Child Slave Labor on the Ivory Coast

1. Child Slave Labor on the Ivory Coast Alec Jotte Tony Caseria Chris Miller Pierce Hopkins Jeremy Barnes

2. Essential Questions • Why is child labor being used to harvest cocoa on the Ivory Coast? • What allows this child labor to be perpetuated? Who is really benefitting from its continued existence? • Where are the enslaved children coming from? • What are the conditions of the workers? • What is the relationship between the slaves, the cocoa-producing farms, the major chocolate companies, and us? • Why, if even, should we feel compelled to act? • We know that this is an issue. What is being done to solve it?

3. Important Terms to Know • Ivory Coast: Officially known as the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire is a country in Western Africa.

4. Important Terms to Know • Slave Labor: persons, especially in a large group, performing labor under duress or threats, as prisoners in a concentration camp. • Child Labor: the gainful employment of children below an age determined by law or custom. • Words defined at http://dictionary.reference.com/browse

5. Important Terms to Know • Cocoa: A powder made from the roasted, husked, and ground seeds of the cacao. • Cacao: A small tropical evergreen tree, Theobroma cacao, cultivated for its seeds, the source of cocoa, chocolate, etc. • Words defined at http://dictionary.reference.com/browse

6. Other Important Data and Statistics • 15,000 children (ages 9-12) are sold into forced labor in recent years • A day of forced labor begins at 6 a.m. and ends at 6:30 p.m. • The boys are locked in their rooms all night • Only 12 convicted slave traders are serving time in Ivorian prisons • Cocoa prices have fallen from 67 cents a pound to 51 cents a pound from 1996 • Two-thirds of the world’s cocoa crop comes from Western Africa. • The Ivory Coast produces about 1.33 million metric tons of cocoa per year - ~43% of the world’s cocoa. • The chocolate business is an $83 billion/year business.

7. Why is child labor being used to harvest cocoa on the Ivory Coast? • Historical Reasons • Cultural Reasons • Economic Reasons • Political Reasons

8. What allows this child labor to be perpetuated? Who is really benefitting from its continued existence? • It is hidden in typically second & third world countries where there is less enforcement of laws promoting human rights. • The children aren’t actively choosing this life, they are being actively sold into slavery or they are outright stolen from their families • Chocolate-producing companies. • Us

9. Where are the enslaved children coming from? • Mali

10. What are the conditions of the workers? • Let’s hear some stories… • The story of Oumar Kone. • The story of Brahima Male and Siaka Traure.

11. What is the relationship between the slaves, the cocoa-producing farms, the major chocolate companies, and us? • Slaves  Farms  Exported  Processed and packaged  Sold.

12. Why, if even, should we feel compelled to act? • Violation of Catholic Social Teaching Principles. • Human Dignity-that every human person is created in the image and likeness of God and must therefore be maintained and protected. • Dignity of Workers- The economy must serve people, not the other way around, the individual has the right to productive work, to fair and livable wages, and to organize and join a union.

13. We know that this is an issue. What can we do? Charity/Short term • What individual acts can you do to alieviate and respond to the suffering? • Use EDICERAP - Editions of CERAP and other publications of a similar sort when travelling • Understanding the issue and our role within it by Investing Wisely- “Bean to Bar” & “Direct Trade Chocolate manufactures/producers. • Networking and Social Media- send emails, Facebook posts, twitter updates, and share articles to help educate others • Sending Financial aid/ donations to outside GMO’s (non profit organizations) who can properly use your donation more effectively than you could have on your own. • Change.org

14. The Dark Side of Chocolate (2010) The 2010 Documentary “The Dark Side of Chocolate” attempted to raise awareness of this issue. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y882AajKo1s

15. We know that this is an issue. What can we do? Justice/ Long term • What collective actions that we can do as a group and in our own communities to cause change?(Home & Abroad) • Change.Org • Participation In ICCO events • Involvement in Peaceful protests, marches, and boycotts.

16. Next

17. We know that this is an issue. What can we do? Justice/ Long term • What collective organizations are promoting social change at the injustices? • ASMU - Social Action in Urban Areas- aids the children to give the an alternative lifestyle. • IDDH - Institute for Dignity and Human Rights- works to aid through research and reporting on issues. • UACI - African Union Club – Ivory Coast-campaigns for social justice and change in humanity • ILO - International Labor Organization-” Promoting Jobs, Protecting People”

18. Works Cited "Cocoa." Fair Trade USA. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. Oversight of Public and Private Initiatives to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor in the Cocoa Sector in Cote D'lvoire and Ghana. Payment Center for International Development and Technology Transfer Tulane University, 31 Mar. 2011. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. "Poverty Headcount Ratio at National Poverty Line (% of Population)." Data. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. Raghavan, Sudarson, and Sumana Chatterjee. "A Taste of Slavery: How Your Chocolate May Be Tainted." Stop Chocolate Slavery. Knight Ridder Newspapers, 24 June 2001. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. "Related Media." Chocolate and Child Labor PSA. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. "Slavery in Cocoa Fields: A Horrible 'normal'" The CNN Freedom Project Ending ModernDay Slavery RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014. The Dark Side of Chocolate. Dir. Miki Mistrati and Roberto Romano. 2010. Documentary.