Children in Cocoa Production - Studies and Reports

Studies and Reports

• The 2001 report "A Taste of Slavery: How Your Chocolate May be Tainted" won a George Polk Award. It claimed that traffickers promise paid work, housing, and education to children who are forced to labour and undergo severe abuse, that some children are held forcibly on farms and work up to 100 hours per week, and that attempted escapees are beaten. It quoted a former slave: "The beatings were a part of my life" and "when you didn't hurry, you were beaten."
• Many Ivorian cocoa plantations use forced labor. A ship was found near West Africa allegedly carrying child slaves.
• A 2006 study showed many children working on small farms in Côte d'Ivoire, often on family farms. Over 11,000 people working on small Ivorian cocoa farms were surveyed.
• A report funded by the U.S. Department of Labor concluded that "Industry and the Governments of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana have taken steps to investigate the problem and are implementing projects that address issues identified in the Protocol."

• Fortune magazine reported in 2008 that "little progress has been made" in a report featuring responses from Cargill and Hershey's.

• In June 2009, the OECD released a position paper on child labor on West African Cocoa Farms, and launched a website on its Regional Cocoa Initiative.