Chocolate Companies Break Hearts on Valentine's Day

by Tim Newman · 2010-02-11 15:00:00 UTC
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Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching and as usual, people across the country will be buying chocolate treats for their loved ones. But as readers of this blog know, the chocolate industry hides some bitter abuses. For years, campaigners have been calling attention to the ongoing use of child, forced, and trafficked labor in the cocoa industry in West Africa.

Last week, the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) released a new report titled “Broken Hearts.” While major chocolate companies pledged nine years ago to eliminate the worst forms of child labor from their supply chains, these egregious abuses continue to occur. The new report helps explain how some major initiatives to end child labor in the cocoa industry have been controlled by chocolate companies and lacked the necessary independent oversight and binding commitments that could have led to real change for cocoa farmers.

A particularly weak point in industry efforts to improve labor conditions has been the issue of trafficking. Unfortunately, it is clear that the trafficking of children from neighboring countries to Côte d’Ivoire continues as evidenced by a recent INTERPOL raid of farms, in which scores of trafficked children, many in forced labor situations, were identified. A recent article by Anita Sheth, formerly of Save the Children Canada, gives an excellent overview of the shortcomings of industry efforts to appropriately address child trafficking in West Africa’s cocoa industry [begins on page 54 of this PDF].

For those of us who love our chocolate and human rights, there is a new resource for making informed choices about the chocolatey treats we buy. Free2Work.org is a new website run by ILRF and the Not for Sale Campaign that ranks products and companies based on their policies related to forced and child labor.  New chocolate company profiles have been posted and are available online here. Check it out to discover how your favorite chocolate ranks!

One major company that has a long way to go in ending abusive labor conditions is Hershey. While many chocolate companies have started to commit to certification programs that help them to ensure that certain labor standards are met in the production of the cocoa they use, Hershey has not agreed to any such program. You can take a moment to ask Hershey to have a heart for workers using Facebook or Twitter. Tweet: "@hersheycareers #Hershey Have a heart for workers: Monitor your entire supply chain for labor rights! http://3bl.me/y9qrbz." Or, post a Facebook message to Hershey's fan page: "Have a heart for workers: Monitor your entire supply chain for labor rights! http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/Hershey."

Positive changes are slowly happening for cocoa farmers. Just a few weeks ago, Green & Black’s announced its intention to switch to 100% Fair Trade Certified cocoa for all of its chocolate bars. Let’s keep growing the movement and call on chocolate companies to show their love for cocoa farmers and children around the world!

Photo credit: niseag03

Tim Newman is a campaigns assistant at the International Labor Rights Forum. He also works on the Stop Firestone campaign.

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