International Cocoa Initiative – chocolate watchdog?

We had an interesting question from Kimi yesterday, which I felt would be good to explore as a post in its own right, especially given the amount of traffic ResponsAble is getting specifically interested in the chocolate issue:

I would love to hear your opinions on the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI). The chocolate industries have been criticized for their delayed work in the fight against child labor…. Further, they continue their trade practices (”unfair” trade) as usual. Yet, they have pledged to end child labor…. What are their motives? Are they sincere?

I am very confused…

The International Cocoa Initiative (ICI) is the body that was set up to respond to the Harkin/Engel Protocol, which promised to end the Worst Forms of Child Labour (ILO Convention 182) ‘ to include all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery (the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom, forced or compulsory labour including recruitment for use in armed conflict); the use or offering of a child for prostitution and/or pornography, illicit activities including the production and trafficking of drugs; as well as work which when performed is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of the child.‘

Their website states:

‘Created in 2002 under Swiss law in Geneva, ICI is a product of active co-operation between the global chocolate industry, concerned politicians, members of the labour movement and key civil society actors engaged in the fight against child labour. The foundation was staffed in the summer of 2003, and set about the research necessary to carry out its mandate.

Our mission is : “to oversee and sustain efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour and forced labour in the growing and processing of cocoa beans and their derivative products” ‘

They have worked mainly in Ghana, building awareness of what trafficking and WFCL is amongst the cocoa growing communities, helping a small proportion of children from cocoa growing families into schools and teaching farmers how to get more productivity from their crops. It sounds commendable until you consider that their remit was to end child exploitation on cocoa farms by 2005. They have singularly failed to do so.

A new report on the Ghana COCOBOD website shows that dangerous forms of child labour are still widespread even in that country, which is relatively advanced in this area by comparison to some of its neighbours. Although that report claims that trafficking is not major problem in Ghana, it does admit that there are significant numbers of children who are working on cocoa farms in debt bondage and far from their families – by UN definitions this is trafficking.

In Ivory Coast (where Stop the Traffik’s chocolate campaign is focused), almost nothing seems to have been achieved, which given that this is the country which produces more than 40% of the world’s cocoa, is not really a good record to date.

The problem is that although the ICI approach sounds good, it does not seem able to effect long term change. The main issue is that it assumes that the responsibility lies with the farming community, whereas, in fact, all the power is with the chocolate industry: the cocoa exporters and with the chocolate companies. In Ivory Coast alone there are 600,000 small cocoa farms and only 10 main exporters. Despite the fact that the Ivorian govenrments tax & investment policies are at best unhelpful, the real power remains with the cocoa exporters.

So, are the ICI sincere? A cynic would see business responding to consumer pressure in a way that appears commendable but moves the onus as far from them (and towards the farmers) as reasonably possible. Or maybe that is unfair and they are simply taking longer to ramp up than they at first envisaged. I feel we need to let them know we are watching and are expecting them to take responsibility.

Inspirational Chocolate

Nothing quite beats a great company with a good product, does it? Chocolate is never usually far from my mind (yes, I enjoy it, but mostly because of the Chocolate Campaign), and so when I came across this article in the Independent I was intrigued to find out more.

The chances are that unless you frequent one of the five towns where they currently have a store, you are unlikely to have heard of Montezuma’s. Montezuma’s has grown since its beginnings in 2000 to a 60 person company with a targeted £4m turnover for this year. They don’t advertise, as they prefer to spend that part of their budget on charitable donations or events, and so strong is their sense of business ethics that they will not deal with any bar two of the supermarkets.

Their chocolates are so diverse they won’t be summarised! They range from bars of plain chocolate to chocoblocks, truffles and gift bags with flavours as diverse as lime, ginger and chilli or sweet paprika and strawberry. They can be bought in store or online, singly, as part of a monthly club, or in huge gift packs.

Monty’s don’t have fair trade certification and are very clear on their website as to why this is. They do claim however that every part of their chain, from farmer to consumer, is traded fairly and there seems to be no reason to dispute this. However, this is not the view of some and I can see their point: ‘With regard to what companies claim about their own labour practises; if there is no fairtrade label, it isn’t fairtrade. It is absolutely vital that the company agrees to independent verification – otherwise they can claim anything… we are wanting them to submit to independent verification so that everyone will know that there is a standard and it’s clear who has reached it and who hasn’t.’

If I were to pick up a Monty’s bar from a supermarket shelf I would have no idea that the cocoa used was from a well organised co-operative in the Domican Republic. Without independent verification how do I know that it is any different to the bar on the shelf next to it. I am looking forward to recognisable independent auditing bodies across the board, with the familiarity of the Soil Association and Fairtrade, that the consumer can look out for on the High Street in every area of retail.