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Joint Statement from U.S. Senator Tom Harkin, Representative Eliot Engel and the Chocolate and Cocoa Industry on the Implementation of the Harkin-Engel Protocol

Protocol Drives Number of Achievements; Industry Outlines Next Steps

WASHINGTON, DC, USA (June 16, 2008) - In September 2001, industry representatives signed an agreement, today known as the “Harkin-Engel Protocol,” developed in partnership with U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and U.S. Representative Eliot Engel (D-NY). The agreement laid out a series of steps aimed at eliminating the worst forms of child labor and forced adult labor from cocoa growing in West Africa. An unprecedented effort, the Protocol marked the first time that an entire industry stepped forward and worked with governments, civil society and other stakeholders to address the worst forms of child labor and forced adult labor in its supply chain.

The development of a system of public certification is a key part of the Harkin-Engel Protocol. In an agreement made in 2005, the industry committed that by July 1, 2008, a public certification system would be in place that would cover 50% of the cocoa farming sector of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. In fact, the data collection element of the certification process covering an area that produces at least 50% of the cocoa farming output in each country has been completed, and reports detailing the preliminary results of these surveys by the respective governments are expected to be released by July 1. However, independent verification, which is critical to establishing the validity of the results of the government conducted surveys, partially funded by the industry, will not be fully completed until the end of the year. This robust verification process, which is underway, will improve data collection to ensure accurate reporting of the worst forms of child labor and forced adult labor and strengthen remediation efforts.

This certification process has been developed as a cooperative effort between the North American and European chocolate and cocoa industry together with their international affiliates and the governments of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. These surveys, as part of the certification process, will eventually be representative of the entire cocoa sector, reporting the incidence of child and adult labor practices that are unacceptable. This is not the same as product certification, whereby internationally recognized certifying organizations attest that particular products and their specific raw materials are produced according to labor practices that are confirmed by third party auditors.

The certification process being implemented will help governments, industry, and the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI), to focus their efforts toward eliminating the worst forms of child labor and forced adult labor in the cocoa supply chain. Ideally, over time, subsequent surveys will indicate an improvement in the status of child and adult labor practices.

Since its signing, the Protocol has been a positive and important catalyst for change, driving a number of important achievements.

Today, both the governments of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana are working toward implementing detailed national plans of action, focused on child labor issues across all sectors of their economies, with dedicated senior level officials assigned to lead these ongoing efforts. Both countries have invested in the implementation of certification, and will publicly post the results of their surveys. In addition, each country has committed resources to address issues that are identified through the data collection / reporting process. These efforts are to be acknowledged and applauded.

“I had a chance to see, first hand, the progress that is being made in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire during a trip in January,” said Senator Tom Harkin. “After that trip and meeting children who have already been affected by our work, I am more dedicated than ever to seeing through the commitments made by the industry and the national governments under the Protocol. I am hopeful that the industry will redouble its efforts to increase its contributions to the ICI to effectively deal with remediation needs.”

Representative Eliot Engel added, “Since 2001, I have been firmly committed to working with the cocoa industry and the governments of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire to do everything we can to work in partnership to eliminate the worst forms of child labor and forced adult labor. My trip to West Africa in January reaffirmed my commitment to this crucial process.”

“The certification process currently being undertaken is delivering an assessment of cocoa labor practices across ever-larger areas of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana,” said Larry Graham, President of the National Confectioners Association (NCA). “Today, the ICI foundation is actively engaging communities to address labor issues and help children. And we have an ongoing, action-oriented partnership between industry, civil society and these governments, a partnership that will continue to drive change in the years ahead.”

The International Cocoa Initiative

The International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) was established in 2002, as called for under the Protocol. A partnership among NGOs, trade unions, cocoa processors and major chocolate brands, the ICI is a unique initiative that combats the worst forms of child labor and forced adult labor in cocoa farming. To date, industry and individual companies have provided nearly $10 million in financial support for the ICI and its programs since its formation and will continue to support the foundation in the future.

In 2008, the ICI is working in 104 communities in Côte d’Ivoire and 119 communities in Ghana. In 2006 – 2007 it organized 23 training sessions in Ghana and 17 in Côte d’Ivoire for government officials, local police, NGOs and media to sensitize participants with respect to child and adult labor practices.

“During my recent trip to Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, I was impressed by the work being done by the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI). The ICI is not only sensitizing communities about the hazards of child and forced adult labor, but is also working to promote the important role of quality education in childhood development,” said Representative Engel.

“But if we are to make real progress in eliminating the worst forms of child labor and forced adult labor in the cocoa industry, I believe that the ICI must now substantially scale up its efforts in both Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. I look forward to working with all of the stakeholders to ensure that ICI efforts are deepened over the next year.”

Future Commitment:

Going forward, the chocolate and cocoa industry will continue to support efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labor and forced adult labor on cocoa farms and to help cocoa farmers, their families and communities by continuing to work with the national governments to ensure that the certification process, including remediation and verification are fully implemented.

“As an industry, we see this effort as a long-term commitment, one that reflects a shared responsibility for the cocoa farmers and their families at the start of our supply chain,” said David Zimmer, Secretary General of Association of the Chocolate, Biscuit & Confectionery Industries of the EU (CAOBISCO). “It is not a commitment that expires with any one date but rather is an essential, ongoing part of how we conduct business. While we focus on near-term milestones, they are in fact part of a longer, sustained effort that reflects our corporate citizenship in this and other areas.”

In the next 2-3 years, this long-term commitment will include the following:

Industry will work with the governments of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana to have a sector-wide independently verified certification process fully in place across each country’s cocoa-growing sector by the end of 2010.

Industry will work closely with and assist the governments of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana as they target and coordinate remediation efforts, based on the results from the certification data reports.

Companies will deepen their support for the ICI as the foundation expands to additional communities in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana; further strengthens government capacity at the national level, and educates key stakeholders in the cocoa supply chain on safe, responsible labor practices.

“Looking ahead, there is still much work to do and our commitment will remain firm,” remarked Bill Guyton, president of the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), an industry-supported organization that plays a leadership role in improving economic and social conditions for cocoa farming families. “We will build upon the achievements within the Protocol framework, as well as upon our ongoing support for the economic and social development of cocoa farming communities, to make a better life for children and adults on cocoa farms.”

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Critics: Chocolate financing Ivory Coast's Gbagbo

(AP) – Feb. 14, 2011

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Some of the cocoa in that Valentine's Day chocolate probably came from a West African country where the man in power for a decade is still clinging to office. And activists say consumers might also think twice if they knew unpaid 5-year-olds helped produce it.

This year human rights advocates are harnessing the political crisis in Ivory Coast, the world's largest cocoa producer, to add momentum to an ongoing campaign to force the world's chocolate makers to improve their labor practices.

Supporters of the internationally recognized winner of Ivory Coast's election also have pushed for a cocoa ban in an effort to financially strangle incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo, who the U.N. says lost the November election.

"It's clear that the taxes that come from cocoa go directly to keeping Gbagbo in power. That's why we called for an export ban and it seems to be working," said Patrick Achi, spokesman for internationally recognized winner Alassane Ouattara, who is now trying to run the country from a hotel.

Years of campaigning by "fair trade" consumers already have forced chocolate makers to sign onto to agreements to help clean up the cocoa supply chain. But little has changed in the decade since the U.S. Congress passed the Harkin-Engel Protocol to introduce a "no child slavery" label for chocolate marketed in the United States.

Some 1.8 million children aged 5 to 17 years work on cocoa farms in Ivory Coast and Ghana, according to the fourth annual report produced by Tulane University under contract to the U.S. Department of Labor to monitor progress in the protocol.

The report says 40 percent of the 820,000 children working in cocoa in Ivory Coast are not enrolled in school, and only about 5 percent of the Ivorian children are paid for their work.

"These companies are getting incredible profits while often the farmers are getting really pennies," said Emira Woods, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington-based think tank.

Campaigns recently have begun targeting The Hershey Company because it is the only major chocolate producer in the world that hasn't made a commitment to use certified cocoa, activists say. Hershey's, though, says it is working to improve lives in local communities.

"Our focus is on-the-ground programs that promote sustainable livelihoods in West Africa," said Hershey's spokesman Kirk Saville. "Hershey's support for cocoa communities goes back more than 50 years. We have helped to develop more productive agriculture practices, to build educational and community resources and to eliminate exploitative labor practices."

But the Tulane University report on child labor in cocoa farms in Ivory Coast and Ghana found chocolate makers have reached less than 4 percent of cocoa-growing communities in Ivory Coast and less than 14 percent of communities in Ghana.

"The industry has invested far more in programs in Ghana, where the worst abuses are not quite as prevalent as in the Ivory Coast," said Timothy Newman, campaigns director of the Washington D.C.-based International Labor Rights Forum.

Newman also said children from the neighboring countries of Mali and Burkina Faso also continue to be trafficked to Ivorian farms, where 40 percent of the world's cocoa is produced.

Ivorian government statistics indicate that more than 37,000 children are forced to work, according to the U.N. International Labor Organization's Alexandre Soho, senior program officer for Africa on the elimination of child labor.

The industry says it has spent more than $75 million to support implementation of a cocoa certification system. However, the Tulane study found partners on the ground received only $5.5 million between 2001 and 2009, and that those working in Ivory Coast received only $1.2 million from the industry.

Activists argue that the answer is simple: pay farmers more and they will be able to afford to send their kids to school instead of to work. Most children are put to work on small family plots, often wielding dangerous tools like machetes and using hazardous substances such as insecticides.

But critics say that a chocolate boycott only hurts the farmers and their families, who are trying to make a living even if the wages are not "fair trade" ones.

"The essential problem from the very beginning, was that the large chocolate companies were hiding behind the Harkin-Engel Protocol which is an entirely voluntary agreement with no enforcement mechanism. As a result, they have been able to continually drag their feet in taking responsibility for labor rights abuses in their own cocoa supply chains," Newman said.

"Many of the initiatives developed under this process have never addressed the critical underlying issues that lead to egregious labor rights abuses like the low prices paid to cocoa farmers for their beans and the lack of negotiating power that small-scale farmers have in the global chocolate supply chain. Problems like these continue to fuel abuse."

Associated Press writer Marco Chown Oved contributed to this report from Abidjan, Ivory Coast.