Slave Free Chocolate's Halloween 2022 Letter to the public.

In the week leading up to Halloween 2022 90 million pounds of chocolate will be sold in the US alone. The vast majority tied to child labor and slavery. Not only has the industry known of this for 21 years now, but they also promised to remedy this situation when they all signed the Harkin Engel Protocol​ in 2001.​  The first milestone was set for 2005. I founded Slave Free Chocolate.org just a few years after the 2005 milestone was horrifically missed and no one seemed to know anything about this situation. Chocolate is a treat; therefore, we the consumers have all the power to change this. Though we’ve caused a lot of flurries, the only news that isn’t fake is that the dial hasn’t moved in the right direction. Sadly, the last report sponsored by the US Department of Labor has the number of exploited children increasing. When Slave Free Chocolate was started the number was estimated at 800,000 it is now 1.6 million.

Before I delve deep into this State of Halloween Address, I feel I must first clarify what the activist community is referring to when talking about child labor​ i​n the cocoa sector. Especially in the developing world, it is normal to help your parents. This could be a part-time job after school or perhaps helping them with the corner market they own before and after school or having a big list of chores on the family farm after school and on the weekends. The operative word here is “school”.  The children we are fighting for aren’t going to school as their parents can’t A. afford to send them, and B. can’t afford to replace that child with a paid adult laborer. These children fall under what the UN has defined as ​The ​Worst Forms of Child Labor. In the case of cocoa, these children aren’t going to school, don’t have access to medical care, work with toxic chemicals, and machetes that are illegal for children to use, and lift weights too heavy for their growing frames. Additionally, a percentage of these 1.6 million children are trafficked in from poorer countries like Burkina Faso and Mali. These children are coerced and trafficked with the hope of getting paid for their work and sending money home to help their families. This is not the case; they aren’t getting paid. They are slaves.

Why​ are there 1.6 million children illegally harvesting our cocoa?​ The simple answer is that the farmers haven’t received a price increase for their beans since the late 70s. In The Ivory Coast, they are reported to be making $.75 cents a day, and in Ghana just a bit over $1. This is less than 1/2 of what is considered the poverty line. Not only has this 21-year cycle of abject poverty resulted in horrific child labor problems, but there is also a large negative environmental impact as well. The planet has lost 90% of an important rainforest. 

The question of why the industry hasn’t paid a living wage is the $64,000 question. True, dealing with governments in developing countries is plagued with challenges. But industrial cocoa is the biggest client of Ghana and The Ivory Coast. When you add to that, we are talking about a $100 Billion-dollar industry, it seems the power is there. The problem is that the intent isn’t. It must really boil down to profit over promises. Promises not only made to these children but to the world.

The industry has responded to consumer outrage with various initiatives and more promises while the goalposts continue to move into the future. Perhaps some of these initiatives could have merit but only if they are on top of paying the farmers a living wage. Without that, they are just marketing ploys to protect their brands. Even this week one chocolate company issued a report card, of course putting them on top. None of this is verified. It’s all a case of the fox guarding the hen house. I think you can safely claim that since the dial hasn’t been moved in the right direction, everything tried to date has failed. 

One thing that I consider to be good news is that the generic claims of “sustainability” and “traceable” have started to run their course. Consumers are waking up to the fake news associated when they see either of these words on websites and/or packaging. Remember that everyone in this industry is monitoring themselves. “Traceable” is a verb, not a guarantee that good things are at the end of the line. Journalists of the UK’s Channel 4’s piece Cadbury Exposed followed Cadbury’s traceable line to a farm where no children were going to school and horrific cuts from machetes weren’t treated in a clinic. Why? The farmers couldn’t afford any of that.  Of course, we all want everything to be “sustainable” but what does that really mean? Currently, the definitions are set by individual corporations. More of the fox guarding the hen house. There is good news in this regard. Consumers are getting wise to the emptiness of these claims and there is now an opportunity to introduce labeling that defines what “sustainable” means and how that product ranks. 

​Additional good news is that there are lawsuits filed that need our awareness of and support. International Rights Advocates is the place to immerse yourself with this information and ways you can help.

In the meantime, we need to keep pressuring the industrial chocolate companies to pay a living wage and ​open themselves up to independent auditing when they make their claims of doing all they can. Basically, fulfill the promises they not only made to these children but to the world. 

For ways to get into action, visit slavefreechocolate.org. Have a Happy Halloween!

Ayn Riggs

Director

Slave Free Chocolate

Slavefreechocolate.org

Email

5 Ways People try to Defend Slavery in Cocoa by Clay Gordon

Top 5 Ways People (try to) Defend Slavery in Cocoa

Are apologetics defensible when it comes to “defending” slavery?

To borrow a phrase from someone who’s definitely feeling the heat to apologize right now: “Awww, hell naw.” 

The term apologetic is used to describe a defense to a position. This usage for the Latin root apologia, from the Greek ἀπολογία, can be traced back to before the lives of notable Greek philosophers including Aristotle and Plato. Socrates reportedly used the term in the sense of “... a well-thought justification of accusations made.”

An apologist can be thought of as someone who makes and uses apologetics 

To read the rest of the article CLICK HERE

Documentary maker Miki Mistrati wants consumers to know the truth about chocolate

New film: "There is no role in cocoa production that is safe for the 1.56 million children working in West Africa"

by Lise Colyer March 29, 2022 in Society, Business, Features, Governance

Miki Mistrati has been documenting child labour in West Africa’s cocoa industry since 2007 – and he’s in therapy.

“You never get used to this,” he says. “I want people to understand what they are a part of. If you want to buy a cheap chocolate bar supporting child labour that’s your decision, but don’t tell me that you didn’t know.”

Research accepted by the cocoa industry says that 1.56 million children are working in cocoa production in Ivory Coast and Ghana. According to Miki Mistrati’s latest documentary film The Chocolate War, a high proportion of them have been trafficked from neighbouring countries such as Burkina Faso and Mali.

READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

IRAdvocates and CAL letter to U.S. Custom and Border Protection

Mr. Chris Magnus
Commissioner
U.S. Custom and Border Protection U.S. Department of Homeland Security 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20229

February 14, 2022

Re: Request that you enforce the law to stop forced child labor in cocoa harvesting Dear Commissioner Magnus,
Congratulations on your appointment and best wishes in addressing the many challenges you face.

We, the undersigned, are writing to ask you to take long overdue action to address an urgent problem of ongoing forced child labor in cocoa harvesting in Côte d’Ivoire. Two years ago, on February 14, 2020, International Rights Advocates and Corporate Accountability Lab filed a petition under Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (“the Petition”) asking that U.S. Custom and Border Protection (CBP) take action, as provided for in its legislation, to ban the importation of cocoa by nine specific companies1 with clear records of harvesting cocoa with forced child labor in Côte d’Ivoire . The Petition referenced official, undisputed reports confirming massive numbers of child laborers in cocoa harvesting and supplemental evidence that many of these children are trafficked and forced to work on cocoa plantations. This past summer, on June 25, 2021, the Petitioners submitted a supplemental petition to CBP providing further evidence of trafficking and forced child labor in the Ivorian cocoa industry. This petition looked not just at specific instances of forced labor, but also documented new information about the manner in which child trafficking occurs, including through which border crossings, and identified specific actors involved in the trade. In our view, the inaction on the Petition is allowing horrific forced child labor to continue in cocoa harvesting and sharply conflicts with stated U.S. government policy.

We draw to your attention the following undisputable facts:

• Clear evidence has been submitted to CBP documenting widespread, ongoing use of forced and trafficked child labor in harvesting and processing cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire.

• The U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. State Department have both clearly documented the trafficking of children and forced child labor in the Côte d’Ivoire cocoa sector.

• The Child Labor Cocoa Coordinating Group’s Annual Report provides ample evidence of forced child labor in the cocoa industry.

• Reports from the Fair Labor Association, civil society groups, academics, as well as news reports, have documented evidence of forced child labor in the cocoa industry for years.

• The Department of Labor has since 2008 published an annual list of products made with forced and child labor. Cocoa from Côte d’Ivoire has been on the list every year.

  1 Nestlé, Cargill, Barry Callebaut, Mars, Olam, Hershey, Mondelēz, World’s Finest Chocolate, Inc., and Blommer Chocolate Co.

• ILO Convention 182 regarding the Worst Forms of Child Labor, ratified by the U.S. in 1999, prohibits forced child labor.

  The documented conditions of the children working in the cocoa industry in Côte d’Ivoire are well within the ILO’s indicators

  of “forced labor.” Child workers are inherently vulnerable and carry out hazardous work,

  including using machetes, carrying heavy loads, and spraying pesticides.

• In 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor released a study it commissioned by the University

  of Chicago’s NORC Institute finding that there are 1.56 million children harvesting cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, and 95% of these children, 1.48 million, are performing hazardous work that violates ILO Convention 182’s definition of the Worst Forms of Child Labor and should also meet the ILO's indicators of forced labor.

  Thus, the U.S. government has officially established and condemns that forced child labor is involved in harvesting cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire .

  For over 20 years the chocolate industry has exerted its power and influence to prevent the U.S. government from taking action to end the industry’s use of child labor. In 2001, to defeat a pending U.S. law to regulate the companies’ supply chains, the chocolate industry signed the Harkin-Engel Protocol, a “voluntary” initiative that gave the participating companies until 2005 to “phase out” their use of child labor. Two decades later, the chocolate industry has failed to take the necessary action to achieve their “voluntary” target and has given itself endless, self-serving, unilateral extensions of time. The industry now claims that by 2025 it will merely “reduce by 70%” their reliance on child labor.

  The chocolate industry’s “voluntary” plan and public relations statements that it will end its use of child labor have zero credibility. The industry puts out contradictory messages, admitting on the one hand its use of child labor and pledging to end it. On the other hand, it argues in a pending federal case that it has no more responsibility for ending forced child labor in cocoa harvesting than a kid buying a candy bar at a store, the claims of eight former child slave laborers against the chocolate companies should be dismissed, and the chocolate companies granted impunity.2

  Under CBP regulations, 19 C.F.R. § 12.42, if a Petition establishes that there is “reason to believe” cocoa from Côte d’Ivoire was produced by forced child labor, this allows CBP to “reasonably but not conclusively” find that cocoa from Côte d’Ivoire is produced by forced child labor and issue a Withhold and Release Order (WRO) stopping the importation of cocoa by the named companies from Côte d’Ivoire. This threshold has been clearly established by the Petition. The issuance of a WRO would require any of the named importing companies to establish “by satisfactory evidence that [its] merchandise was not ... manufactured in any part with” forced child labor.

  The chocolate companies would then at long last be required to demonstrate whether they are profiting from forced child labor and to take real action to end it. Many of the responsible

  2 See Defendants’ Joint Motion to Dismiss, ECF No. 27-1 at p. 11, Issouf Coubaly, et. al.v. Cargill Inc., et. al., Civil Action No. 21-0386 (D.DC 2021), available at https://www.internationalrightsadvocates.org/cases/tevracoubaly.

Young children are incapable of consenting to carry out

hazardous labor. Child labor that requires children to work at the expense of their health,

schooling, or well-being must be considered forced.

2

companies loudly proclaim there is no forced child labor in their cocoa supply chains. If they can’t, after 20 years of promising, prove this essential fact, they should not be extended the privilege of access to the U.S. market. The Petition suggested a flexible approach as to the timing of the requested WRO, and we are confident that giving the companies notice that a WRO is coming on a specific date will be the push needed to shift the cocoa industry from vague and empty promises to concrete action that it promised in signing the Harkin-Engel Protocol more than 20 years ago.

However, CBP has for the past two years taken no enforcement action based on the strong evidence presented in the Petition. It has taken no action to enforce the clear prohibition in the legislation on importing cocoa harvested by forced child labor. It has taken no action to implement the clear, strong policy of the U.S. government to prevent this continuing abuse of children. If CBP continues to decline to take action, this would send a message that the U.S. Government is turning a blind eye to the known use of forced child labor by powerful chocolate companies.

We recognize that the chocolate industry has enormous economic and political power and that the children being exploited and trafficked as child laborers do not. However, the law and policy of the United States is to protect children forced to work, and this should be especially true when they are being exploited by large multinationals that made a written promise over 20 years ago to stop this horrific practice. We are merely asking for the very relief that the chocolate industry itself promised to deliver over 20 years ago.

We call on you to put the lives of millions of children in West Africa ahead of the business interests of the chocolate industry. We call on you to enforce the law you are sworn to uphold to free these children from forced labor. We call on you to demonstrate that the U.S. Government’s policy that it will not tolerate forced child labor is genuine and serious.

We await your response with strong hope. Please direct your response to the Petitioners, Terrence Collingsworth (tc@iradvocates.org) and Charity Ryerson (charity@corpaccountabilitylab.org).

SIGNED:

CO-PETITIONERS

Terrence P. Collingsworth, Founder and Executive Director, International Rights Advocates

Charity Ryerson, Founder and Executive Director, Corporate Accountability Lab
Paul L. Hoffman, Co-Director, UC Irvine Civil Rights Litigation Clinic

ORGANIZATIONS

Cathy Feingold, International Director, AFL-CIO
Sharan Burrow, General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Willie Adams, President, International Longshore Warehouse Union

Ed Ferris, Secretary Treasurer, International Longshore Warehouse Union

Bobby Olvera Jr., Vice President – Mainland, International Longshore Warehouse Union

Reid Maki, Coordinator, Child Labor Coalition

Sally Greenberg, Executive Director, National Consumers League

Duncan Jepson, Managing Director, Liberty Shared

Dana Geffner, Executive Director, Fair World Project

Nina Smith, Executive Director, Goodweave

Ayn Riggs, Executive Director, Slavefreechocolate

Martina Vandenberg, Founder and President, Human Trafficking Legal Center

Patti Lynn, Executive Director, Corporate Accountability, USA

Georges C. Benjamin, MD, Executive Director, American Public Health Association, USA

Shahieda Adams, Director, Centre for Environmental and Occupational Health Research, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Devra Davis, President, Environmental Health Trust, USA and Fellow, Collegium Ramazzini Lauren Ornelas, President, Food Empowerment Project

Prof. John Packer, Director, Human Rights Research and Education Centre, University of Ottawa, ON, Canada.

Diana Bohn, Co-coordinator, Nicaragua Center for Community Action
Perry Gottesfeld, Executive Director, Occupational Knowledge International Peggy Mason, President, Rideau Institute on International Affairs, Ottawa, Canada. Grahame Russell, Director, Rights Action. USA & Canada.
Tientcheu Kameni Maurice, Terre et Développement, France.
Gopal Krishna, LL.M., PhD, Director, ToxicsWatch Alliance, New Delhi, India. Ayda Zugay, Principal and Co-Founder, Advancing Agency
Len Morris, Executive Director, Media Voices for Children

4Mr. Chris Magnus
Commissioner
U.S. Custom and Border Protection U.S. Department of Homeland Security 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20229

February 14, 2022

Re: Request that you enforce the law to stop forced child labor in cocoa harvesting Dear Commissioner Magnus,
Congratulations on your appointment and best wishes in addressing the many challenges you face.

We, the undersigned, are writing to ask you to take long overdue action to address an urgent problem of ongoing forced child labor in cocoa harvesting in Côte d’Ivoire. Two years ago, on February 14, 2020, International Rights Advocates and Corporate Accountability Lab filed a petition under Section 307 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (“the Petition”) asking that U.S. Custom and Border Protection (CBP) take action, as provided for in its legislation, to ban the importation of cocoa by nine specific companies1 with clear records of harvesting cocoa with forced child labor in Côte d’Ivoire . The Petition referenced official, undisputed reports confirming massive numbers of child laborers in cocoa harvesting and supplemental evidence that many of these children are trafficked and forced to work on cocoa plantations. This past summer, on June 25, 2021, the Petitioners submitted a supplemental petition to CBP providing further evidence of trafficking and forced child labor in the Ivorian cocoa industry. This petition looked not just at specific instances of forced labor, but also documented new information about the manner in which child trafficking occurs, including through which border crossings, and identified specific actors involved in the trade. In our view, the inaction on the Petition is allowing horrific forced child labor to continue in cocoa harvesting and sharply conflicts with stated U.S. government policy.

We draw to your attention the following undisputable facts:

• Clear evidence has been submitted to CBP documenting widespread, ongoing use of forced and trafficked child labor in harvesting and processing cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire.

• The U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. State Department have both clearly documented the trafficking of children and forced child labor in the Côte d’Ivoire cocoa sector.

• The Child Labor Cocoa Coordinating Group’s Annual Report provides ample evidence of forced child labor in the cocoa industry.

• Reports from the Fair Labor Association, civil society groups, academics, as well as news reports, have documented evidence of forced child labor in the cocoa industry for years.

• The Department of Labor has since 2008 published an annual list of products made with forced and child labor. Cocoa from Côte d’Ivoire has been on the list every year.

  1 Nestlé, Cargill, Barry Callebaut, Mars, Olam, Hershey, Mondelēz, World’s Finest Chocolate, Inc., and Blommer Chocolate Co.

• ILO Convention 182 regarding the Worst Forms of Child Labor, ratified by the U.S. in 1999, prohibits forced child labor.

  The documented conditions of the children working in the cocoa industry in Côte d’Ivoire are well within the ILO’s indicators

  of “forced labor.” Child workers are inherently vulnerable and carry out hazardous work,

  including using machetes, carrying heavy loads, and spraying pesticides.

• In 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor released a study it commissioned by the University

  of Chicago’s NORC Institute finding that there are 1.56 million children harvesting cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, and 95% of these children, 1.48 million, are performing hazardous work that violates ILO Convention 182’s definition of the Worst Forms of Child Labor and should also meet the ILO's indicators of forced labor.

  Thus, the U.S. government has officially established and condemns that forced child labor is involved in harvesting cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire .

  For over 20 years the chocolate industry has exerted its power and influence to prevent the U.S. government from taking action to end the industry’s use of child labor. In 2001, to defeat a pending U.S. law to regulate the companies’ supply chains, the chocolate industry signed the Harkin-Engel Protocol, a “voluntary” initiative that gave the participating companies until 2005 to “phase out” their use of child labor. Two decades later, the chocolate industry has failed to take the necessary action to achieve their “voluntary” target and has given itself endless, self-serving, unilateral extensions of time. The industry now claims that by 2025 it will merely “reduce by 70%” their reliance on child labor.

  The chocolate industry’s “voluntary” plan and public relations statements that it will end its use of child labor have zero credibility. The industry puts out contradictory messages, admitting on the one hand its use of child labor and pledging to end it. On the other hand, it argues in a pending federal case that it has no more responsibility for ending forced child labor in cocoa harvesting than a kid buying a candy bar at a store, the claims of eight former child slave laborers against the chocolate companies should be dismissed, and the chocolate companies granted impunity.2

  Under CBP regulations, 19 C.F.R. § 12.42, if a Petition establishes that there is “reason to believe” cocoa from Côte d’Ivoire was produced by forced child labor, this allows CBP to “reasonably but not conclusively” find that cocoa from Côte d’Ivoire is produced by forced child labor and issue a Withhold and Release Order (WRO) stopping the importation of cocoa by the named companies from Côte d’Ivoire. This threshold has been clearly established by the Petition. The issuance of a WRO would require any of the named importing companies to establish “by satisfactory evidence that [its] merchandise was not ... manufactured in any part with” forced child labor.

  The chocolate companies would then at long last be required to demonstrate whether they are profiting from forced child labor and to take real action to end it. Many of the responsible

  2 See Defendants’ Joint Motion to Dismiss, ECF No. 27-1 at p. 11, Issouf Coubaly, et. al.v. Cargill Inc., et. al., Civil Action No. 21-0386 (D.DC 2021), available at https://www.internationalrightsadvocates.org/cases/tevracoubaly.

Young children are incapable of consenting to carry out

hazardous labor. Child labor that requires children to work at the expense of their health,

schooling, or well-being must be considered forced.

2

companies loudly proclaim there is no forced child labor in their cocoa supply chains. If they can’t, after 20 years of promising, prove this essential fact, they should not be extended the privilege of access to the U.S. market. The Petition suggested a flexible approach as to the timing of the requested WRO, and we are confident that giving the companies notice that a WRO is coming on a specific date will be the push needed to shift the cocoa industry from vague and empty promises to concrete action that it promised in signing the Harkin-Engel Protocol more than 20 years ago.

However, CBP has for the past two years taken no enforcement action based on the strong evidence presented in the Petition. It has taken no action to enforce the clear prohibition in the legislation on importing cocoa harvested by forced child labor. It has taken no action to implement the clear, strong policy of the U.S. government to prevent this continuing abuse of children. If CBP continues to decline to take action, this would send a message that the U.S. Government is turning a blind eye to the known use of forced child labor by powerful chocolate companies.

We recognize that the chocolate industry has enormous economic and political power and that the children being exploited and trafficked as child laborers do not. However, the law and policy of the United States is to protect children forced to work, and this should be especially true when they are being exploited by large multinationals that made a written promise over 20 years ago to stop this horrific practice. We are merely asking for the very relief that the chocolate industry itself promised to deliver over 20 years ago.

We call on you to put the lives of millions of children in West Africa ahead of the business interests of the chocolate industry. We call on you to enforce the law you are sworn to uphold to free these children from forced labor. We call on you to demonstrate that the U.S. Government’s policy that it will not tolerate forced child labor is genuine and serious.

We await your response with strong hope. Please direct your response to the Petitioners, Terrence Collingsworth (tc@iradvocates.org) and Charity Ryerson (charity@corpaccountabilitylab.org).

SIGNED:

CO-PETITIONERS

Terrence P. Collingsworth, Founder and Executive Director, International Rights Advocates Charity Ryerson, Founder and Executive Director, Corporate Accountability Lab
Paul L. Hoffman, Co-Director, UC Irvine Civil Rights Litigation Clinic

ORGANIZATIONS

Cathy Feingold, International Director, AFL-CIO
Sharan Burrow, General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Willie Adams, President, International Longshore Warehouse Union

3

Ed Ferris, Secretary Treasurer, International Longshore Warehouse Union

Bobby Olvera Jr., Vice President – Mainland, International Longshore Warehouse Union

Reid Maki, Coordinator, Child Labor Coalition

Sally Greenberg, Executive Director, National Consumers League

Duncan Jepson, Managing Director, Liberty Shared

Dana Geffner, Executive Director, Fair World Project

Nina Smith, Executive Director, Goodweave

Ayn Riggs, Executive Director, Slavefreechocolate

Martina Vandenberg, Founder and President, Human Trafficking Legal Center

Patti Lynn, Executive Director, Corporate Accountability, USA

Georges C. Benjamin, MD, Executive Director, American Public Health Association, USA

Shahieda Adams, Director, Centre for Environmental and Occupational Health Research, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Devra Davis, President, Environmental Health Trust, USA and Fellow, Collegium Ramazzini Lauren Ornelas, President, Food Empowerment Project

Prof. John Packer, Director, Human Rights Research and Education Centre, University of Ottawa, ON, Canada.

Diana Bohn, Co-coordinator, Nicaragua Center for Community Action
Perry Gottesfeld, Executive Director, Occupational Knowledge International Peggy Mason, President, Rideau Institute on International Affairs, Ottawa, Canada. Grahame Russell, Director, Rights Action. USA & Canada.
Tientcheu Kameni Maurice, Terre et Développement, France.
Gopal Krishna, LL.M., PhD, Director, ToxicsWatch Alliance, New Delhi, India. Ayda Zugay, Principal and Co-Founder, Advancing Agency
Len Morris, Executive Director, Media Voices for Children

Child labour plagues our food system says World Benchmarking Alliance.

Study of top 350 companies: "the situation appears desperate”

by May Davies

September 27, 2021

in Editor's picks, Omnilabel, Features, Rights

Reading Time: 4 mins read

A“shocking lack of action” over child and forced labour has been exposed across agrifood, in a study that found the vast majority of companies are not working hard enough to prohibit child labour in their supply chains.

The World Benchmarking Alliance (WBA) uncovered the scale of the problem, saying “child labour continues to plague our food system.”

In video

• Viktoria de Bourbon de Parme introduces the WBA’s Food and Agriculture Benchmark at Quota’s UN Food Systems Summit side event

• The full recording of Quota’s UN Food Systems Summit side event

It studied the world’s top 350 agrifood companies – which account for half of all revenue in the sector – finding 202 of them do not explicitly require their supply chains to prohibit child labour. Most of the companies – 309 – do not have “comprehensive” measures in place to prevent forced labour.

Only two companies, Unilever and Musim Mas, a palm oil company based in Singapore, have fully committed to paying living wages throughout their business and supply chains.

Viktoria de Bourbon de Parme, who leads on Food and Agriculture Transformation at the WBA, shared the findings at Quota’s UN Food Systems Summit side event on September 24th.

She said at the event, “The results are dramatic and a lot of companies really need to step up. The large majority is lagging behind.

“Two thirds of the world’s poorest are agricultural workers and their dependents”

“The companies we studied are change makers in the agrifood system. These are clear metrics which are independent and applicable to all companies. We really need change across the board.

“The information is free for everyone, companies can access it and apply it, to make sure that their supply chains are safe for their workers but also sustainable. We want to make sure this data is used.”

The companies studied directly employ more than 23 million and their supply chains rely on most of the world’s 500 million smallholder farmers. The study, the Food and Agriculture Benchmark is described as the first assessment of its kind across the entire food value chain.

Just 8 per cent of the 350 companies have “comprehensive” human rights due diligence in place.

The study looked at whether suppliers retain workers’ personal documents or restrict their freedom of movement, finding the vast majority of companies – 304 – do not prevent this.

It says, “Two thirds of the global population living in extreme poverty, surviving on less than US$1.90 per day, are agricultural workers and their dependents.

“Climate change exacerbates the vulnerability of many in the supply chain”

“Farm, factory and plantation workers are among the most vulnerable and often exposed to income insecurity as employment is typically informal, seasonal and underpaid.”

The report said that living wages could transform the lives of millions and eradicate other human rights abuses such as child labour. A higher income allows families to send children to school.

The report also says that climate change is exacerbating the vulnerability of many in the supply chain, particularly in developing countries. Only 54 per cent of companies support resilience initiatives for farmers and fishers.

Described as a “social inclusion” measure, the WBA assessed the companies against 18 core indicators including efforts to respect human rights, provide and promote decent work and act ethically, as well as six transformation-specific social inclusion indicators, such as land rights and farmer and fisher productivity and resilience. It found 332 out of the 350 companies earned less than half of the total available scores.

The report says, “The lack of disclosure from companies across the value chain is concerning, especially as we move past the ten-year anniversary of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.” Very few demonstrated they have due diligence and monitoring processes.

Unilever scored highest on social inclusion at 23.7 out of 30, followed by Nestlé at 22.2.

“Without a living wage, families may be forced to put children to work”

C&S Wholesale Grocers, one of America’s largest wholesale grocery supply companies, Italian retail giant Conad, French supermarket chain E.Leclerc, dairy multinational Mueller and family-run German food brand Oetker were among the 51 companies to score zero on social inclusion.

Viktoria de Bourbon de Parme said, “The situation appears desperate. The mechanisms of our global food system are linked to poverty. Without a living wage, families may be forced to put children to work. Climate change reinforces the cycle of poverty.”

The benchmark also measured environmental impact – finding only 26 of the 350 companies studied are working toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions in line with the Paris agreement.

The WBA has previously estimated that the agrifood sector alone could prevent Paris agreement targets from being met.

The study found 188 of the 350 companies have not set any targets for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions, despite the urgency of the need to do so. A recent IPCC report said “it is likely extreme temperatures will exceed the threshold for agriculture” destroying livelihoods and fostering world hunger.

“Three quarters of companies make no commitment to improve affordability of healthy food”

The benchmark also found 201 of the companies have failed to prioritise healthy foods through marketing strategies.

It said, “Nutritious diets are not a consumer choice when three quarters of the benchmarked companies do not make any commitment to improve the accessibility and affordability of healthy foods.”

At Quota’s September 24th event Viktoria de Bourbon de Parme said, “This research was done at company levels but we can make it applicable at product level.

“The Food System Summit provided so much momentum that will kick start a lot of work. We have seen that there are leaders in every segment of the value chain, in agricultural input, in commodity trade and retail, in food and beverage manufacturers.”

Link to Quota Media Click Here

Interview with former child slave of the cocoa industry.

Interview with Hon. Nelson Donkor owner of Shahamana Chocolate.

Mr. Donkor is a former child slave who escaped and is now running his own chocolate company. It is extremely important that we support people and companies like his as it is an avenue the growers can use to help bring them out of abject poverty.

1. Tell me about yourself, where are you from? I am Nelson Donkor. A young cocoa farmer from Tepa, in the Ahafo Ano North Municipal of the Ashanti Region of Ghana. I am an elected Assemblymember (a councilor) for the Kyekyewere electoral area. I was voted into power in 2015 and re-elected again in 2019. It’s a volunteer position and I rule over 2000 people. The people are mainly cocoa farmers.

2. How did you get involved with cacao? I will say that I got into cocoa from childhood. I was sold into child slavery. I was rescued and sent to the city where I was able to start school. I got back again into cocoa farming in 2012 when my dad died. I have been an active cocoa farmer since then.

3. What motivated you to get start your own chocolate company? I had the chance to taste chocolate in 2012 when some Swedish friends visited my farm. They brought the chocolate all the way from Sweden. Before that meeting, I didn't know what the beans were used for. I became interested in chocolate at that point. A German friend, Marie Schlemm, inspired and convinced me to make chocolate from my own cocoa beans. She organized a fundraising effort and bought me a 5kg grinder. I also learned that adding value to the cocoa beans is more profitable than selling the raw beans.

4. What changes have you seen in the industry since the big companies signed the Harkin Engle Protocol 20 years ago? I haven’t seen any change in the industry since the big companies signed the Harkin Engle Protocol 20 years ago. I think they have changed their tactics of robbing the farmers.

5. What is your message to the consumers in the west? I want the consumers in the west to buy directly from farmers or cooperative chocolate makers instead of the big companies.

6. If you had the power to change things, what would you do? If I have the power to change things, I will make sure cocoa farmers get fair prices for their beans. Also make sure farmers sell their beans directly to buyers instead of selling to Cocobod, the government cocoa regulator. Additionally, I would like to see those that participate in trafficking and the worst forms of child labor prosecuted and jailed.

7. What is your message to the big cocoa companies? I want the big companies to know that we the cocoa farmers are going through a lot of hardship so they should pay us a fair price for our beans. Our lives have to be better for ours to be able to continue producing cocoa beans. I have learned that farmers use children in their farms because they want cheap labour. With fair prices, child slavery will be a thing of the past.

8. What makes you happy? Seeing rescued children in the classroom makes me happy.

Supreme Court Shoots Down Child Slavery Lawsuit Against Nestle and Cargill

The justices noted that, even after 15 years of litigation, the plaintiffs could not demonstrate that either company knew that certain cocoa farms and cooperatives used child labor. 

The United States Supreme Court has found that a group of former child slaves cannot sue two American chocolate companies.

According to USA Today, the lawsuit has reached its conclusion after a 15-year-long court battle. The initial complaint was filed by six citizens of the West African nation of Mali, who say they were trafficked to Ivory Coast to work as slaves on cocoa plantations. Read the rest of the article on legalreader.com CLICK HERE

SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS CONDEMN MULTINATIONAL CHOCOLATE COMPANIES FOR THEIR USE OF CHILD SLAVE LABOR

(San Francisco, California) In a groundbreaking resolution passed on Tuesday, April 6, San Francisco County Board of Supervisors called for Mars, Nestlé, and other major chocolate producers to immediately cease the use of child slave labor in their cocoa supply chains.

The Resolution describes the inhumane and illegal working conditions in today’s cocoa industry. Over 1.5 million children are illegally involved in cocoa harvesting and production, mainly in West African nations like Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, forced to endure hazardous working conditions for little or no pay.

Supervisor Dean Preston was a strong supporter of the resolution, arguing that it is past time for Mars, Nestlé, and other major chocolate producers to stop their use of child forced labor.

"The board passed a unanimous vote, a clear message to Mars and Nestlé that it’s time to stop utilizing child forced labor in global cocoa supply chains,” says Preston. “It’s a tragic reality for children in West Africa, and despite international condemnation and empty promises to change by these corporations, the issue persists.”

Despite decades of assurances that they will do better, major multinational chocolate companies like Mars, Nestlé, and Hershey have taken inadequate steps and ultimately failed to change their cocoa sourcing patterns in order to guarantee an ethical supply chain. According to Terry Collingsworth, Executive Director of IRAdvocates, these chocolate companies in particular have been full of empty promises when it comes to eradicating child slave labor in their supply chains.

“IRAdvocates and other organizations have been working for decades to get the large cocoa companies to keep their promise made in signing the 2001 Harkin-Engle Protocol to stop using child labor to harvest their cocoa in Côte d’Ivoire,” explains Collingsworth. “The cocoa companies have made crystal clear that they won't keep this promise unless a community devoted to ending child slavery in 2021 comes together to stop them.” Collingsworth hopes this recently passed resolution will serve as a model for concerned residents in cities and towns across the country.

Other chocolate companies— with much fewer resources than multinationals like Mars— are able to ethically source their cocoa; showing that slave free chocolate is an achievable goal.. Instead, major chocolate producers have consistently demonstrated that they care more about profit than they do about human welfare. Their race to source the cheapest possible cocoa, regardless of the human costs, has driven down industry standards and facilitated gross human rights violations that break international, domestic, and California law.

This resolution passed by the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors is a strong step forward to show Mars, Nestlé, and other major chocolate producers that the residents of San Francisco are committed to holding companies responsible for their human rights violations.

Consumers have more power to create positive change than they might realize, explains Ayn Riggs, Executive Director of advocacy organization Slave Free Chocolate.

“Chocolate is a consumer product, which means when it comes to the eradication of child slavery in the industry, we, the consumers, have all of the power,” says Riggs. “And when this happens, it won't just be a win for the 1.5 million children working illegally in the chocolate industry but a win for humanity as well."

Press Release: Child Slaves Who Were Trafficked and Forced to Harvest Cocoa in Cote D’Ivoire Sue the Cocoa Companies that Enslaved Them: Nestle, Cargill, Mars, et el.

Fri, 02/12/2021 - 09:46 -- admin

Contact: Terry Collingsworth, Executive Director
tc@iradvocates.org 1-202-543-5811 @tpcollingsworth

The Complaint filed today and the full press release are attached below.

On February 12, 2021, IRAdvocates filed a federal class action lawsuit on behalf of eight Malian young men who managed to escape back to Mali after being trafficked as children and forced to harvest cocoa in Cote D’Ivoire for one or more of the Defendant companies, Nestle, Cargill, Mars, Mondelēz, Hershey, Barry Callebaut, and Olam. These companies have a long history of violating the law and participating in a venture in Cote D’Ivoire that relies upon child slaves to produce cheap cocoa. In 2001, they signed the “Harkin-Engle Protocol” in which they explicitly promised consumers and regulators they would stop using child labor by 2005. Instead, they have given themselves numerous unilateral extensions of time and now claim that by 2025 they will reduce by 70% their reliance on child labor. Rather than make progress, their use of child labor is actually getting worse. In late 2020, a study by NORC at the University of Chicago and funded by the U.S. Department of Labor concluded that 1.56 million child laborers were working in cocoa growing areas of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana in the 2018/19 growing season, an increase of 14 percent since a 2015 study, and 1.48 million child laborers engaged in hazardous work during this period

Terry Collingsworth, Executive Director of IRAdvocates, which represents the eight Malian Plaintiffs, stated “By giving themselves this series of extensions, these companies are admitting they ARE using child slaves and will continue to do so until they decide it’s in their interests to stop. Based on the objective record of twenty years of the failed Harkin-Engle Protocol, these companies will continue to profit from child slavery until they are forced to stop. The purpose of this lawsuit is to force them to stop. Enough is enough! Allowing the enslavement of African children in 2021 to harvest cocoa for major multinational companies is outrageous and must end.”

The case filed today is based primarily on the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (“TVPRA”), 18 U.S.C. § 1595 et. seq. This law allows victims of trafficking and forced labor to sue companies that participate in a “venture” and benefit from the trafficking or forced labor. The named Defendant companies have been cooperating in a venture for decades as they collaborate in a scheme to continue using child slaves while jointly promoting bogus programs they falsely claim are solving their child labor problem. They benefit by continuing to profit from selling cheap cocoa harvested by child slaves, including the eight Plaintiffs who filed this case. The TVPRA makes the companies jointly liable for child slavery on behalf of the “venture.”

IRAdvocates also filed a case on behalf of six former child slaves against Nestle and Cargill under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), 28 U.S.C. § 1350, in 2005. The case is still pending and was argued in the Supreme Court on December 1, 2020. The companies argued they are immune from liability for child slavery under international law. Collingsworth commented, “in filing this new case we want these companies to know we will use every possible legal tool available to make them stop abusing child slaves. We call upon the companies to work with us solve this problem, rather than spend millions in legal fees to fight an uncontestable fact – the cocoa industry is dependent upon child labor. ”
The full complaint of the new TVPRA case as well as information about the ATS case are available at www.IRAdvocates.com. Here is an article detailing the situation the cocoa slaves endure: https://www.justsecurity.org/73959/nestle-cargill-v-doe-series-meet-the-...

www.IRAdvocates.com

A Case Against Big Chocolate by Clay Gordon of The Chocolate Life

“Big Chocolate” gets hauled into court for failing to live up to its promises to curb human trafficking in their cocoa supply chains.

Before the sun rose on the Capitol this morning, Friday February 12th 2021, the non-profit organization International Rights Advocates filed suit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of eight former child slaves of Malian origin who were trafficked from Mali and subjected to forced labor harvesting and cultivating cocoa beans on farms in Côte d’Ivoire.

Click here to read the rest of the article The Chocolate Life