features on
both radio and television promote all the positive benefits of chocolate.
But there is a dark side of chocolate that is seldom mentioned in the media. People are
often forced to work under very difficult conditions to produce the cocoa used to make
the chocolate sold in Sweden. SwedWatch’s survey shows that Swedish chocolate
companies such as Kraft Foods, Nestlé and Cloetta/Fazer cannot guarantee that their
products are produced in a way that guarantees human rights.
Kraft Foods products include the famous chocolate brands of Marabou, Toblerone,
Twist, Dajm and Japp. Cloetta Fazer’s products include Dumle, Kexchoklad, Geisha
and Plopp, while Nestlé markets After Eight, Kit Kat and Smarties.
SwedWatch has conducted three surveys, one in Ghana and two in the Ivory Coast. The
surveys show that the conditions for both farmers and workers are worst in the Ivory
Coast.
One of the fundamental reasons why the workforce on the cocoa farms is so vulnerable
is because the purchase price of cocoa is far too low. This hits both farmers and workers
hard. Nearly 90 percent of all cocoa produced in the Ivory Coast is grown by smallscale farmers, on holdings smaller than five hectares. The situation in Ghana is similar.
Profitability is very low. The price of cocoa beans has fallen drastically since the 1980s,
and is now only a quarter of what it was 20 years ago. In addition, new manufacturing
methods have reduced the demand for cocoa, which has forced the price down even
more. One of the strategies the cocoa farmers use in order to survive the crisis is to
force the price of labour down as far as possible.
What has attracted most attention in the world is the practice of using child labour,
working under almost slavery-like conditions on the cocoa farms. However, it is
important to stress that children suffering on the farms comprise a minor part of the
workforce. Most of the people living under very difficult conditions on the farms are
men over 18 years old. Nearly all measures taken by international associations,
governments and NGOs are aimed at reducing hazardous child labour. However, the
situation of ordinary workers has been overlooked, which naturally is a problem. It is
very important to find mechanisms that ensure that the human rights of both groups are
respected. This report also shows that many adults started working as children, and then
continued into adulthood. The transition from child to adult in West Africa is often
gradual, so people in West Africa often find it difficult to accept directives that are
based on a clear boundary between child and adult.
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An intensive debate has taken place about the actual extent of child trafficking. It is
important that this issue is brought under the spotlight, but such a discussion risks
concealing the social and economic structure of the child labour. By all accounts, it is
a minor proportion of child labourers that are sold by professional traffickers. Many
young people under 18 leave home voluntarily to earn money for their families and
themselves. Often they have received information about what to do, and whom they
should contact, from a relative or friend. The majority of those people interviewed in
SwedWatch’s survey have been recruited by a representative from a farm, often a
relative of the owner, who then arranged the transport to the farm. There are also
professional agents who smuggle groups of people from Mali and Burkina Faso into
the Ivory Coast and Ghana and then deliver them to different cocoa farms.
Regardless of how the children and young people end up on the cocoa farms, they
can suffer. The biggest problems are lack of formal, written agreements and checks,
which means that the children and young people have no rights in practice. Many of
the children and young people are related to the people who own the farms, which
usually means that they are treated better than those that have no ties to the owner at
all. However, this can vary.
SwedWatch has found that the main problems on
the cocoa farms are the following:
Hazardous child labour
Hazardous child labour is primarily found on the farms of the Ivory Coast, but also
occurs in Ghana. However, this is politically a very sensitive issue, and international
reports and organisations describe the phenomenon in different ways. Both the Ivory
Coast and Ghana have ratified ILO Convention No. 182, in which the countries
undertake to ensure that children do not engage in work activities that damage their
health. According to a recent survey, over 200,000 children and young people work
under dangerous conditions in the Ivory Coast.
Unlike Ghana, the Ivory Coast has also ratified ILO Convention No. 138 about
minimum age for work. Under this convention, children under 14 may not be
employed, and children under 18 may not work with activities that jeopardise their
health. However, surveys by SwedWatch and other organisations suggest that this
convention is not applied.
The work on the farms is tough, and the heavy lifting can cause skeletal and
muscular injuries. Many children are also seriously injured when they work with
machetes. Another problem is that the children often handle dangerous pesticides
without safety equipment. There was no access to complete safety equipment on
any of the farms that were included in the SwedWatch survey. In addition, the
hours of work were seldom regulated.
Trafficking of children, young people and adults
People are trafficked and smuggled to cocoa farms in both the Ivory Coast and Ghana.
The workers come mainly from the neighbouring countries of Burkina Faso and
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Mali. However, the most common form of recruitment in SwedWatch’s survey is when
representatives from the farms manage the entire transport chain. The low living
standard in the neighbouring countries, and the need to generate income both for
themselves and their families, is the main reason why children and young people look
for work on the cocoa farms.
It is important that measures to improve the situation for children and young people
consider all types of recruitment and do not just focus on trafficking.
Vulnerability of the migrant workers
The majority of the workers on the cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast are foreign
nationals, mainly from Burkina Faso and Mali. They usually lack formal residence
permits in the country, which makes them very vulnerable. It also makes it difficult to
enforce the requirement to give them formal contracts of employment. The armed
conflict in the Ivory Coast has exacerbated their situation still further. The
government has claimed that many of the migrant workers are allied with the rebel
forces in the northern part of the country, so they are subjected to reprisals from the
government forces. Many workers, and farmers too, have been forced to flee back to
their home countries. This problem affects adults, as well as children and young
people.
Forced labour
By all accounts, forced labour exists on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast. ILO defines
forced labour as work or service that is demanded of a person under threat of
punishment. Some of those people interviewed in SwedWatch’s survey say that they
have experienced this. The most common way of preventing workers from leaving a
farm is not to pay them for a year, so they do not want to, or cannot, leave the farm, in
spite of the poor treatment.
Several of the workers interviewed by SwedWatch say that they have been punished
in various ways when the employer has not been satisfied with them. An example is
that the employer has refused to give food to people that were ill.
It is common that the employers have paid for the transport and the bribes needed for
the workers to reach the farms in question from one of the neighbouring countries.
These costs have then been deducted from the workers’ wages, which is not
something that was agreed upon in advance.
Pesticides
The farmers and workers interviewed say they have not been instructed in how to
handle pesticides. Some people say that the person selling the pesticide has provided
information. The workers also say that they use the preparation without any safety
equipment at all, i.e. gloves and facemasks, causing both serious accidents and chronic
poisoning injuries.
Several of the people interviewed on the farms in Ghana deny that children are used as
labour when pesticides are used. They claim that children are only used to fetch water
for mixing with the pesticide. Others say that they use children in all phases of cocoa
cultivations, including the use of pesticides. From this, the conclusion can be drawn
that the children used to fetch water are probably also exposed to the pesticide when
they walk through the sprayed areas.
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All interviewees in the Ivory Coast say that they have worked with spraying, and
several say they have become ill afterwards. None of them have used safety equipment
and none have received medical treatment afterwards.
The workers state that one of the pesticides they have used is Paraquat. The agent
comprises a major risk to both people and the environment. Eye injuries, skin
rashes and nosebleeds are common among those people that work with the agent.
Paraquat attacks the lungs and can, in the worst case, cause death through
suffocation. Paraquat also accumulates in the ground, thereby forming a
contamination risk for the groundwater.
Lack of formal contracts
None of the workers that SwedWatch interviewed had formal, written contracts, neither
in the Ivory Coast nor in Ghana. This makes it difficult for the workers to claim breach
of contract. They receive no overtime pay, even if the agreed hours of work are
exceeded. There is no specification of the working conditions that are to apply, no
social protection, and no guarantee that the workers will receive the wage that was
agreed with the employer at the start.
Difficulty of collective organisation
Several decades ago, both Ghana and the Ivory Coast ratified the ILO Conventions
Numbers 87 and 98 about the right to free organisation and collective agreements.
However, this does not seem to have led to any tangible improvements for the
workers in cocoa production.
In SwedWatch’s survey, the interviewed workers in both Ghana and the Ivory Coast
say that they have never even heard of any trade unions in the area. In Ghana, the
national trade organisation, TUC, has tried to organise farmworkers, but this has not
succeeded in covering the whole of the country. In addition, the farmworkers often feel
that they do not have time and the opportunity to participate in the work of the trade
unions.
There seems to be absolutely no organisation of the cocoa workers in most of the Ivory
Coast. This means that the workers have no party that can represent them in conflicts or
represent them in different fora.
Another factor that makes organisation of workers difficult is that they are often in
geographically isolated locations.
Wages too low to live on
The workers themselves say that their biggest problem is the pay, which is too low to
support themselves and their families. SwedWatch’s survey also shows that the
employers often pay a lower wage than that agreed at the start.
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What is being done to improve the situation?
The alarming reports in 2001 about children suffering on cocoa farms in the Ivory
Coast helped to force both cocoa companies and political decision-makers into
action. The chocolate industry, the governments of the United States and the Ivory
Coast, and human rights organisations agreed on an action plan, the Harkin-Engel
Protocol, to improve the poor conditions. The action plan contained five datespecific goals that were to be attained. The most important targets were to conduct a
thorough survey of the scale of the problem and to develop a monitoring and
certification system for cocoa production that was completely independent of the
chocolate industry. This system was to be in place by 1 July 2005. The aim was that
inspectors were to make random inspections of cocoa farms, in order to guarantee
that the cocoa was produced under acceptable working conditions.
However, the monitoring and certification system is delayed and, according to the
latest information, it will not come into effect until 1 July 2008. The UN body for
labour rights issues, ILO, is advisor to the Protocol. In 2002 the International Cocoa
Initiative (ICI) foundation was formed, with its headquarters in Geneva. The
foundation comprises both the international cocoa and chocolate industry and human
rights organisations. The main purpose is to work to eliminate the worst forms of child
labour (ILO Convention No. 182) in cocoa production. This is to be done through
monitoring work on site in West Africa and through political lobbying. ICI has also
started pilot projects in the Ivory Coast and in Ghana that are to serve as models for
sustainable and just production of cocoa. ILO’s programme for eliminating child
labour, IPEC, is supporting ICI with resources, advice and statistical information.
One major project in West Africa, supported by organisations such as ILO and
ICI, is WACAP. This project aims to help children of farmers in West Africa to
attend school. Measures include support and training for the farmers.
The Swedish chocolate producers are helping to develop the monitoring systems
described above through their membership of the trade organisation CAOBISCO
(Association of the Chocolate, Biscuit & Confectionery Industries of the EU). In
turn, CAOBISCO is one of the driving parties in developing the monitoring and
certification system that has been postponed until 1 July 2008. However, at
present the Swedish chocolate industry lacks control over the conditions on the
cocoa farms.
Several NGOs are also working actively to improve the situation for the children
working on the cocoa farms. Save the Children Canada has given the subject a
lot of attention. Measures include lobbying to try to enable the different parties
to keep to the time schedule for the action plan specified in the Harkin-Engel
Protocol.
The international institute, Sustainable Tree Crops Programme, of the International
Institute for Tropical Agriculture is working to increase productivity on the
farms and to enable the cocoa farmers to market the cocoa. One of the aims of
this support is to increase profitability so that the farmers will treat their
workforce better and reduce the use the child labour.
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Both Save the Children Canada and the UN children’s rights organisation UNICEF are
engaged in activities in Burkina Faso and Mali to prevent children and young people
being exploited on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast and Ghana.
Even if most human rights organisations feel that the Harkin-Engel Protocol forms a
step in the right direction, they are careful to point out that the most important reason
for people suffering on the cocoa farms is the low purchase price for cocoa.
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Recommendations
Together with its member organisation, Church of Sweden, SwedWatch makes the
following recommendations to the chocolate manufacturing companies, to consumers
and to authorities. The recommendations are based on information supplied by AntiSlavery International and Save the Children Canada.
Recommendations directed at the chocolate manufacturing companies
• At present the chocolate manufacturers have poor or no information about which
farmer has produced the cocoa they buy. It is important that the companies develop
a system so they can identify the areas from where their cocoa comes, which would
enable them to improve poor social and environmental conditions.
• The chocolate manufacturers should create an interim monitoring system of
production in the Ivory Coast and in Ghana before the international monitoring and
certification system comes into effect on 1 July 2008.
To begin with, they should prepare policy documents and codes of conduct that
prohibit child labour and forced labour and state that reasonable working conditions
should apply in all stages of cocoa production. The policy and codes are to be
supported by company management and downwards in the organisation. All
stakeholders, such as employees, sub-suppliers, consumers, workers and local
authorities in the cocoa-producing countries, should also support the policy.
• The companies should carry out random checks to inspect conditions in the different
regions of cocoa production. This would allow the companies to discover and rectify
problems in the production process. It is important that the checks do not just focus
on child labour, but also include checks of the working conditions of all workers.
• The companies should encourage all stakeholders with whom they work to report
any discoveries of violations of human rights and the ILO conventions mentioned
above. The companies must therefore inform employees, sub-suppliers and other
stakeholders of the requirements specified in the companies’ policies and codes of
conduct.
• The companies should actively work to ensure that the monitoring and certification
system based on the Harkin-Engel Protocol really does come into effect on 1 July
2008. The work of the trade organisations is important, but the companies
themselves must drive the process and show how they are doing this.
• The companies should look to cooperate with the international community and with
the countries that import and produce cocoa, with the aim of tackling the problems
of lack of respect for human rights and the environment. All players should try to
work in the spirit of the Harkin-Engel Protocol, even before the monitoring and
certification system comes into effect on 1 July 2008.
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• The companies should demand full compliance with the international conventions
that the cocoa-producing countries have ratified. Regular violations of the
conventions should be reported to ILO.
• The companies should work actively and long-term to introduce and/or
expand their range of Fairtrade/Rättvisemärkt and KRAV-labelled chocolate
products, or products whose labelling has at least as high a standard as those
named.
Recommendations directed at public authorities
• The government has the ultimate responsibility for ensuring compliance with the
country’s laws and international regulations that it has undertaken to respect.
The labour rights regulations in Ghana and the Ivory Coast are to protect people’s
working conditions. Both the countries have ratified the ILO Convention No. 182,
which prohibits child labour. They have also ratified the UN children’s convention,
and ILO Convention Nos. 87 and 98, about the right to free organisation and the
right to sign collective agreements. The governments in both countries are
responsible for informing the employers about the applicable regulatory framework
and for ensuring compliance with this. The government is also responsible for
ensuring that the general public in the country is informed about workers’ rights.
Governments and their authorities should improve inspection procedures and
ensure compliance with the laws aimed at protecting against the worst forms of
child labour and guaranteeing employee rights.
Recommendations directed at consumers
• The consumers should also take their responsibility and put pressure on the
chocolate companies and on the retailers that sell chocolate. They should ask
both companies and retailers how they can guarantee that the chocolate has been
made in a way that respects both social and environmental requirements. They
should also demand Fairtrade/Rättvisemärkt and KRAV chocolate in the shops,
so that the shops extend their range of such products.
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Footnotes
1
www.chokladsajten.com
Child Labour in the Cocoa Sector of West Africa, International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture, August 2002
3
International Programme on Elimination of Child Labour, International Labour
Organization, Hazardous Child Labour in Agriculture, Cocoa, March 2004
4
Hur många svenskar tål världen? Miljöeffekter i Syd av svensk konsumtion
Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, Karin Gregow 2000
5
6
7
8
International Cocoa Organisation, 2 May 2000, www.icco.org
9
10
11
LMC International
12
ICCO, Annual Report 2002/2003
13
Tidningen Lutherhjälpen, issue 1, 2005
14
www. ICCO.org, September 2003
15
www.eu-upplysningen.se
16
FIVH-Rapport, 1/2004, Oslo 2004
17
Anti Slavery, 2004, The Cocoa Industry in West Africa, page 49
18
Working practices in cocoa in Cote dÍvoire - A report for the BCCA, January 2001
19
20
Working practices in cocoa in Cote dÍvoire - A report for the BCCA, January 2001
21
Code du travail, 1995, no. 95/15, Titre II, Chapter 2, Article 22.2, 22.3, and 23.8 (http://
natlex.ilo.org/txt/F95CIV01.htm)
22
The Childrens Act, Act 560, 1998, Section 90 (http://natlex.ilo.org/txt/E98GHA01.htm)
23
International Programme on Elimination of Child Labour, International Labour
Organization, Hazardous Child Labour in Agriculture, Cocoa, March 2004
24
ILO, Community Survey 2002
25
26
27
Telephone interview with Swedish Chemical Agency’s pesticide consultation service, 4-4-2005
28
Svenska Freds and skiljedomsföreningen, Fredstidningen Pax 04/1 and Amnesty Press
25-3-2004, Ulf B Andersson
29
European Union/UNICEF project: Support with the health facilities affected by crisis,
2005.
30
Human Rights Watch, December 2005, Cote d’Ivoire: The Human Rights Cost of Political
Impasse
31
Rapport om Mänskliga rättigheter 2004, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, 27 January, 2005
32
Peter Murphy, Reuters, 25 November 2005, Ivory Coast rebels say cocoa funds their fight
33
www.kraftfoodsnordic.com
34
USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Cote d’ Ivoire New Marketing System For Cocoa and
Coffee 2001
35
Global Exchange, The news on chocolate is bittersweet, June 2005, page 2
2
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36
Global Exchange, The news on chocolate is bittersweet, June 2005, page 2
38
Toulmin, Camilla and Gueye, Bara. 2003. Transformations in West African Agriculture and
the Role of the Family Farms. In OECD SAH/D.
39
Lunde, John and Stuart, David. 2003. Development of a Sustainable Cocoa Supply Chain.
The Global Chocolate Group.
40
Seth, Anita. 2003. Children in the chocolate trade: The buying, selling and toiling of West
African child workers in the multi-billion dollar industry. In A Working Paper Series:
Children in the Global Trade. Number 1. Save the Children Canada.
41
IITA. 2002. Child Labor in the Cocoa Sector of West Africa: A Synthesis of findings in
Cameroon, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria. USAID/USDOL/ILO. (www.iita.org)
42
Fieland, Anne and Sanogo, Ibrahim. 2002. Burkina Faso. Child Labor Migration from
Rural Areas: The Magnitude and the Determinants. The World Bank and the International
Federation Terre Des Hommes.
43
Seth, Anita. 2003:59. Children in the chocolate trade: The buying, selling and toiling of
West African child workers in the multi-billion dollar industry. In A Working Paper Series:
Children in the Global Trade. Number 1. Save the Children Canada.
44
1 197 avlönade barnarbetare tillfrågades. Nästan inga flickor rekryteras till kakaoodlingar.
De arbetar istället som hembiträden eller inom serviceyrken. IITA. 2002. Child Labor
in the Cocoa Sector of West Africa: A Synthesis of findings in Cameroon, Ghana, Côte
d’Ivoire and Nigeria. USAID/USDOL/ILO. (www.iita.org).
45
46
IITA. 2002:13 Child Labor in the Cocoa Sector of West Africa: A Synthesis of findings in
Cameroon, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria. USAID/USDOL/ILO. (www.iita.org)
47
Extracts from the study can be found at www.laborrights.org
48
49
Ibid.
50
Thorsen, Dorte. 2005. Child Migrants in Transit. Strategies to Become Adult in Rural
Burkina Faso. Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalisation & Poverty.
University of Sussex.
51
Grootaert, Christian. 1998. Child Labor in Côte d’Ivoire: Incidence and Determinants.
Social Development Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Network.
The World Bank.
52
IITA. 2002:13. Child Labor in the Cocoa Sector of West Africa: A Synthesis of findings in
Cameroon, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria. USAID/USDOL/ILO. (www.iita.org).
53
Ibid.
54
55
Ibid.
56
57
58
Human Development Report, 2001.
37
62
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59
Human Development Report, 2000
Gilbert, Cocoa Market Liberalisation: Its effects on Quality, Futures Trading and Prices,
The Cocoa Association of London 1997
61
62
Ghana Cocoa Board.
63
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Child labor in the cocoa sector of West
Africa, 2002
64
Foss, February 14, 2005, www.CBSNEWS.com
65
Joint statement from U.S. senator Tom Harkin, representative Eliot Engel and the
Chocolate/Cocoa industry on efforts to address the worst form of child labour in cocoa
growing.
66
Information from www.nestle.com
67
International Labor Rights Fund, Wiggins, Childs, Quinn & Pantanzis, July 14, 2005
68
Anti Slavery, 2004, The Cocoa Industry in West Africa page 16
69
www.kuapakokoo.com
70
Ghana Cocoa Board, www.cocobod.gh / Kraft Foods Norden, www.kraftfoodsnordic.com
71
Ghana Cocoa Board, www.cocobod.gh / Kraft Foods Norden, www.kraftfoodsnordic.com
60
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63
References
Andersson, Ulf. B. 2004. Amnesty Press. 25-3-2004. 31 döda i Abidjan” –
fredsprocessen i The Ivory Coast hotad
Anti Slavery International. 2004. The Cocoa Industry in West Africa.
Cloetta Fazer. 2006. www.cloettafazer.se (19-1-2006)
Fieland, Anne and Sanogo, Ibrahim. 2002. Burkina Faso. Child Labor Migration
from Rural Areas: The Magnitude and the Determinants. The World Bank and the
International Federation Terre Des Hommes.
Fremtiden i Våre Hender. 2004.Report. 1/2004.
Ghana Cocoa Board. 2006. www.cocobod.gh (2006-02-15)
Gilbert, Christopher L. 1997. Cocoa Market Liberalisation: its effects on quality,
futures trading and prices. London, The Cocoa Association of London.
Global Exchange. 2005. The news on chocolate is bittersweet. www.globalexchange.
org. (27-1-2006)
Gregow Karin. Swedish Society for Nature Conservation. 2000. Hur många svenskar
tål världen? Miljöeffekter i Syd av svensk konsumtion. www.snf.se (21-11-2005)
Grootaert, Christian. 1998. Child Labor in Côte d’Ivoire: Incidence and Determinants.
Social Development. Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Network.
The World Bank.
Harkin Tom. July 1, 2005. Joint statement from U.S. senator Tom Harkin,
representative Eliot Engel and the Chocolate/Cocoa industry on efforts to address
the worst form of child labour in cocoa growing. http://harkin.senate.gov (6-122005)
Human Rights Watch. 2005. Cote d’Ivoire: The Human Rights Cost of Political
Impasse. www.hrw.org (23-1-2006)
Human Rights Watch. 2005. Humanitarian Consequences of the “No War No Peace”
Impasse. Project: Support with the health facilities affected by crisis. www.hrw.org
(10-2-2006)
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture. 2002. Child Labor in the Cocoa Sector
of West Africa: A Synthesis of findings in Cameroon, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria.
USAID/USDOL/ILO. (www.iita.org)
64
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International Cocoa Organisation. 2005. www.icco.org (23-11-2005)
International Labor Organisation. 2002. Combating Child Labour in cocoa growing.
www.ilo.org. (16-10-2005)
International Labor Organisation. 1995. Code du travail, 1995, no. 95/15, Titre II,
Chapter 2, Article 22.2, 22.3, and 23.8 (http://natlex.ilo.org/txt/F95CIV01.htm)
International Labor Organisation. 1998. The Childrens Act, Act 560, 1998, Section
90. (http://natlex.ilo.org/txt/E98GHA01.htm)
International Labor Rights Fund, Wiggins, Childs, Quinn & Pantanzis. 2005. July
14. Press release 2005. July 14. www.wcqp.com (8-2-2006)
Kakaons historia. 2005. www.chokladsajten.com (15-10-2005)
Kouadjo, Jean Marc; Keho Yaya; Mosso, Rosine Addy; Toutou Kobéhi Guillaume.
2002. Production et offer du cacao et du café en Côte d’Ivoire. Programme Pour la
Durabilité des Cultures Arbustives. International Institute of Tropical Agriculture.
Kraft Foods. 2006.www.kraftfoodsnordic.com (20-1-2006)
Kuapa Kokoo. 2005. www.kuapakokoo.com (13-11-2005)
Livsmedelsstandarder. 2006. www.eu-upplysningen.se (17-1-2006)
Lunde, John and Stuart, David. 2003. Development of a Sustainable Cocoa Supply
Chain. The Global Chocolate Group. www.gov.mu. (8-1-2006)
Nestle. 2006. www.nestle.com (23-1-2006)
Murphy Peter. 2005. Ivory Coast rebels say cocoa funds their fight. Reuters 2005, 25
November .www.today.reuters.com
Seth, Anita. 2003. Children in the chocolate trade: The buying, selling and toiling of
West African child workers in the multi-billion dollar industry. I. A Working Paper
Series: Children in the Global Trade. Number 1. Save the Children Canada.
Svarfar Sofia. 2005. Så påverkar vi en global värld. Tidningen Lutherhjälpen,
issue 1.
The Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and Confectionery Association. 2001. Working practices
in cocoa in Cote dÍvoire. A report for the BCCA.
Thorsen, Dorte. 2005. Child Migrants in Transit. Strategies to Become Adult in Rural
Burkina Faso. Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalisation & Poverty.
University of Sussex.
SwedWatch
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65
Toulmin, Camilla and Gueye, Bara. 2003. Transformations in West African
Agriculture and the Role of the Family Farms. I OECD SAH/D.
UNDP. 2001. Human Development Report. www.hdr.undp.org/
Ministry for Foreign Affairs. 2005. Rapport om Mänskliga rättigheter 2004.
www.regeringen.se (12-10-2005)
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Appendix 1 — Comments by the companies
Comment from Cloetta Fazer
Work for sustainable cocoa cultivation
For many years the international chocolate and cocoa industry has been working
with the cocoa-producing countries to promote environmentally, socially, and
economically sustainable development of cocoa cultivation.
Since December 2005, Cloetta Fazer has been a member of the World Cocoa
Foundation (WCF), which was formed in 2000. WCF is a cooperation body where
companies, organisations and regimes around the world work for sustainable cocoa
cultivation.
For many years we have also been members of the EU organisation CAOBISCO
(Association of Chocolate, Biscuit and Confectionery Industries of the European
Union), which also supports the work for sustainable cocoa cultivation.
Working with expert organisations, the best expertise and knowledge is brought
together to help the cocoa-cultivating countries implement international working
standards in cocoa cultivation, and to draw up guidelines for how these standards are to
be monitored and reported. A complete certification system would help to monitor the
cultivation conditions in the cocoa industry.
Cocoa is grown today in West Africa, South America and in South-east Asia.
Approximately 70 percent of the world’s cocoa is grown in West Africa. Cloetta
Fazer buys 10,000 tons of cocoa raw materials annually, at a purchasing value of
approximately SEK 240 million, from European suppliers of raw materials in the
form of mass, fat or powder. In our general supplier requirements, we assume that
the suppliers follow our Code of Conduct, where this issue is also covered.
We are also continuing to develop our own activities on this issue, together with
organisations such as WCF and CAOBISCO, and know that we as a company have a
lot to learn. We feel this is the way we can best influence and improve the conditions.
However, a change requires cooperation throughout the value chain. Working alone
is of limited use, but working together can bring about a difference.
SwedWatch
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67
Comment from Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods is working for a better future for cocoa
At Kraft Foods we feel it is positive that the focus is on development in the countries
from where we get the raw materials for our products. We are already greatly involved
in the issue of long-term sustainable coffee cultivation, such as through our work with
Rainforest Alliance. Since 2000 we have also been involved in the cocoa issue, both in
collaboration with others and on our own initiative.
The crucial issue of child labour is one of the more striking symptoms of some of the
major challenges faced by the cocoa farmers in West Africa – poverty, lack of
education and economic development. A government, a company or an organisation
cannot solve these major issues alone. This is why Kraft and other leading players in
the chocolate industry are working closely with governments and non-profit
organisations in order to improve conditions both on the cocoa farms and in the
cocoa-cultivating settlements.
Kraft is working both in the short and long terms. It works with organisations that
provide immediate humanitarian help, and is also working to achieve long-term
solutions. An example of the latter is the work with a common certification system to
monitor and improve the working conditions on the cocoa farms. Short-term, we have
directed our efforts to the critical challenges that face farmers and children in West
Africa, especially in the Ivory Coast.
• We are supporting Save the Children in its work in the Ivory Coast. Its work is
aimed at protecting children from recruitment as soldiers in armed conflicts, and at
reuniting children that have been separated from their families. The programme
also arranges informal education in areas where the school system has broken
down.
• Kraft’s financial support to Action Contre la Faim helped to acquire a mobile “help
station” in the Ivory Coast, which provides emergency medicines and food packages
to children in need of urgent help.
• Our support to the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) helps the West Africa Cocoa
and Commercial Agriculture Project (WACAP), which systematically saves
children from hazardous working environments and instead places them in
schools and vocational training programmes.
• Through WCF, Kraft also helps to finance a project in West Africa with Winrock
International called Child Labour Alternatives through Sustainable Systems in
Education (CLASSE). This project offers vocational training for children that work
under hazardous conditions on the cocoa farms.
Kraft will promote long-term sustainable development for cocoa farmers and their
families by helping to improve the underlying social, economic and environmental
conditions on the cocoa farms. By supporting a number of non-profit organisations
financially, and by working with governments and other leading players in the
chocolate industry, we are helping to:
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• Eliminate the worst forms of child labour and forced labour in cocoa farming in
West Africa through the International Cocoa Initiative, which supports different
field projects and spreads knowledge about the best working practices.
• Offer practical training for cocoa farmers in order to increase family income on
the farms, and to promote responsible working methods. This training initiative,
“Farmer Field Schools”, is supported by bodies such as leading chocolate
companies, International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Institute
for Tropical Agriculture (IITA).
• Develop cultivation cooperatives that give farmers better control over income, and
give participating farming families the chance of generating extra income. These
families support tens of thousands of children.
In addition to the cooperation projects, Kraft is also working directly with some
partners with the aim of enabling long-term sustainable cultivation of cocoa in the
Ivory Coast. The project will begin with selected cooperatives in the Daloa and
Abengourou regions. The activities include setting up farmer field schools and
supporting marketing initiatives, as well as reviewing the needs of the children in
the project area. We are expecting the first long-term sustainably cultivated cocoa
from the project at the start of 2007. The project participants will use the
experience at the start of the project to develop plans for extending the project to
other nearby farms and areas. We strongly believe that our measures are
contributing to a better future for children and adults in the cocoa-cultivating
region of western Africa.
SwedWatch
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69
Comment from Nestlé
Unfortunately we at Nestlé cannot comment on an ongoing legal case, so we cannot
describe how we work either. However, we are convinced that this case lacks grounds, so
we are challenging these accusations. It is important to emphasise that Nestlé does not
tolerate either illegal or discriminating working methods.
Nestlé supports global, broad industrial activities aimed at sustainable cocoa farming
and responsible methods on the cocoa farms. By working in partnership with producing
countries, stakeholder organisations, authorities and development organisations, these
measures can increase the cocoa farmers’ incomes, provide access to training and
introduce employment regulations on the cocoa farms.
Today there are millions of small-scale cocoa farmers around the Equator. For many
of these farmers, the cocoa harvest is the family’s biggest source of income. In spite
of this, the farmers face many challenges every year. Examples are that more than
thirty percent of the harvest can be lost due to antiquated farming methods, and that
no professional help is available.
During 2002, agricultural experts from the International Institute for Tropical
Agriculture carried out an independent survey of cocoa producers in West Africa. The
survey showed that the majority of cocoa farmers grow cocoa in a responsible fashion.
However, the review showed that many conditions should be rectified. Examples were
children working on the family farm instead of going to school, carrying heavy loads,
and participating in the farming process by spraying pesticides.
Both Nestlé and other parties in the industry have made clear that the worst forms
of child labour are unacceptable. We are working with other companies to support
a number of initiatives that that have really made a major difference for cocoa
farming all over the world.
Examples of these initiatives:
• The World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) plays a leading role through its work to
help farming families to develop efficient basic programmes, such as field
schools, which have benefited more than 170,000 cocoa farmers.
For more information, see www.worldcocoafoundation.org.
• The Harkin-Engel Protocol, which raises issues pertaining to the working
conditions on cocoa farms and proposes specific programmes of measures.
Read more at www.responsiblecocoa.org.
• The International Cocoa Initiative (ICI), a joint initiative that grew out of the
Hardin-Engel Protocol, which brings together industry and non-industry experts to
promote responsible work on the cocoa farms, and at the same time to reduce
exposure to hazardous tasks on the farms.
Information about ICI’s programme is available at www.cocoainitiative.org.
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Together with other initiatives, these measures help cocoa-producing families achieve
better harvests, higher prices for their products, provide education for their children,
increase awareness of responsible practices, and involvement with issues relating to
work.
There are many indications that things are happening, but much remains to be done.
For Nestlé, this means that we are involved in tackling these issues in the long term,
together with other stakeholders, as a way to provide basic welfare for the world’s
cocoa farmers.
SwedWatch
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71
SwedWatch is a nonreligious and non-political
voluntary organisation
whose task is to review
Swedish companies’ trade
with and activities in
development countries.
Contact SwedWatch:
46 + (0)8 - 602 89 50
pr [email protected]
www.swedwatch.org
72
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The dark secret of chocolate

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