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For your chocolate, 1.5 million children are losing their future in dark plantations
The cocoa industry pledged to fight exploitative employment a decade ago, but a U.S. government report reveals it is only spreading. Half of West African children, some only 5, work in plantations and are exposed to hazardous chemicals. Experts accuse: "Israeli companies do not check where the product comes from."
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Ghana
Ivory Coast
cocoa
Employment of children
Fair trade
chocolate
Uri Sela
Monday, 02 November 2020, 21:27
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In the video: Children working in cocoa plantations in the Ivory Coast (Photo: Reuters, Editing: Amit Simcha)
The proportion of children employed in the cocoa industry has continued to grow over the past decade, contrary to the promises of large companies, according to a report released at the request of the United States Department of Labor last week.
According to the data collected, close to half of the children in Ghana and Ivory Coast work in orchards, most of them in dangerous conditions.
Topics experts in the country claimed in a call to Walla!
NEWS that the companies do not operate in full transparency, and the consumer can not know the real way the product goes until it reaches it.
A survey by the University of Chicago Research Institute (NORC) examined the progress of the fight against child labor in cocoa plantations in the two West African countries, which produce more than half of the world's GDP.
The results showed that 43% of children aged 5-17 living in agricultural areas are employed in hazardous conditions, which include clearing land, carrying heavy weights, exposure to chemicals, using sharp objects and working long hours or working nights.
This is compared to 30% a decade ago.
In total, the researchers estimated that 1.56 million children take part in the cocoa industry in the major exporters.
This means a 14% increase over a decade, so that almost every second child in the countries, 45%, is utilized for the benefit of the continued activity of the giant industry.
In the background is a growing demand, which led to a 66% jump in production volume during that period.
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An increase of 14% in a decade.
A boy works in cocoa plantations in Ghana (Photo: Reuters)
The cocoa industry in Ghana and Ivory Coast
1.56 million children
45% of children aged 17-5
43% are employed in dangerous conditions
A 14% increase in the rate of working children over a decade
Production volume - 66% more than in 2009
The latest findings indicate the failure of efforts to eradicate the phenomenon, in which government officials and the chocolate companies themselves have participated over the years.
In the early 2000s, representatives of the major companies in the industry - including March, Nestlé and Rashi'z - and representatives of the US Congress signed an agreement to end child labor at cocoa farms in West Africa.
The parties set six steps towards uniform standards of cocoa cultivation without child labor until 2005. Over the years, they realized that the root of the problem lay deeper than they thought - and repeatedly rejected the goal.
By 2010, expectations had already been lowered, and together with the Ivory Coast and Ghanaian governments pledged to reduce by 70% within a decade.
However, the data show that they did not meet this goal either, and that in practice a reverse process took place, which raises questions about the companies' willingness to allocate significant resources to solving the problem.
Governments have denied the data presented in the latest report.
According to the researchers, the solutions already exist and are just waiting to be implemented in the field.
A study they conducted found that external intervention, which combines the provision of study materials, financial assistance and projects to increase safety in the workplace, leads to a 25% decrease in the proportion of employed children.
Also, proof of the effectiveness of school accessibility, without which parents are often forced to take their children with them to plantations due to the remote location of the institutions.
"Corporate Self-Examination - Let the Cat Keep the Cream"
Vita Eliasson, a business owner who provides corporate social responsibility services, explains in a call to Walla!
NEWS on some of the factors that delay the realization of goals.
First, it says that there is complexity in overseeing the long and tortuous production process.
"The issue of employing children is very problematic. Getting the first supplier to pick the cocoa beans is not always simple, the supply chain is very complex," she explains.
"The bottom line is do a lot. In the end result there is a problem with that."
According to her, the Israeli consumer has no way of knowing the way the products went until they reached the supermarket shelf, and there is a lack of unification of the criteria for a product without utilization.
"Apparently the efforts are not satisfactory. There are companies in the country that work with suppliers from abroad and do not monitor them at all.
You can not know what product you are buying, you have no idea if it was collected by children.
Some companies write on their website that they give preference to suppliers who work in fair trade.
It's the biggest 'green wash' there can be.
They do not really monitor the production chain, they do not really know what is going on in it. "
"The report must raise questions in every parent's head."
Children working in cocoa plantations in Ivory Coast (Photo: AP)
Eliasson goes on to say that "there must be transparency, a lack of transparency creates the situation of employing children. In all the great writers who make a lot of money on us no one monitors the supply chain. In England, for example, all great writers have supplier monitoring programs and all their suppliers employ Fair. "
Finally, she emphasizes that there is another and critical side to the equation.
"There should be a much greater awareness on the part of consumers in the country, it does not yet exist enough. When the demand starts coming from consumers - then things will start to change," she added.
The subject of self-assessments comes up again and again in reference to the subject.
The companies, most of them, state that they make sure that no children are employed in the production chain and pass the responsibility for exploitation on to other companies in third world countries.
However, according to the critics, the self-verification does not constitute real validity, and as long as no external assessment is made - the companies cannot be treated fairly.
"A trend seen in the last decade is a commitment by corporations, at least by word of mouth, to combat the exploitative supply phenomena in production chains. But a lot of research shows it's letting a cat keep the cream," Walla said!
NEWS Prof. Hila Shamir from Tel Aviv University, who heads a research group dealing with human trafficking.
"Corporations have an interest in cheap production, so when the initiatives come from them, they usually do not lead to a significant change," said Prof. Shamir.
"They have no enforcement mechanisms and sanctions, such as the leading brand in the corporation saying it will no longer work with suppliers who detect breaches. It is very easy to produce a decent workplace appearance even when it is not. In a textile factory in Bangladesh there was a collapse that killed hundreds of workers." "And he found that there were no problems in the place. After that, quite a few were discovered."
However, she clarifies that the change needs to be made in a calculated way.
"The right process is to change the form of employment, not to say we will not do more business - it can greatly hurt the children it seeks to protect. Studies in the field show that the best initiatives are those that combine workers' organization, social responsibility that comes from them, and give them the opportunity to complain."
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To the full article
"The consumer has no way of knowing if the product was collected by children." Sale to rescue boys Commercial, in Ivory Coast (Photo: Reuters)
Various initiatives have come up over the years in an attempt to mobilize the public to fight and put pressure on corporations.
They are currently headed by the World Fair Trade Organization, which was established, among other things, to provide a reliable external alternative to assessments using a strict standard mark that marks products in various industries, including coffee, tea and chocolate, and ensures that they are manufactured without human exploitation.
Raz Frogel, coordinator of the Coalition for the Promotion of Fair Trade in Israel, told Walla!
NEWS that the organization conducts outreach activities in schools and campuses across the country to raise awareness of the issue.
"Just as we would not let a pharmaceutical company test the drugs themselves - so we can not let the chocolate companies test themselves on such a sensitive issue," Shamir added.
"The serious report published this week must raise questions in the head of every parent who gives chocolate to his child. Is the chocolate our children eat made from cocoa harvested under child labor conditions? Do we give it a hand?" Frogel clarified.
"The fair trade method, in which farmers are guaranteed a living price for their cocoa, allows treatment of the root of the problem. However, the effects of slavery and child labor are alive and kicking and far from over. The promises of the big chocolate and cocoa companies to eliminate child labor are violated time and time again. The big corporations for progress. "
Where does Israeli chocolate come from?
The Israeli companies denied any connection to the problems raised.
Nestlé noted that the source of the cocoa in its products is the Ivory Coast, Unilever Israel said that its products come from both the Ivory Coast and Ghana, while Strauss refused to return the countries of origin of its products.
Of the three, Unilever was the only one that agreed to answer which review it uses to verify the absence of exploitation in the plantations.
Refused to answer where the cocoa comes from.
Strauss plant in Sderot (Photo: Moshe Shai, Flash 90)
Nestlé stated that "our position is that child employment is an unacceptable phenomenon. Therefore, Nestlé is the first company in the world to launch a program to monitor and prevent child labor in 2012 in collaboration with suppliers and governments."
Unilever said they "are following with concern the difficult phenomenon of employing children in cocoa plantations. In addition to the fact that Unilever purchases cocoa for its products from sustainable sources, while adhering to strict rules prohibiting the employment of children, we are committed to working with our partners and suppliers to eradicate this phenomenon. Out of this responsibility, Unilever joined in 2018 the "International Cocoa Initiative" - NGO to eradicate the phenomenon, while working closely with local governments and companies in the industry. "
Strauss responded that "the company purchases the raw materials from leading companies in their field. When contracting with a supplier, we make sure that it operates in accordance with the principles of our existing charter, including adherence to a fair transaction."
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