10 Campaign
10 Campaign
Ten years ago the cocoa / chocolate industry, through its various trade associations, signed the Harkin-Engel Protocol, a 6-point roadmap which was to enable the elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (WFCL) in the cocoa sector of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.
The Protocol gave the industry the benefit of the doubt that it was concerned with the problem and ready to act. However, according to Tulane University, the Oversight body from 2006 to 2011, none of the Protocol’s six articles calling for action were fully implemented, and the required industry-wide reform in the cocoa sector has not taken place.
It is true that many cocoa companies have taken tentative steps towards engaging the product certifiers Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and Utz, who ertified approximately 4.17% of the world’s cocoa supply in 2010. But only a few companies have announced they would engage these product certifiers to certify substantial amounts of their cocoa requirements.
The ethical sourcing playing field must therefore be leveled for all actors, if the promise made ten years ago is to be achieved in any way at all. After 10 years of unmet commitments, the problem of child labour, WFCL and Forced Adult Labour (FAL) in West Africa’s cocoa sector persists: as of 2009 over 1.8 million children worked in the cocoa sectors of both countries. In that same period, from 2001 to 2011, the global revenue from cocoa products was an estimated USD 1 trillion. The cocoa industry therefore certainly has the financial means to tackle the problem.
Since the industry has not taken responsibility for carrying out the necessary reform from within, it is now necessary for governments to demand a minimum standard of compliance of companies and require due diligence in their supply chain. As “Corporate Social Responsibility” has apparently failed in the case of the cocoa sector, we demand that there now be “Corporate Social Accountability” to achieve ethical and sustainable
cocoa sourcing.
Clear and strong legislation is urgently needed as the status quo is simply not acceptable: why should children toil, at the expense of their health, education and sometimes their lives, for an industry so immensely profitable?
The Protocol gave the industry the benefit of the doubt that it was concerned with the problem and ready to act. However, according to Tulane University, the Oversight body from 2006 to 2011, none of the Protocol’s six articles calling for action were fully implemented, and the required industry-wide reform in the cocoa sector has not taken place.
It is true that many cocoa companies have taken tentative steps towards engaging the product certifiers Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance and Utz, who ertified approximately 4.17% of the world’s cocoa supply in 2010. But only a few companies have announced they would engage these product certifiers to certify substantial amounts of their cocoa requirements.
The ethical sourcing playing field must therefore be leveled for all actors, if the promise made ten years ago is to be achieved in any way at all. After 10 years of unmet commitments, the problem of child labour, WFCL and Forced Adult Labour (FAL) in West Africa’s cocoa sector persists: as of 2009 over 1.8 million children worked in the cocoa sectors of both countries. In that same period, from 2001 to 2011, the global revenue from cocoa products was an estimated USD 1 trillion. The cocoa industry therefore certainly has the financial means to tackle the problem.
Since the industry has not taken responsibility for carrying out the necessary reform from within, it is now necessary for governments to demand a minimum standard of compliance of companies and require due diligence in their supply chain. As “Corporate Social Responsibility” has apparently failed in the case of the cocoa sector, we demand that there now be “Corporate Social Accountability” to achieve ethical and sustainable
cocoa sourcing.
Clear and strong legislation is urgently needed as the status quo is simply not acceptable: why should children toil, at the expense of their health, education and sometimes their lives, for an industry so immensely profitable?
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See Tulane university's report |
