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Perhaps one of the most viewed posts here on my blog is my list of slave-free chocolates available in Australia. That list I have compiled slowly over several months. I have received wonderful support from readers here and in "real life" in compiling that list - many people sought to undertake research of their own and then informed me of what they have found. There were times when readers here have disagreed and corrected me on my information and I have amended the post accordingly.
I have also received many queries regarding the source of my list and how I have compiled it. In response, I wrote my sources in the comments section of that post and again as a proper post.
Today, I decided to expand on how I have written the third ("Use slaves, but...") and
and fourth ("Use slaves and they don't care") categories. As a reminder to everyone, I have openly said before that I wrote those last two categories are based on *my* reaction to responses (or non-responses) from chocolate companies and my knowledge from more reputable sources. By that I mean, those two categories were written from *my own* deconstruction of messages churned out by those chocolate compaines. Feel free to disagree with me. (I only ask that you disagree in a way that is constructive and accountable.)
So on to the messages...
I have found that for those companies in the fourth category (and some in the third category), there were similar messages in their response to queries regarding their cocoa sources. I will list those messages now. If you have received different messages, please post here.
Claim 1: They do not get their cocoa from the Ivory Coast
This claim seems to play on popular notions that child-slavery in cocoa farms are limited to the Ivory Coast. Child slavery is *not* limited to the Ivory Coast alone. On 15 June 2001, The International Labour Organisation(ILO) published a report that concludes that child-slavery and trafficking is rampant throughout West Africa. The countries mentioned in the report include: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Gabon, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Togo.
All the responses I received from the companies I listed in category four stated that they got their cocoa from Ghana. This statement is often made without reference to the slavery issue in Ghana, but rather as a comparison to slavery issue in the Ivory Coast.
On 31 October 2007, the Payson Centre at Tulane University (funded by the US Department of Labor) reported on the cocoa industry and the slavery issue in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. The report concludes that child-slavery (termed "forced labour" in the report) still exists and that both Ghana and the Ivory Coast have moved very slowly in reporting back as per previous international agreements to do so. For the full report see: http://www.childlabor-payson.org/FirstAnnualReport.pdf
In addition, the Government of Ghana have been quite open that slavery is part of their culture. (See: http://www.modernghana.com/news/24677/1/child-slavery-in-ghana.html) While the Goverment of Ghana are working towards addressing child-slavery, many welfare organisations do state that they have a very limited capacity to do so and hampered by the efforts of the Ghanian Government to try and minimise publicity over the issue (see: http://www.freetheslaves.net/Document.Doc?id=20)
Therefore I question the claim by these chocolate companies and their motives for even stating this fact. In all of my correspondence to them, I never once mention the Ivory Coast (I just question whether they do, indeed, source their cocoa from farms who use child-slaves). Instead I get a paragraph diverting my attention to Ghana instead of the Ivory Coast.
Claim 2: They participate in the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) and the World Cocoa Foundation(WCF).
The WCF is one of the organisations that were a key feature of the Harken Engel Protocol. This is the protocol that had an original life as a certification system where chocolate can be labelled "slave-free". They then set up the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) to oversee this project. The WCF sits under the ICI.
Unfortunately, that protocol has now been reduced to a survey instrument rather than a certification system. (See my blog post: http://consumption-rebellion.blogspot.com/2008/07/jamie-oliver-chickens-but-what-about.html)
While the WCF and the ICI have tried to address the problem, I think it has failed miserably. See the Tulane University Report again and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Cocoa_Initiative.
It is my opinion that for a problem of this magnitude, self-regulation (which is essentially what happened when membership to the ICI and WCF was opened to the chocolate companies) was *not* a good policy call because instead of exercising the powers given to these organisations, there has been effort instead to change the policy so it no longer had any "teeth". Many of the funds given to the ICI and WCF have been redirected to research projects on how to grow cocoa more efficiently.
While I support research, I do not believe so much of the ICI's resources should have gone to research and should have gone instead of addressing the immediate problem - which is that there are children being locked up every night in over crowded cells and being forced to work in isolation from their community.
Having said that, I do acknowledge that the ICI and the WCF have at least helped *some* farms through the provision of education (though the details and results of that education are very very unclear).
Claim 3: Buying from Fairtrade accredited sources would compromise the quality of their chocolates.
This one would have to be one of the most puzzling claims to me and it was made by Lindt in two of their emails to me. According to Lindt, under the rules of Fairtrade, they would not be able to reject low quality beans from suppliers.
I searched the Fairtrade Labelling Standards for Cocoa and I can not see anything in the rules that say that buyers *have* to buy low quality beans. There are rules in there regarding labour standards, logistical, administrative and technical requirements for exporting products etc. In fact, the standards seem to me to ensure the delivery of quality products rather than forcing buyers to buy low quality products. If I have read the standards wrong, then please let me know!
Further, Cadbury UK's recent decision to move to Fairtrade accreditation for their Dairy Milk line seems to be in direct contradiction with Lindt's claim. This post from Cadbury UK's blog seems to be very confident that the taste of their dairy milk chocolate will remain the same after they have gained fairtrade accreditation.
And now my other thoughts...
Finally, why did I have 2 separate categories in the first place?? As I have stated previously, I decided to separate the companies because in my opinion, some (like Cadbury and Cocoa Farm) are making a concerted effort to change cultural problems and systems inherent in the Cocoa Industry. So yes, I also do admit that this is a value judgement on my part.
In talking to chocolate companies that *are* fairtrade certified or organic certified, I have noticed one MAJOR difference. These companies are always willing to name their sources. In short, they are TRANSPARENT in their dealings. They do *not* make vague statements like: "we pay our suppliers premium price to ensure that their workers are paid fairly..." or "we only use reputable suppliers for our cocoa".
The other thing about these ethical companies is that they conduct regular (and usually independent) audits to ensure people are not being exploited and they were more than happy to tell me the company who does their audit and most offered to release the executive summary of their latest audit report to me.
When I compare the way the companies in categories 1 to 3 have informed me and the way companies in category 4 have acted, there is a distinct difference.
Categories 1 to 3 companies have acted more openly. Category 4 fed me a whole heap of "facts" that were only half the story and did not correlate in anyway with information given to me by an overwhelmingly large number of other companies in Categories 1 to 3.
Finally, I have received one anonymous comment telling me that I need to "prove" that those companies in Category 4 use child-slavery. Given that so many independent reports have already indicated that child-slavery is widespread in the cocoa industry, I think the "proof" should go the other way...that these companies need to prove that are NOT using child-slavery. Therefore, if anyone can produce for me correspondence from the chocolate companies I have named bluntly stating that they do *not* use cocoa harvested by child-slaves, then I'd love to see it!
For further reading, see also: http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/background.html
Other lists of chocolate companies and their "rankings":
http://vision.ucsd.edu/~kbranson/stopchocolateslavery/main.html
http://www.betterworldshopper.com/r-chocolate.html
9 comments:
Wow! Im impressed by your research.
I will certainly be more aware.
Irene x
I must admit to an embarassing lack of awareness on this issue prior to reading this post. But no longer! I am absolutely amazed at the hard work and dedication you have put into this issue, and will definitely be referring to your list before I buy any more chocolate.
Another helpful post, thanks. I do find it amusing to see the ads in the google sidebar box are all for lindt chocolate. Ha ha!
Thank you all for your comments. :) Ever since I became a mum, the issue of child-slavery really strikes a chord within me. I have to say, I can not eat slave-chocolate any more without thinking of the cost to those children to provide *me* with a pleasurable snack.
Gina -EEK!! Thank you for telling me! I've been monitoring the ads and I have to say, the only things I've seen in that side bar have been for room decorating stuff. I might have to enter in all the names of the chocolates I disapprove of in the filter thingy.
Thanks again.
Wow, this truly is an excellent article, your research is hard-hitting and the facts don't lie. The truth is most chocolate companies use forced labor, whether knowingly or not, to harvest their cocoa. It's a sad irony that a treat so many children love comes from children living under horrible conditions. We here at Endangered Species Chocolate applaud companies like Cadbury UK for making the switch to fairly traded cocoa. As consumers of chocolate, we all must understand that we vote for what we believe in with every purchase. If enough people get behind the fair trade/ethical trade movement, we can force companies to begin practicing fair trade policies. On a more up beat note, Endangered Species Chocolate has gone one step past fair trade, and have committed to an ethical trade policy. This mean we do more than simply pay a fair market price, but are actively working to improve the living conditions for the farmers on their family owned cocoa farms. We install water pumps and water filtration systems as well as donate school and medical supplies to the communities around the farms. For more information about ESC’s mission or our premium chocolate products check us out at www.chocolatebar.com or email us at community@chocolatebar.com. And remember, Savor Chocolate. Save Our Planet.
Kyle
Endangered Species Chocolate
This is super informative and particularly interesting to me. I have been particularly interested in child-slavery as it affects the coffee industry, which seems to go hand in hand with the chocolate trade. It's amazing how little people know, and the trouble to which companies go to make sure it stays that way. Thanks for posting this.
Very informative, but I was just wondering why there is a link to Lindt company in the section "Adds by Google".
Ala Lynd
Hello Eilleen,
I just read through your blog. I appreciate your acknowledgment that World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) and our partners are helping cocoa farmers. We welcome you to visit our website for specifics about our public-private partnership programs in each of the three regions where cocoa is farmed by hundreds of thousands of small scale family farmers (www.worldcocoa.org).
In West Africa, the majority of cocoa farms are less than 5 acres in size. Many of the farms are remote, with poor road systems and services. Children typically help their parents during cultivation and harvest of cocoa and other crops. On the WCF website, I have a blog which describes in greater detail about cocoa farming which might be of interest.
WCF has three major programs in the West/Central Africa (Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Cameroon and Liberia); 1) The Sustainable Tree Crops Program, 2) ECHOES (youth livelihoods program) and 3) Cocoa Livelihoods Program. Collectively, these programs will reach over 300,000 cocoa farmers. We are seeing postive results/impact from these efforts. STCP farmer graduates report income improvements of up to 50 percent, safer farming practices and greater awareness of child labour issues. We have also incorporated a health component in our farmer field schools on HIV/AIDS and malaria prevention.
WCF is not a certifying body, but we do work with organizations and companies who participate in these types of efforts. To my knowledge, there is no certification system which can guarantee no child labour, although many are doing good work.
Regards,
Bill Guyton
World Cocoa Foundation
Thank you for commenting and giving me your perspectives!
Kyle - thank you for giving me an update on what you guys are doing. As I have stated before, Endangered Species chocolate is one of my favourite chocolates and its great to see a company making a serious commitment to social issues rather than just giving token gestures.
Ani - yes you are right, this is more than just the chocolate industry - its every product that uses cocoa. :)
Ala - EEEK again! When Gina told me of this I did type in the names of companies I don't approve of in the filters thingy of Google ads...but obviously it didn't work. I've decided to take down the ads completely now. Thank you for letting me know!
Bill - thank you for coming here and taking the time to provide me with such useful information. I will be spending the next few days reading and processing the information in the WCF blog.
I also agree with you that there are no certification systems guaranteeing no child labour. "Child labour" and the definition of what is a "child" is very much tied to local cultural norms (just as how child slavery has its beginnings in cultural norms too). Having said that "child labour" is a very different concept to "child slavery".
The BBC made an excellent documentary about the differences. Following 4 separate children - one a child who worked as a goat herd for the family farm; another a child who worked illegally in the mines to help support his poverty-stricken family; another a child who was indentured to pay off his parent's debts; and another a child who was sold to a man who ran a fishing boat (a true slave in every sense).
All the above children were working, but the emotional and physical tolls on the children were markedly different. The goat-herder child was, while wishing he could go to school, overall happy and safe. He was contributing to the well-fare of his family in a way that was beneficial to his well-being.
The child who worked illegally in the mines wept at his and his family's fate.
The last two children displayed a complete lack of emotion. They were very "practical" and not given to showing any emotion at all. Indeed, I felt like I was watching little "shells" - completely devoid of caring - for themselves or others.
Fairtrade certification does not ban child labour - however it does guarantee that all workers are safe, paid a living wage and have access to their basic human rights. For children, this includes access to the extra rights vested to them under the Convention of the Rights of the Child.
While I would prefer to see no child labour, it is important that we first address the systems in place that strip children their humanity.
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