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The worst forms of child labor, forced labor and trafficking of children have not been eradicated yet, on the contrary, a newly released study gives real evidence about the widespread practices and the ineffectiveness of the industry’s efforts.Nine years ago, a voluntary agreement called the Harkin-Engel Protocol was signed by the cocoa and chocolate industry. This was part of a voluntary commitment to end all Worst Forms of Child Labour including the trafficking of children and Forced Adult Labour (FAL) in the cocoa production in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana by the end of 2005.
To monitor this promise, they asked Tulane University to report on progress. This led to a four and a half year project which covered at least half of the cocoa growing areas in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana. Not only has it been found that children from Burkina Faso and Mali are still being sold to work in cocoa agriculture, especially in the Côte d’Ivoire, but all of the children interviewed who worked on cocoa farms there were subjected to the Worst Forms of Child Labour. More astoundingly, a vast majority of them were trafficked (63% from Mali, 75% from Burkina Faso).
