CHOCOLATE INDUSTRY : SLAVERY

BY: Brij Kishore Bansal Sandeep Maharana P M Jayakrishnan Ipsita Pahadi Sneha kumari Pallavi Agrawal

Case study in brief

Half of worlds chocolate comes from slave children- who are kidnapped and made to work but hook or by crook In 2000 Human right report said 15000 children are sold to Ivory coast farmers In 2001 Chocolate manufacturer association(CMA) confessed about their knowledge of slavery existing in the industry. CMA was signed an agreement A certification was also made however it didnt work

Do slavery still exists?

Ivory coasts and Ghana, West Africa. Boys (09-16 yrs) are kidnapped and sold to cocoa farmers. Methods of making them work: whippings, beatings, starvation; clearing the fields, harvesting beans and drying them in the sun. Made to work for at least 12 hours a day, and locked in at night in windowless rooms, to sleep on wooden planks. Every year lots of boys die or are killed here.

Why dont they run away?

Unsure of their location and unable to speak local language. Threatened with harsh beatings, if tries to escape. If caught, will be beaten to set examples for others. Locked in solitary confinement for a prolonged period of time.

Why slavery in the Ivory Coast?

Decline in the prices of cocoa beans in the global markets since 1990. Result: Cut down labor costs -> Buy slaves. Open borders, a shortage of enforcement officers, bribes accepted from members of slave trade.

Who is responsible?
A $13 billion industry Hershey, Mars, Nestle, Kraft Foods Middlemen like Archer Daniels, Midland Co., Barry Callebaut, Cargill Inc. buys cocoa beans from farmers. African Government do not control over the rules.

What is the world doing about it?

Human Rights Report: 15,000 children from Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali had been sold into slavery in the Ivory Coast. International Labor Organization adopted a convention : immediate and effective measures to eliminate all forms of slavery. 89 countries ratified it, but Ivory Coast.

Chocolate Manufacturers Association signed Protocol for the growing & processing of Cocoa beans and their Derivative Products in a manner that Complies with ILO Convention 182 Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worse Forms of Child Labor. Chocolate Manufacturers Association & World Cocoa Foundation signed a MOC. Certification to verify beans not harvested by slave labor.

Questions
1.

2.

What are the systemic , corporate and individual ethical issues raised by this case? Is your view, is the kind of child slavery discussed in this case absolutely wrong no matter what, or is it only relatively wrong, i.e if one happens to live in a society (like ours) that disapproves of slavery?

3. Who shares the moral responsibility for the slavery occurring in the chocolate industry: African farmers? African governments? American chocolate companies? Distributors? Consumers like you and I who know about the situation but continue to purchase tainted chocolate?