Cocoa industry moves against child labour

Chocolate-manufacturing companies, NGOs and other stakeholders have set up an international foundation to eliminate child labour in West Africa's cocoa industry. The International Cocoa Initiative, established on Monday, represents the latest international, multisectoral effort "to eliminate abusive child labour practices in cocoa cultivation and processing", the US-based Chocolate Manufacturers Association (CMA) said. The initiative would allow the industry to support field projects, act as a clearing house for best practices and help enforce such practices, CMA said on Monday. It would also contribute to the establishment of appropriate, practical and independent mechanisms for monitoring and public reporting, the association added. CMA groups corporations that account for the bulk of the cocoa and chocolate products sold in the United States. Other stakeholders involved in the foundation include the European Union's Chocolate, Biscuit and Confectionery Industries, the Cocoa Merchants Association of America, the European Cocoa Association and the World Cocoa Foundation. Members also include international human rights organisations such as the Child Labor Coalition, Free the Slaves, and Global March Against Child Labor, while the International Labour Organisation will have an advisory role. The establishment of the foundation is in keeping with an October 2001 protocol which maps out a series of international efforts to curb child labour. The protocol, which some West African governments have signed, also includes pilot programmes and studies that are to be launched in September in various countries. These include Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana, the world's largest cocoa producers. Minors from neighbouring nations have been used as labourers on plantations in the two countries. The exploitation of children has emerged as a new challenge to West Africa since 1998. Following a regional meeting held in March in Gabon, West African governments have set 2004 as target date for the signing of a protocol against child labour and exploitation. UNICEF and ILO have also been supporting other initiatives to eradicate such practices. [CMA's full statement and relating documents is available at http://www.chocolateandcocoa.org/News/labor_issue.htm]