As I mentioned in my recent post, Decreasing Child Labor in 2012, child labor continues to hold some 215 million children in its firm grasp. While the fight to this practice has received increased attention, it is a long and hard battle. One of the largest and most public arenas where the fight against child labor is waged is in agriculture. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), two-thirds of children aged 5-17 work in agriculture. Two massive consumer industries that continuously profit off the backs of child laborers are the cocoa/chocolate, and cotton/garment industries.
Rather than learning and dreaming of a brighter future in classrooms where they belong, thousands of children are working long and laborious hours in harsh and often dangerous conditions with little hope of a prosperous future, let alone a fair and decent wage- if any wage at all.
Child Labor in the Cocoa Industry
The global cocoa industry often traffics children to work as slaves. According to UNICEF, in West Africa 200,000 children are living in conditions of forced labor and slavery on cocoa farms. One company that has been under heavy pressure to remove child labor from their supply chains is U.S. chocolate leader Hershey; however, the years of pressure by consumers and the media, not to mention the industry itself, have largely passed with little impact. The Hershey Company has been aware that their products are tainted by slavery and child labor since at least 2001, when along with the other major chocolate companies, Hershey made a commitment to end child and forced labor in their cocoa supply chains. In September 2001, chocolate and cocoa industry representatives signed the Harkin Engel Protocol, developed by Senator Tom Harkin and Representative Eliot Engel, in an effort to eliminate child labor in the industry. The protocol has a six-point approach to solve the problem, including a time sensitive process to establish credibility and eliminate the use of child slavery. The protocol was signed by the industry’s large cocoa producing companies and set forth an action plan to eliminate the worst forms of child labor and forced labor from cocoa farms worldwide by 2005.
However, Hershey’s has continued to produce their products undaunted by the knowledge that their profits come with a high human cost. They continue to source cocoa from the Ivory Coast, which according to the International Labor Organization (ILO), produces 43% of the worlds cocoa, without ensuring that child labor exploitation does not occur in the production of the cocoa they use. However, it seems that 2012 is the year Hershey will finally opened their eyes and fall to pressure, mostly thanks to the International Labor Rights Forum and the public campaign “Raise The Bar“, aimed directly at the company’s failure to act. The ILRF contacted Hershey to let them know of their plans to air an ad about Hershey’s child labor issues on a jumbo-tron at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for the Super Bowl. Suddenly Hershey’s was ready to speak up and issued a statement that, by the end of 2012, they pledged to use only Rainforest Alliance certified cocoa for its Bliss chocolate line. Rainforest Alliance Certified farms have three pillars of sustainability: environmental protection, social equity and economic viability. Hershey’s also stated they they plan to invest $10 million in West Africa, to encourage economic initiatives and to reduce child labor and improve cocoa supply (Huffington Post). While this is great news, it is not yet time to celebrate, as it is a small step in the long road to freedom for millions of children victimized by child labor.
Children in the Cotton Fields
Over the past few years, the media has highlighted the case of Uzbekistan, a major global supplier of cotton to the garment industry. Estimates say some 1.5 to 2 million schoolchildren between the ages of 10-16 years-old have been forced to pick cotton each year from September-November. However, despite an international outcry, and ban against cotton from Uzbekistan by many Western companies the previous year, little changed for Uzbek children last year, as they continued to be pulled from the classrooms and forced to work in the cotton fields (EurasiaNet). Sadly, Uzbekistan is not the only country utilizing child labor to harvest their precious ‘white gold’; India is also a large producer of both raw cotton and processed materials. Yet unlike the children of Uzbekistan they have not found themselves under the heavy scrutiny of investigators or the public media. “According to one Indian campaigning organization, around a third of workers in the cotton-producing industry are children. The number of child cotton workers across the country as a whole could be as much as half a million.” (SOS Children’s Villages)
This past month, retail giant and one of the top consumers of fair-trade cotton, Victoria’s Secret, under the parent company Limited Brands Inc., was thrust into the spotlight due to reports of child labor practices by a supplier from which they purchase fair-trade fiber harvested in Burkina Faso each year. “Under regulations separate from those being examined by homeland security, the U.S. Department of Labor had determined the problem of forced child labor in Burkina Faso’s cotton sector was serious enough to ban its fiber from the federal government’s procurement system. It’s one of just 29 products from a total of 21 countries that U.S. agencies are forbidden from buying under those rules.” (Bloomberg)
Are we doing enough?
The case against cotton from Burkina Faso highlights that bans in themselves do not solve the problem. The same is true in Uzbekistan, whose suppliers simply found new buyers in Russia and China. In both the cotton and cocoa industries, there is an need for increased monitoring of suppliers and prosecution of cases of labor violations. However, countries must cooperate with investigations, making regulation difficult. It is clear that we need to strengthen both domestic and international legislation and cooperation to allow the prosecution of acts involving child and forced labor. Until every child is out of the fields, mines, factories, fishing boats, etc. and in a classroom, we are not doing enough. Yes, it is a long road, but there is an end in sight and we must not stop until we reach it.
To end child slavery the pressure and willingness to rid it from each level of the supply chain must come from every direction. This means not only governments and large scale corporations, but consumers. When the price seems too good to be true, it usually is, and when your not paying for it someone else, perhaps a child, is paying the price for you. Remember that while it is difficult to know each step of the supply chain producing your products, you can still be an active and educated consumer by purchasing items that are certified fair-trade. Please also see previous posts on Child Trafficking, Child Labor and fair trade such as, Fair Trade Trick-or-Treating, Become a Conscious Consumer this October for Fair Trade Month and Impact Children, and don’t forget to check out the following resource pages: Fair Trade and Slave Free Links and Fair Trade Book List. You can hear stories from the children who work in cocoa fields from the International Cocoa Initiative here. For more info on the campaign to end child labor and cotton visit Environmental Justice Foundation here.
Look for my follow-up post on fair-trade chocolate and learn how to ensure that your Valentines treats are child labor and slave free.
