Try Halloween Without Hershey's

There are an estimated quarter million children under age 14 working cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast. An estimated 10% of whom are classified as 'forced labor' or slaves. Figures from various reporting agencies may put those numbers higher or lower, but the fact is, there's a problem, both with potentially harmful child labor and definitely harmful child slavery.

It's a problem that's been discussed ad naseum but without solid progress. In 2001, Senators Tom Harkin and Eliot Engel drafted a measure which would become known as the Cocoa Protocol. It was agreed to by the major players in the cocoa industry, including Hershey's, Nestle, Mars, Kraft, Cadbury, Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill, among others.

Ten years after the protocal was signed, of that group it can be argued that only Cadbury shows significant progress in doing something about the problem. Others have made some progress.

And one company seemingly hasn't done much of anything: Hershey's.

There are fundamental geopolitical issues at play here. The countries in West Africa that grow cocoa are for the most part agrarian societies. There are thousands of smallholder farms in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon that grow most of the world's cocoa.

These small family plots require the family's children for labor that would otherwise be unaffordable. Before expressing shock, let's remember that the US used to be the same when we were agrarian - kids worked the fields as soon as they were old enough to be of use. However, in the 17th-19th centurty agrarian United States, most kids on family farms were also being educated simultaneously - something that's not happening as much as it should in West Africa. Additionally, many of these West African children are out in the fields with machetes and sometimes exposed to pesticides during times when chemicals have to be used to save a crop in order to save the family's livelihood.

So there's the problem of a generation of undereducated children that will ultimately result in a generation of undereducated adults and more poverty.

Then you've got the bigger, more emotional issue of slavery. For the most part, it appears that slavery and indentured servitude is limited to Ivory Coast and perhaps Nigeria.

This is where being able to trace a company's cocoa purchase to a specific farm or coop becomes an important tool for consumers. 

With coffee, the importers used by our roasters deal with specific coffees from specific farms and coops. The origins of our coffees are clearly noted on every bag. That's traceability - a necessary component in any plan to end slavery and abuse. In simplistic terms, if the origin of a product is available to a consumer, that consumer can then make a more educated choice on whether to buy that product if they questions or concerns about labor practices (or any other issue).

The same traceability can be applied to cocoa if and when the major chocolate companies decide to do so. Many Fair Trade chocolate traders already do so. 

Then again, the US arm of the worldwide Fair Trade movement has broken off muddling the market for Fair Trade products further. And the Fair Trade USA (FTUSA) labeling initiatives certainly make it look like the organization has been co-opted by Big Ag (e.g. in the US you can now sell a "FTUSA Certified" chocolate bar without a gram of Fair Trade cocoa).

So what should you do this Halloween?

We can't tell you that. We can tell you that you won't find us giving away Hershey's products during Mt. Lebo's Pumpkin Patch Parade on the 29th.

What follows is a list of links you can follow to learn more about the child labor and slavery issues with chocolate in West Africa. We hope you'll use this information appropriately.

According to Green America's "Chocolate Scorecard", Nestle, Mars and Kraft are all doing significantly more than Hershey's is trying to end, or at least police, child labor on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast.

Bitter Harvest: Child Labour in the Cocoa Supply Chain - a white paper from the US Sustainable Investment Forum outlining the scope of the problem as of 2010.

Chocolate and Slavery - Child Labor in the Ivory Coast facts gathered from a TED case study offering a historical background of the Ivory Coast's cocoa industry and the how's/why's of child slavery in the country's cocoa production.

Stop Chocolate Slavery site with explanation of Fair Trade and listing of chocolate manufacturers thought to use slave-free chocolate.

Slave-Free Chocolate coalition to end child slavery on cocoa plantations in West Africa

Dark Chocolate - Are You Eating Child Slavery from Nourished Magazine, with lists of presumed slave-free chocolate and lists of companies that definitely use slave labor (Nestle, Hersheys, Mars, Lindt)

Barry Callebaut - A corporate take on child labor in the cocoa sector in West Africa with statistics. Callebaut's view is generally that family farms in impoverished areas need to use child labor, but that labor should not include use of machetes nor exposure to pesticides and should not come at the expense of education.

Exposed: Hershey's Chocolate - one consumer's findings about Hershey chocolate and why they won't be consuming it until the company's policies toward child labor change.

Raise the Bar Hershey - a campaign to get Hershey's - the world's largest chocolate company - to use Fair Trade chocolate or at least get out of the child slavery business. Partners include Global Exchange, Green America, ILRF and Oasis.

VIDEOS:

The Dark Side of Chocolate a 46 minute documentary filmed mostly in the Ivory Coast.

Facts About Chocolate

It's your call on what candies you'll be handing out to trick or treaters this Halloween. Just don't be surprised if some kids hand those Hershey's products right back to you.

Comments

[Greg]

Thanks for the heads up on this. Adds a lot more guilt to the guilty pleasure of having a Reese's cup. I will stop. Seems like Hershey got a bad rap in another area recently as well, employee relations or something. Ugh, big corporate food, maybe we'll learn one of these days....

[Jay W. Roman]

A well deserved bad rap as they were ruthlessly exploiting exchange students, primarily from Africa...guess I will have to learn to live without "Special Dark"...wish that Hershey could do the same.......

[Jay W. Roman]

Is "Brain Salad Surgery" by Black Sabbath??? I saw them twice at the now defunct Civic Arena, when Ozzie was still SKINNY!!! I wouldn't even think of listening to them now! -Nostalgia is nice, though....

[Rich]

Jay - you might got Sabbath (or at least Zack Wilde) when Frankenberry was here alone, but no, what we were playing today was pure pretentious Emerson Lake & Palmer.

[Mt lebanon]

Child Labor is such a prevailing menace of these days. Without us knowing, it exists and continues to persists despite a lot of regulations and prohibitions regarding the matter. One thing to do now is to make a firm legislation about its absolute prohibition.