Child welfare advocates have lodged a federal lawsuit insisting that a judge compel the Biden administration to bar the importation of cocoa produced by children in West Africa, which finds its way into popular chocolate desserts and candies in the United States. The lawsuit, initiated by International Rights Advocates, aims to enforce a federal law from the 1930s that obliges the government to prohibit the entry of goods manufactured through child labor. The non-profit organization claims that both Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security have disregarded substantial evidence demonstrating the involvement of children in cocoa farming for renowned US candy producers, including Hershey, Mars, Nestle, and Cargill. Although major chocolate companies pledged to cease relying on child labor for cocoa harvesting by 2005, they now assert that they will eliminate the most severe forms of child labor from their supply chains by 2025.
Terry Collingsworth, the executive director of International Rights Advocates, affirmed, “They will never stop until they are forced to.” He further emphasized that the US government possesses the authority to terminate this tremendous abuse of African children by enforcing the law. Representatives for the Customs and Border Protection declined to comment regarding the lawsuit, which was filed in the US Court of International Trade. When queried more generally regarding cocoa cultivated via child labor, the federal agency stated that it was unable to disclose additional information or plans concerning enforcement activities pertaining to forced labor due to the protection of law enforcement-sensitive and business confidential data.
Child labor in cocoa farming within Cote d’Ivoire, commonly known as the Ivory Coast, as well as neighboring Ghana, is not a recent occurrence. Human rights leaders, academics, news organizations, and even federal agencies have spent the past two decades exposing the dire conditions under which children toil on cocoa plantations in these West African nations, which produce around 70% of the world’s cocoa supply.
A study conducted by the University of Chicago in 2019, commissioned by the US government, revealed that 790,000 children, some as young as five years old, labored on cocoa plantations in the Ivory Coast. Similar circumstances were identified in Ghana. The US government has long recognized that child labor constitutes a major problem in the Ivory Coast. In 2021, the Department of Labor reported that “children in Cote d’Ivoire are subjected to the worst forms of child labor, including in the harvesting of cocoa and coffee.”
According to a recent report from the State Department, agricultural companies in the Ivory Coast rely on child labor to produce various products, including cocoa. This year, the department noted that human traffickers “exploit Ivoirian boys and boys from West African countries, especially Burkina Faso, in forced labor in agriculture, especially cocoa production.”
In order to compel companies to abandon cocoa derived from child labor, International Rights Advocates has taken legal action against major chocolate producers regarding the use of child labor in cocoa bean harvesting. While it lost a case in front of the Supreme Court in 2021, several pending cases remain. Under the pressure of legislators and advocates, major chocolate manufacturers agreed in 2001 to discontinue the purchase of cocoa produced through child labor. However, experts and industry officials assert that this objective has not been achieved.
“These companies repeatedly claimed, ‘We can’t trace it back.’ It’s complete nonsense,” expressed former Senator Tom Harkin, who spearheaded a legislative effort to reform the industry. However, he eventually agreed to a protocol that allows corporations to self-regulate. “They simply refuse to do it because it will require financial investment.”
Harkin emphasized that Americans are unaware that the treats they give their children are connected to child abuse. “It’s not just the chocolate you consume, but also the chocolate syrup you pour on your ice cream, the cocoa you drink, and the chocolate chip cookies you bake,” he stated.
The World Cocoa Foundation, representing major cocoa companies, claimed dedication to enhancing the well-being of cocoa farmers and their communities.
A spokesperson from Hershey affirmed that the company “does not tolerate child labor within our supply chain.” Cargill, Nestle, and Mars did not respond to requests for comment. However, their websites outline their efforts to eliminate child labor in cocoa plantations.
While Ivory Coast officials expressed steps taken to eradicate child labor, blocking cocoa imports from the country would severely impact the nation’s economy.
“We don’t aim to render the entire country unemployed,” stated Collingsworth, the labor advocate who initiated the lawsuit filed on Tuesday. “We simply want children to be replaced by adults in cocoa plantations.”
Collingsworth was conducting an investigation into working conditions in Ivory Coast when he observed children laboring in clearing brush and harvesting cocoa. He documented their activities through photos and videos captured on his phone. Additionally, he visited a nearby processing facility and photographed burlap sacks bearing the labels of US companies.
In 2020, International Rights Advocates decided to petition the CBP (Customs and Border Protection) to block cocoa imports. Their 24-page petition presented photographic evidence and other documentation demonstrating how these companies were violating the law.
Collingsworth mentioned that his organization also provided the CBP with interviews featuring children as young as 12 who claimed their wages were withheld. These children stated that they were deceived by recruiters, lured into working long hours with the false promise of receiving their own land.
According to the lawsuit, CBP failed to take any action on the petition.