2021 is the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labor

This is year has been declared by the International Labour Organization as the International Year for the Elimination of Child Labor.

Buying Chocolate Easter Eggs?  Were They Produced by Cocoa Plantation Slaves in West Africa?

Cocoa is the essential ingredient for making chocolate Easter eggs. A significant proportion of the world production of cocoa is grown and harvested on plantations by African slaves.

These slaves are on cocoa plantations in remote rural areas in West Africa. Some of the chocolate Easter eggs which we buy is made using slave cocoa. The slaves are beaten by the overseer. They are not fed properly. They work long hours. They are locked up in a slave barracks at night. They are beaten and often killed if they try to escape.

The problem for consumers is to know the difference between slave cocoa and free cocoa. Obviously, no manufacturer labels its product as "Cocoa Grown With Slave Labor".

As a result of a mission by one of the Society's agents to West Africa, the Society is compiling a list of slave cocoa products.

As a rule of thumb, the cocoa purchased by the more expensive chocolate manufacturers tends to be free cocoa. However, there is an exception. If the manufacturer experiences an unexpected surge in consumer demand and purchases cocoa on the spot market, there is a significant risk that a proportion of the purchase might have come from plantations in West Africa which grow and harvest cocoa using slaves.

Conversely, as a general rule of thumb, there is a risk that the cheaper chocolates (which are often "No Label" brands and the like) have been manufactured using cocoa purchased on the spot market, a proportion of which may be slave cocoa.

In Côte d'Ivoire (the largest exporter of cocoa with plantations were slaves work), exports from that country have decreased and cocoa prices have increased, so that there has been a decline in the use of slaves on the plantations.

The material in this report is based on a Mission to West Africa by the Society's Secretary.

Was your sparkling diamond mined by child slaves?

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Olara Otunnu, was stunned by the magnitude and scale of slavery which he saw in the diamond mines. "I was horrified by what I saw at the minefields", he said.

These diamonds are not "blood diamonds" and are readily exported to Antwerp and other locations where they are polished and make their way to your local department store or jeweler.

You can assist by purchasing from those diamonds and gems from companies which we support. As we receive requests from around the world (from the USA to Iraq), let us know what country you live in.

The material in this report relating to Sierra Leone is based on the report of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children in Armed Conflict, and the material relating to diamond and gem polishing in India is based on the Mission to India by the Society's Secretary.

THE SOCIETY IN ACTION
The Society is seeking your input for its report to the United Nations on the i mpact of Covid-19 on child slavery.  The Society will acknowledge any input used in its report.  You do not have to be a member of the Society to do so.

THE SOCIETY IN ACTION
Do you have evidence of the involvement of criminal organisations in contemporary forms of slavery?

The Society is preparing its report to the United Nations on the involvement of criminals in contemporary forms of slavery.  The Society will acknowledge the source of any input in its report, but if you wish to remain anonymous, please let us know.

Child Labor in the Fashion Industry

The Fashion Design Council of India has collaborated with Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation to launch #Notmadebychildren campaign.