Public Survice Europe – March 2012

Cocoa production child labour ban ‘culturally insenstive’                                             

 Children working on family farms in Africa is a very different scenario to the forced child labour in places like Uzbekistan – insists MEP

More than 215 million children around the world are employed in the production of cocoa beans. These beans are used not only to produce luxury items such as chocolate and candles, but also in the production of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. This important ‘cash crop’ is a major part of the rural economies of large swathes of West Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia.

In the last decade or so, the production of cash crops has been the focus of global campaigns. Despite ongoing efforts to help, children continue to be forced to work in appalling conditions around the world. In many situations – such as the cotton harvest in Uzbekistan – children as young as 10 are forced to work long, back-breaking hours, often at the expense of their schooling. This forced child labour is deplorable and should be prevented at all costs.

However, when it comes to the production of cocoa, it is important to make a distinction with the forced methods of the Uzbek government and the traditional practices of places such as West Africa – where child labour is not only part of their culture but essential to the running of their farms. Contrary to popular belief, the cocoa industry is still very much a family affair with over 90 per cent of West African cocoa produced from small, family farms. Therefore, the vast majority of children working in the cocoa industry work not for large multinational corporations or a malignant arm of the state – but on family run small holdings, averaging between 3-4 hectares.

Children help their families during harvest time, which can happen many times a year, or work to support their families when parents are deceased or too sick to work. To deprive them of this would be hugely damaging to the cultural practices across huge swathes of the globe. I am not defending the use of child labour, but merely arguing that there should be a distinction between forced and traditional child labour. As patron of the charity Topsy, I have seen first hand the integral part children play in rural communities in the developing world. From a personal perspective, I myself helped my parents out on my family’s farm. What is very important it that this work goes hand-in-hand with education and not replaces it.

Those that advocate a ban on any form of products derived from any form of child labour are not only insensitive to the cultural subtleties mentioned above, but are also wholly unrealistic. With some seven to 10 steps from growers to manufactures, the cocoa production process would be impossible to monitor as it would be very difficult to gauge which beans came from ‘child labour-free’ farms or not. The disruption and additional cost of such methods would detrimentally affect the cocoa famers and with some 50 per cent of household income coming from cocoa in places such as the Ivory Coast, the results of such proposals could be disastrous.

When it comes to produce derived from forced child labour or indeed forced labour of any kind, the European Union should be emphatic. These products should be banned from entering the EU and pressure should be placed on the companies or states that utilise such measures. With regards to child labour in the cocoa sector, the European Union should work with the governments and those involved all the way up the supply chain – to ensure  that fair wages are paid and safety is ensured.

Robert Sturdy MEP is vice-chairman of the International Trade Committee in the European Parliament

 

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 Parliament Magazine – February 2012

 

 

 

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Parliament Magazine – December 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Parliament Magazine – October 2011

 

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Parliament Magazine – March 2011