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

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

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)

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