Ivory Coast cocoa farmers threaten to boycott industry sustainability programs by Ange Aboa for Reuters

YAMOUSSOUKRO (Reuters) - Cocoa farmers in Ivory Coast said on Thursday they would withdraw from chocolate industry sustainability programs if companies try to avoid paying a premium aimed at combating farmer poverty.

The world’s top producer introduced a $400 per tonne premium this season, known as a living income differential (LID), to increase farmer wages.

The move was welcomed by farmers, but it has driven up prices for Ivorian cocoa just as the coronavirus pandemic dents global demand, causing friction between large chocolate companies and the workers growing the raw crop.

At stake are the sustainability schemes that certify that the cocoa that international companies buy is free of environmental and human rights abuses.

They allow companies to market their chocolate as ethically produced and charge more for it, although the schemes cover less than half of Ivory Coast’s cocoa exports.

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE HERE

Do You Really Want Change?--By Erin Andrews of Indi Chocolate

Do You Really Want Change?

Many of the familiar candy bars we’ve grown up with, passed out for
Halloween, and chocolate we’ve baked into holiday treats, contain
ingredients created by enslaved child labor. This candy is available
now at a store near you, but the low, low prices are only possible
because of business practices that would turn your stomach.

Lawyers representing Nestle and Cargill were in the Supreme Court
yesterday because the companies for decades chose ingredients that
they knew were grown and processed with enslaved child labor.

The largest, most profitable multinational chocolate corporations
confirm they were aware the children were working without pay or
liberty, and that they were not working on their own family farms.
These corporations have publicly confirmed that they are buying
ingredients that they know use internationally trafficked children.

The case before the Supreme Court is not about whether these practices
exist today, or who knew about them. The question is why these large,
profitable US corporations have been able to get away with this for so
long without accountability or consequences.

They have long acknowledged the problem but have made no meaningful
progress in solving it, despite having the resources to do so.

Let’s be honest. Choosing to not take action will continue the problem
It doesn’t resolve it.

Choosing profits over ethics prolongs unacceptable colonial traditions.

Can we, as Americans, finally acknowledge that these corporations are
not going to change unless there are consequences? At what point is
the cost of not actually doing what is ethical, decent and right
become too much, unacceptable and intolerable? These corporations are
making conscious choices to see how long they can get away with it.

At what point do the corporation’s continued broken promises and lack
of meaningful action have consequences? How long are we going to allow
them to get away with this?

These are important questions the Supreme Court and US citizens need
to address right now.

This case before the Supreme Court is about making these corporations
accountable and having consequences for not really doing anything
about it. Shouldn’t there be consequences if that is the only thing
that will finally make these corporations do what they promised and
could have changed long ago?

These US corporations shouldn’t be exempt from laws and accountability
because they pretend that they are going to resolve this issue at some
date pushed further and further into the future when all they have
proven to us so far is they have made a choice to try to get away with
it for as long as they can.

Shouldn’t the US judicial system hold these US corporations legally
accountable for their actions (and knowingly choosing to not take
meaningful action) even when they occur out of sight in a faraway
country?

When is the US Justice System, and laws of our nation that make the US
such an economic powerhouse, going to give these corporations
meaningful consequences so they will finally make the change?

When US corporations enjoy the many benefits like freedom of speech,
laws and judicial process that are fundamental to doing business (such
as enforceable contracts and reliable, dependable financial
institutions), as well as use of our public assets (from our taxpayer
investment in roads, bridges, and airwaves to defense spending
investment that created GPS and the Internet they use), shouldn’t
these corporations also be held responsible too?

Here is our opportunity to do what is right. Our US corporations
should reflect American leadership and values.

America has a choice to make. This is our time to lead and not follow.

Please let our US Supreme Court justices know how important our
integrity and values are as a nation, a people and a US corporation.
Let us be leaders of doing what is right so we can hold our heads
high.

If you would like to support more ethical chocolate companies, put
your money where your mouth is and vote with your dollars,
www.slavefreechocolate.org has many suggestions.

Erin Andrews
Founder and CEO of indi chocolate (Seattle, WA)
Co-Founder of Cotton Tree Chocolate (a Belize company)

How Cheap is that Chocolate in the Window? by Ayn Riggs

How cheap is that chocolate in the window?- Ayn Riggs, Director of Slave Free Chocolate. 

On December 1st the oral arguments for Doe. vs. Nestlé and Cargill will be presented to the Supreme Court of the United States. This case goes beyond simply seeking justice for children who were trafficked and held in slavery It will determine if American corporations are entitled to receive immunity if human rights abuses occur in their supply chains outside of the U.S. If Doe (boys, trafficked in from Mali and sold into slavery to work the cocoa farms of Côte d’ Ivoire) wins, then the United States will show the world that the US is on the side of the high ethical standards an humanity that we promote in our values. If Nestle and Cargill win, we are telling the world that slavery is trending again; turn a blind eye and enjoy consumer chocolate and other consumer goods at rock bottom prices. 

At first glance it might be easy to side with these corporations. Maybe, we hope, these large companies were unaware of the fact  that child slaves were  used to harvest the cocoa that ends up in our chocolate bars.  Go to any of the big chocolate company websites (Nestlé, Mars, Hershey Cadbury etc.) and you will find whole sections stating their ethical stance on sustainability. You will find photo after photo of happy farmers and smiling children donning school uniforms in company-built schools with big smiles on their faces and schoolbooks tucked under their arms. You will find they are part of an NGO called the World Cocoa Federation that is making all of this happen. Nothing looks amiss. Why would one question this? Why would they go through all of this work to deceive?

The answer is profit. Most of the big chocolate companies have shareholders. A CEO’s number one priority is profit. Any wrinkle in an effective profit strategy and the CEO will likely lose his or her job. The horrors of illegal child labor and child slavery were exposed in the late 1990s. , Congressional Representative, Eliot Engel, suggested a stamp on chocolate bars; “Child Slavery Free” so consumers would know what they were buying. To thwart this legislation, big chocolate companies including but not limited to Mars, Nestle, Cargill, Hershey and Cadbury all signed a non-binding protocol (Harkin Engel Protocol) in 2001 in which they admitted to knowing that they were profiting off the backs of children who were not going to school, were far from emergency medical services, were working with dangerous pesticides and that many were being trafficked into the cocoa farms from Mali and Burkina Faso and sold as slaves. They promised to clean all of this up. They formed an NGO, the World Cocoa Federation, which would act as the vehicle of remediation. The problem is that they didn’t fund this properly, so it acted merely as a public relations platform by funding paltry initiatives to provide photo ops for websites, with an aim to keep investigative journalists and activists in the dark. Big chocolate has been playing a cat and mouse game with many informed and enraged consumers, activists, and investigative journalists for the last 20 years. Sadly, they are winning. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the number of exploited children has only increased since the Harkin-Engel Protocol was signed. 

I’ve watched all of this closely for the last 15 years. I founded Slave Free Chocolate.org to bring consumer awareness to the inhumane treatment of these two million children. 

Fair-trade initiatives have the right idea but have failed to make a large enough dent to bring forth any change. Remediation has to include the large companies profiting from the situation. They have the money and power to make a difference and fix it. 

Now we are right up on the end of Doe. vs. Nestlé and Cargill. What it comes down to is clear. Are we as a country going to be patting the backs of corporations for sticking to the strategy that puts a few more pennies in shareholder’s pockets? Or we are going to lead by example that humanity counts; that children matter. 

As consumers we DO have the power to help these children.  It is time we use it. Write to the complicit chocolate companies and your legislative representatives.  Let’s  engage our hearts for this cause and our voices on our social media audiences. You can find a list of offending companies, more details of the situation,  and other ways to make your voice count on SlaveFreeChocolate.org. 

Ayn Riggs is the founder and director of Slave Free Chocolate, slavefreechocolate.org @slavefreecocoa on twitter. 

Nestlè & Cargill v. Doe Series: Corporate Liability, Child Savery and the Chocolate Industry

This story is by Chris Moxley of Just Security:

The world’s chocolate supply is undergirded by rampant practices of child labor under extremely hazardous conditions and, in some cases, slavery. According to the U.S. Bureau of International Labor Affairs, cocoa plantations in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana combine to produce 60 percent of the world’s cocoa. These plantations rely heavily on the labor of 2 million children working in hazardous conditions. Thousands of these child laborers are trafficked or forced into the work and may not be compensated for their labor, conditions amounting to slavery.

Read rest of the story HERE

The Supreme Court Grants Request by Nestle and Cargill to consider Giving Corporations Legal Immunity From using Child Slaves.

THE SUPREME COURT GRANTS REQUEST BY NESTLE and CARGILL TO CONSIDER GIVING CORPORATIONS LEGAL IMMUNITY FROM USING CHILD SLAVES TO HARVEST COCOA. HELP STOP THEM

Thu, 07/02/2020 - 15:36 -- admin

Contact: Terry Collingsworth, Executive Director
tc@iradvocates.org Twitter @tpcollingsworth

There is no question that young African children are harvesting cocoa for Nestle, Cargill and other large companies in Cote D’Ivoire and Ghana. The U.S. Department of Labor recently funded a study by the University of Chicago’s NORC which found that TWO MILLION AFRICAN CHILDREN ARE STILL harvesting cocoa.  http://iradvocates.org/news/nestle/department-labor-study-child-labor. Here are two young boys who were trafficked from Burkina Faso. Our researchers found them performing hazardous work on a cocoa plantation producing for a Cargill cooperative in Cote D’Ivoire:

cocoa harvesting picture 1.png

Media Folder: 

Media Root

In Doe v Nestle/Cargill , we sued Nestle and Cargill in 2005 on behalf of six children who were trafficked, enslaved and forced to harvest cocoa for the cocoa industry. The Court of Appeals ruled for the second time that our case should go forward, but today, the Supreme Court agreed to review Nestle and Cargill’s request to grant them legal immunity under international law. Believe it or not, Cargill and Nestle are arguing that corporations should be absolutely immune under international law and only individuals can face liability for human rights violations. Rather than work with IRAdvocates and others to STOP CHILD SLAVERY, Nestle and Cargill want legal immunity to continue profiting from child slavery. Win or lose in the Supreme Court, we must and will continue the fight to force these companies to FREE THE CHILDREN.    

Please help us by donating or taking a few minutes to contact the companies with a direct message that African children’s lives matter and slavery was outlawed in 1865. HERE’S HOW:

DONATE NOW: https://iradvocates.nationbuilder.com/donate

CONTACT CARGILL                 

Cargill’s CEO Dave MacLennan put out yesterday on the company’s twitter ( @Cargill  and @CargillEMEA) and facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Cargill/): “We stand with all who have spoken up to say Black lives matter and ‘not ever again.’”
Please respond to this cynical and false assertion of solidarity by posting on the company’s facebook and twitter accounts (they do not give out the direct contacts for officers):
Cargill CEO Dave MacLennon and General Counsel Anna Richo, the Lives of African Children Matter and Slavery ended in 1865! Stop using Black child slaves to harvest your cocoa. Instead of seeking legal immunity, work with IRAdvocates to end child slavery and establish meaningful independent monitoring and certification systems. 

CONTACT NESTLE
Please send this message directly to the email accounts of the officers below and also post on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/nestle.USA/) and twitter (@Nestle and @Nestle USA):
Nestle, the Lives of African Children Matter and Slavery ended in 1865! Stop using Black child slaves to harvest your cocoa. Instead of seeking legal immunity, work with IRAdvocates to end child slavery and establish meaningful independent monitoring and certification systems.  
• Nestle CEO Mark Schneider: mark.schneider@nestle.com
• Nestle Executive VP Laurent Freixe: laurent.freixe@nestle.com
• Nestle USA CEO Steve Presley: steve.presley@us.nestle.com; @NestleUSA
• Nestle USA VP Molly Fogarty: molly.fogarty@us.nestle.com

PLEASE ALSO POST YOUR MESSAGES ANYWHERE THAT CAN HELP GET OUR URGENT MESSAGE OUT. THANKS VERY MUCH!

Teen Vogue talks about Child Labor and Slavery in the Chocolate Industry

Why Your Valentine's Day Chocolate Has A Dark Side

Cocoa farming reportedly relies on more than 5 million child laborers.

BY GEORGIE BADIEL

FEBRUARY 14, 2018

AFP/GETTY IMAGES

In this op-ed, Georgie Badiel, model, activist, author, and former Miss Africa, explains the risk of an unsustainable cocoa industry.

Read the full article HERE

Recent Question Regarding Nestlè, by Ayn Riggs

Question: I always seek out only fair trade chocolate. I always avoided Nestle and Hershey, but recently heard on a radio segment that Nestle had done a lot to ensure their chocolate was not coming from unethical sources. Your site, however, suggests nothing much has changed. Is Nestle doing any better? Or should I return to my chocolate chip-less ways?

SFC’s Answer: Thank you for writing in. Do you remember where you heard that radio segment? If so, pass it on. I may be able to hear an archive of it. But to answer your question, Nestle is lying. Sure they have made some paltry initiatives so that they can take a photo of some kids in front of a single school they may have built but only to dupe consumers.

There are really only about 6 companies that purchase the 60% of cocoa tied to child labor and slavery and Nestlè, as well as Hershey, are right there. They all say that they are doing their part in ensuring that their cocoa is traceable. If that were the case then the numbers (of children at risk) by the US Dept. of Labor would be going down and not up.

These farmers that are at the end of the supply line about 800,000 of them have tiny plots of land (about 4 hectares). They are deep in the bush where there is no electricity, schools or access to medical care. They don' thave cars either. They harvest their beans and put them on a road and a middle man hands them some cash. They make about .50 cents a day which is 2/3 below the poverty line. If they don't have enough of their own children, they may resort to buying some, under a tree in a makeshift auction.

Additionally, without infrastructure farmers are practicing poor farming techniques. Where a cocoa tree should last a good 40 years, these are lasting about 3 to 4. So these farmers are going into protected forests and deforesting the native trees with Round-up. I am sure they use this on more legit farms but are absolutely soaking the ground with this so that they can plant more cocoa trees. If you go to our FB page and scroll down you will see a video from a French reporter. You don't need to speak French to understand it. https://www.facebook.com/Slave-Free-Chocolate-185449184662/?ref=bookmarks

I think you can find Fair Trade chocolate chips online. I believe Equal Exchange makes them!

Thanks for writing in and caring about this issue.

Interview with cocoa bean wholesaler, Juan Gonzalez of MABC.

Interview:  Juan Gonzalez owner 

of The Mexican Arabica Bean Company 

by Ayn Riggs of SlaveFreeChocolate.org November 9th, 2019

SFC:  How did you come to work in the coffee and cocoa bean industry? 

JG:  All my life I have been working in the coffee and cocoa beans. When I was a child, I worked in the plantations helping my mother in the harvest season and just about 10 years ago I started working again but now an importer and seller.

SFC: When did you hear about child labor problems in West Africa? 

JG: All my life I’ve known about it, this is not a new history always. It has been since colonial times. 

SFC: Can you tell me about your experiences harvesting cocoa in your youth?

JG: We get up at 4 am to start working, we use to live in the farms ground for the season and after we finish, we move to another province and another farm, I start working since I was 8 years old.

SFC: Do you see a potential child labor problem arising in Central or South America?

JG: Not that same level as Africa, but there are a lot of possibilities. A lot of farms using one kind of child labor, all dependent on the local government, which can see this kind the problem can raise in Asia. 

SFC: There is a vastly growing number of small bean to bar chocolatiers that are buying ethically sourced cocoa, aside from this, can you think of other ways they can help in the industry in regard to child labor and slavery?

JG:  We have 2 problems here, most of all the small chocolate makers do not buy directly, they don't have any idea about these big problems. They love self-promotion and push their brands. It is very costly for a small chocolate company to buy beans directly. Their chocolate bars would have to cost $15 a piece. So, they buy from me and put on their packages that they purchase their beans directly.  Sometimes they take a trip to cocoa farms for some selfies and return home. 

Some buy small portions of the cocoa beans directly then fill the gap with cheap slave tainted chocolate.  

SFC: What do you see going forward is the biggest challenge for chocolatiers and cocoa wholesalers? JG: Prices and values. Why because fine flavors cocoa bean with all the certifications can cost 3 times more the conventional, you have to remember chocolate is a luxury product and not a necessity like milk, eggs, bread or vegetables even coffee, so high prices, and social conciseness can be a big challenge to be in business.  I’ve been in this industry for 30 years and there is still a lot of poverty in the coffee and cocoa bean industry despite the Fair-Trade movement. Certification and cost are so big plus they not helping in anything to places of origin, the only good thing is the farmer can sell a higher price if the market they are low 

SFC: What do you do aside from sourcing ethical cocoa to aid the plight of the farmers and their children?

JG: Well every year we have been collecting school supplies and backpacks and send to Honduras to the co-op the I working within buying coffee and cocoa beans, together we promote SAID NOT A CHILD LABOR  I start that idea and I find the support the I need in deliver the supplies to the local schools and places where the kids of farmers attending school, 

SFC: How do you see climate change affecting your supply of coffee and cocoa beans?

JG: It affects everything, not just the coffee and cocoas beans supplies but all food supplies, the trees they are changing when the flower starts also the despair of the bees who is the most important helper but this is a big-picture  the humans have a big part in this and they can help and change but only the planet has the last word. 

SFC: What are you most passionate about in regard to your business?

JG: See the happy faces of the farmers and think the with my support I can help just a little be in their lives  

SFC: What type of chocolate is your favorite?

JG: I don't eat chocolate; I just taste, and I love the nips and the beans I eat all day long raw and roast they give me a lot of energy ;) 

Doubts about chocolate: U.S. officials investigate whether to block critical cocoa imports

Doubts about chocolate: U.S. officials investigate whether to block critical cocoa imports.

By Peter Whoriskey Washington Post.

A team from U.S. Customs and Border Protection visited agricultural regions of Ivory Coast last week to begin investigating whether cocoa is produced there with forced or indentured child labor and, if so, whether the U.S. should block cocoa imports.

The investigation follows a July letter from two U.S. senators asking customs officials to issue an order blocking cocoa from Ivory Coast from entering the United States unless the shipments are demonstrated to be free of child labor. The West African nation is the world’s largest producer.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Halloween Candy No Treat for African Kids--Bloomberg News

Halloween Candy No Treat for African Kids Harvesting Cocoa (1)

Posted October 31, 2019

By Teaganne Finn

Self-regulation isn’t stopping African cocoa growers from exploiting child labor to produce some of the chocolate that will end up in the goody bags of American trick-or-treaters tonight, say human-rights groups that are pressing Congress to step in.

Major chocolate companies including Mars Inc., Nestlé SA, and Hershey Co. committed under an international agreement in 2001 to eradicate child labor from their supply chains and develop standards of public certification by 2005.

“It’s all been forgotten about,” said Ayn Riggs, founder of the non-profit Slave Free Chocolate.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE