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Child Labour In The Chocolate Industry: A Case Study

1396 Words6 Pages

Child trafficking has been a serious problem plaguing the world and it is still ongoing today. This essay, however, will be focusing on forced child labour. Child labour explained by the ILO’s (International Labour Organization) Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, is the exploitation and “enslavement of anyone under the age of 18. Any work deemed to be harmful to the health, safety or morals of the child is considered to be child labour” (Child Labor, 2014).
Globally, as of 2012, report from ILO shows approximately 20.9 million people are in forced labour with 26% making up of children aged 17 years and below. Now it stands at 168 million children and more than half of them are doing hazardous works like in the agriculture industries. Child …show more content…

This helps to spread awareness regarding the exploitation of children in the cocoa industry to the public and encourage them to support the campaign. However, chocolate companies like Hershey’s has not completely talk about allegations of child labour in its supply chain and refuses to deliver any information about where it gets its cocoa (Child Labor and Slavery in the Chocolate Industry, 2014). This lack of clarity and responsibility highlights the company’s failure to take action despite having all the resources and power to reduce child labour. In 2011, it is seen that major chocolate companies still buy cocoa from farms that use child labour, including those certified by UTZ and Rainforest Alliance (Child Labor and Slavery in the Chocolate Industry, 2014). Hence, the fair trade logos on chocolates could not be trusted and despite the claims, child labour still persists the cocoa farms in West …show more content…

(2014). Retrieved from Food Empowerment Project: http://www.foodispower.org/slavery-chocolate/
Cocoa Campaign. (n.d.). Retrieved from International Labor Rights Forum: http://www.laborrights.org/industries/cocoa
Cotton Campaign. (2014). Retrieved from International Labor Rights Forum: http://www.laborrights.org/industries/cotton
Fish. (2014). Retrieved from Verite: http://www.verite.org/Commodities/Fish
Grooming. (2015). Retrieved from NSPCC: http://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/child-abuse-and-neglect/grooming/what-is-grooming/
(2005). International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). Geneva: International Labour Office. Retrieved from http://www.ilo.org/public//english/standards/ipec/themes/cocoa/download/2005_02_cl_cocoa.pdf
Nicholson, M. (2014, December 17). Child labor still prevalent on W. African cocoa farms-ILRF. Retrieved from International Labor Rights Forum: http://www.laborrights.org/in-the-news/child-labor-still-prevalent-w-african-cocoa-farms-ilrf
UNICEF. (2014). Child Labour and UNICEF in Action: Children at the Centre. New York: UNICEF Child Protection Section. Retrieved from

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