essay on child slavery

Child slavery in West Africa: understanding cocoa farming is key to ending the practice

Research associate, UCL

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Michael E Odijie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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In 2000 and 2001, the use of child slaves on cocoa farms in West Africa was exposed in a series of documentaries and pieces of investigative journalism , sparking an international outcry .

This series of events was far from unprecedented.

As discussed in my paper , since the 19th century, when cocoa was first introduced to Africa (and despite the formal abolition of domestic slavery in the region), cocoa farming in West Africa has been linked to narratives of slavery and ensuing protests from chocolate consumers in Europe and America.

As recently as the early 20th century, the Portuguese were importing slaves into São Tomé and Príncipe to work on cocoa farms. This process was described by the British journalist Henry Woodd Nevinson , who had been funded by Harper’s Magazine to investigate rumours of slave labour in cocoa plantations. On reaching São Tomé or Príncipe, each slave was asked whether they were willing to work there. Nevinson reported:

In most cases no answer was given. If any answer was made, no attention was paid to it. A contract was then drawn out for five years’ labour.

This allowed both the Portuguese and chocolate producers in Europe to argue that the workers were contracted labourers rather than slaves. However, the “contracts” produced were meaningless, as the slaves were not permitted to leave the plantations for five years.

Some things have changed since then. Modern slavery primarily involves the trafficking of children, who are treated as a “disposable” source of labour. However, some things remain the same. Cocoa buyers and chocolate manufacturers still use various strategies to deny, deflect and divert when the issue of child slavery is raised.

Modern Slavery and chocolate manufacturers

After the practice was exposed in the 2000 documentary Slavery: A Global Investigation , the chocolate industry initially denied that trafficked children were involved in cocoa farming. In response, civil society groups in chocolate-consuming countries launched a campaign calling for the elimination of child slavery in the cocoa industry.

The campaign was particularly successful in the US due to its unique history of slavery. It led a US representative, Elliot Engel, to introduce legislation requiring chocolate firms in the US to label their products “slave free” to prove that no child slaves were involved in their supply chains.

Chocolate companies first responded by hiring professional lobbyists to prevent the passage of the “slave free” legislation in the US Senate due to the legal implication of such a label.

Subsequently, conceding that child slavery might actually exist in their supply chains, the companies took a different approach. They teamed up with various stakeholders to create the Harkin–Engel Protocol , which effectively quelled the 2000–2001 campaign. But this was a tactics.

The Harkin–Engel Protocol set out six date-specific actions that were supposed to lead to the establishment of an industry-wide standard for product certification on July 1, 2005. However, the deadline was extended to 2008 and then to 2010. After 2010, the protocol was basically abandoned.

Following the missed deadline in 2005, some US campaigners turned to the courts, sponsoring former slaves to sue multinational chocolate companies directly. However, all hope of winning these cases was lost in June 2021, when the US Supreme Court determined that companies such as Nestlé and Cargill could not be sued for child slavery in their supply chains .

The campaigners were at a clear disadvantage compared with the chocolate makers, not least because they did not fully understand the root causes of child slavery in cocoa farming in West Africa.

The issue of child slavery in cocoa farming in West Africa has been only superficially addressed in the literature. Survey and survey-type studies have sought to determine the extent of child slavery (and child labour) in West African cocoa farming, but they have failed to consider its causes.

An example is a series of field surveys conducted by Tulane University to ascertain the prevalence of the worst forms of child labour in cocoa farming in Ghana and Ivory Coast.

Meanwhile, investigative reports and televised documentaries have painted merely a qualitative picture of the phenomenon. An example is the 2010 documentary The Dark Side of Chocolate . This sought to provide visual evidence of child slavery in cocoa production in West Africa. Representatives of the chocolate industry declined both requests for interviews and invitations to watch the film.

The filmmaker, Miki Mistrati, broadcast the documentary on a large screen next to Nestlé’s headquarters in Switzerland , making it difficult for employees to avoid catching glimpses of child slavery in the company’s supply chain.

Scholars, journalists and filmmakers addressing the topic of child slavery in West African cocoa farming have thus far failed to engage with the history of cocoa farming and the evolution of the process of cocoa cultivation.

Properly engaging with this history would help anti-child slavery campaigners understand what exactly they are fighting against. The conditions that created a demand for cheaper sources of labour in the past are still in place today, and nobody understands them better than chocolate multinationals.

This has been the subject of my research .

These conditions arise from changes in the ratio of labour to land needed to continue cultivating cocoa. The availability of forestland is the decisive factor.

Cocoa farming once involved the consecutive phases of boom and bust, followed by a shift to a new forest area (production shift), a different product in the same area (diversification) or a different system of cocoa cultivation requiring extra production factors. Studies of cocoa cultivation in West Africa have provided evidence of planters’ migrating to new forest after exhausting existing forestland, resulting in shifts in production centres within and between countries.

However, accessing new forestland is becoming ever more difficult, and far more labour is needed to replant cocoa than to plant on pioneer forest soil.

This labour problem is particularly pronounced in cocoa cultivation areas that depended on migrant labour in the past (such as Ivory Coast). Here, a reduction in migration over time, coupled with deforestation, has resulted in a labour crisis: although post-forest cultivation requires more labour than pioneer planting, less labour is now available. To continue cultivating cocoa, planters in these areas have turned to cheaper sources of labour, such as family members and children.

This change in labour relations seems to have led to an increase in child slave labour.

Investing time

Chocolate producers such as Mars and Nestlé are well aware of the labour problem in cocoa cultivation. Historically, this problem has led to diversification: when cocoa has become difficult to cultivate, planters have turned to other products. Although such diversification may be good for farming communities, it spells bad news for buyers of the raw material. This has led to multinationals intervening under the banner of sustainability to prevent diversification away from cocoa. Their “sustainability” programmes are ostensibly designed to combat child labour, slavery or trafficking or labour. They are, however, in fact productivity-boosting programmes with token anti-slavery components.

It is no longer sufficient merely to show that child slavery exists in cocoa farming in West Africa. To have any chance of combating these practices, campaigners must invest time and effort to truly understand the processes and conditions that create them.

• West Africa
• Child labour
• Côte d'Ivoire
• Peacebuilding
• Cocoa farmers
• Chocolate industry

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• Child Labor and Slavery in the Chocolate Industry

Chocolate is a product of the cacao bean, which grows primarily in the tropical climates of Western Africa, Asia, and Latin America. [1] The cacao bean is more commonly referred to as cocoa, so that is the term that will be used throughout this article. Western African countries, mostly Ghana and the Ivory Coast, supply about 70% of the world’s cocoa . [2] The cocoa they grow and harvest is sold to a majority of chocolate companies, including the largest in the world. [3, 4]

In the past few decades, a handful of organizations and journalists have exposed the widespread use of child labor, and in some cases slavery, on cocoa farms in Western Africa. [5, 6, 7, 4, 8] Child labor has been found on cocoa farms in Cameroon, Guinea, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, although since most of Western Africa’s cocoa is grown in Ghana and the Ivory Coast, the majority of child labor cases have been documented in those two countries. [9, 10, 2]

In recent years, evidence has also surfaced of both child labor and slavery on cocoa farms in Brazil. [11] Cocoa workers there face many of the same abuses as those on the cocoa farms of Western Africa.

Aside from cocoa production in Western Africa and Brazil, a significant amount of cocoa is also grown in other parts of Latin America. While it remains possible that some cocoa farms in these places may employ child labor or slavery, at this time, neither practice has been documented as prevalent on cocoa farms outside of Western Africa and Brazil. [9]

Over the years, the chocolate industry has become increasingly secretive, making it difficult for reporters to not only access farms where human rights violations still occur, but to then disseminate this information to the public. In 2004, the Ivorian First Lady’s entourage allegedly kidnapped and killed a journalist reporting on government corruption in its profitable cocoa industry. [12] In 2010, Ivorian government authorities detained three newspaper journalists after they published an article exposing government corruption in the cocoa sector. [13]

The farms of Western Africa and Brazil supply cocoa to international giants such as Hershey’s, Mars, and Nestlé as well as many small chocolate companies—revealing the industry’s direct connection to the worst forms of child labor, human trafficking, and slavery. [8, 14]

The Worst Forms of Child Labor in Western Africa

In Western Africa, cocoa is a commodity crop grown primarily for export; cocoa is the Ivory Coast’s primary export and makes up about half of the country’s agricultural exports in volume. [15] Cocoa was originally brought to Western Africa by European chocolate companies seeking to grow it where labor was cheap or free, and that colonial legacy exists in the chocolate industry today. [16] As the chocolate industry has grown over the years, so has the demand for cheap cocoa. Most cocoa farmers earn less than $1 per day, an income below the extreme poverty line. [17, 18] As a result, they often resort to the use of child labor to keep their prices competitive. [19] In many cases, this includes what the International Labour Organization (ILO) calls “the worst forms of child labor.” These are defined as practices “likely to harm the health, safety, or morals of children.” [20] Approximately 2.1 million children in the Ivory Coast and Ghana work on cocoa farms, most of whom are likely exposed to the worst forms of child labor. [21, 22]

The children of Western Africa are surrounded by intense poverty, and many begin working at a young age to help support their families. [23, 24, 14] Some children end up on the cocoa farms because they need work and traffickers tell them that the job pays well. [8] Other children are sold to traffickers or farm owners by their own relatives, who are unaware of the dangerous work environment and the lack of any provisions for an education. [25, 4] Often, traffickers abduct the young children from small villages in neighboring African countries, such as Burkina Faso and Mali, two of the poorest countries in the world. [26, 27] In one village in Burkina Faso, almost every mother in the village has had a child trafficked onto cocoa farms. [6] Traffickers will then sell children to cocoa farmers.

Journalists who went undercover as cocoa farmers documented traffickers in Ghana selling children to them for $34 a child. [14] These children were liberated, and social workers reunited them with their families. [14]

Once they have been taken to the cocoa farms, the children may not see their families for years, if ever. [14] If a child who has been trafficked wants to go home, they will likely not be allowed because the trafficker has sold them to work on the cocoa farms for a certain number of years. [14]

Most of the children laboring on cocoa farms are between the ages of 12 and 16, but reporters have found children as young as 5. [28, 29] In addition, 40% of these children are girls, and some end up working on the cocoa farms through adulthood. [29, 4]

Child laborers on cocoa farms work long hours, with some being forced to work up to 14 hours a day. [30] Some of the children use chainsaws to clear the forests. [29] Other children climb the cocoa trees to cut bean pods using a machete. These large, heavy, dangerous knives are the standard tools for children on the cocoa farms, which violates international labor laws and a UN convention on eliminating the worst forms of child labor. [20, 31, 8] Once they cut the bean pods from the trees, the children pack the pods into sacks that weigh more than 100 pounds when full and carry them through the forest. [8] Aly Diabate, a former enslaved cocoa worker, said, “Some of the bags were taller than me. It took two people to put the bag on my head. And when you didn’t hurry, you were beaten.” [28]

Holding a single large pod in one hand, each child has to strike the pod with a machete and pry it open with the tip of the blade to expose the cocoa beans. [14] Every strike of the machete has the potential to slice a child’s flesh. Many children have scars on their bodies from their work in on the cocoa farms. [29, 32]

In addition to the hazards of using machetes, children are also exposed to agricultural chemicals on cocoa farms in Western Africa. [4] Tropical regions such as Ghana and the Ivory Coast consistently choose to deal with prolific insect populations by spraying the pods with large amounts of industrial chemicals. Young children spray the pods with these toxins without wearing protective clothing. [4] There has been a huge increase in the past decade of the number of children exposed to agricultural chemicals on Ghana and the Ivory Coast’s cocoa farms, from 15% of children to approximately 50% of children. [33] *

The farm owners using child labor usually provide the children with the cheapest food available, such as corn paste or the cassava and bananas that grow in the surrounding forest. [34, 4] In some cases, the children sleep on wooden planks in small windowless buildings with no access to clean water or sanitary bathrooms. [34, 8]

Around 30% of children laboring on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast do not attend school, which violates the ILO’s Child Labour Standards. [29, 35] Depriving these children of an education has many short-term and long-term effects. Without an education, the children of the cocoa farms have little hope of ever breaking the cycle of poverty.

Aboudnamune, a 13-year-old child who has been working on cocoa farms since he was 11, described his experience: “We are hungry, and we just make a small amount of money.” [8]

In 2015 the Ivory Coast passed laws requiring children attend school until age 16 and making it illegal for children under 16 to work, but this has had little impact on children trafficked onto cocoa farms. [36] In an investigation by The Washington Post , a cocoa laborer named Abou Traore first told a reporter that he was 19 years old, but when the farmer overseeing him wasn’t looking, Abou revealed that he was actually 15. [8]

Abou, who is from Burkina Faso, started working on the cocoa farms when he was 10 years old. “I came here to go to school,” Abou said. “I haven’t been to school for five years now.” [8]

Some children labor on their parents’ farms in Ghana and the Ivory Coast. Cocoa farmers who want to send their children to school are often unable to afford to. Mr. Zongo, a farmer who has been working in cocoa for 30 years, could only afford to send one of his children to school. [4]

“We are exhausted and we don’t have enough money,” Mr. Zongo said. [4]

Parents like Mr. Zongo are forced to include their children in the farm labor instead of sending them to school because they are not paid enough for the cocoa they sell. This is not because chocolate is unprofitable; the chocolate industry makes about $103 billion a year in sales. [37] It is through the industry’s exploitation of cocoa farmers that these corporations are able to make such a profit. As a result, chocolate companies have little incentive to change the conditions of cocoa farmers and thereby reduce child labor.

Slavery in Western Africa

Many children trafficked into Western African cocoa farms are coerced to work without pay. [3, 7, 14] Abby Mills, campaigns director of the International Labor Rights Forum, reported, “Every research study ever conducted in shows that there is human trafficking going on, particularly in the Ivory Coast.” [38] A journalist who visited cocoa farms in Ghana during the making of the documentary Invisible Hands said that they found incidents of trafficked children on all of the farms they visited. [14]

Both children and adults are enslaved on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast and Ghana. [39] A study found that in Ghana, 23% of surveyed cocoa laborers reported having performed work without compensation. [40] While the term “slavery” has a variety of historical contexts, slavery in the cocoa industry involves the same core human rights violations as other forms of slavery throughout the world.

In the documentary Chocolate’s Heart of Darkness, journalists interviewed a cocoa laborer named Aziz who worked for five years without payment, starting when he was 15 years old. Another laborer on the same farm named Ali worked for six years without being paid. After years of working for free, Ali and Aziz were given small cocoa parcels as “rewards,” which they could sell for very little. Ali, for example, made only about $250 in one year from selling his share of cocoa. [4]

Cases of slavery in the cocoa industry often involve acts of physical violence, such as being whipped for working slowly or trying to escape. Reporters have also documented cases where children were locked in at night to prevent them from escaping. [34] Former enslaved cocoa worker Aly Diabate told reporters, “The beatings were a part of my life. Anytime they loaded you with bags and you fell while carrying them, nobody helped you. Instead, they beat you and beat you until you picked it up again.” [28] Drissa, a freed enslaved worker who had never even tasted chocolate, experienced similar circumstances. When asked what he would tell people who eat chocolate made from slave labor, he replied that they enjoyed something that he suffered to make, adding, “When people eat chocolate, they are eating my flesh.” [41]

In the Supreme Court case Nestlé USA and Cargill v. Doe , six people from Mali sought damages from Nestlé and Cargill for being trafficked into the Ivory Coast as children and forced to work on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast. [42] The formerly enslaved plaintiffs described how guards would punish child workers who attempted to flee with atrocities such as forcing them to drink urine or cutting open their feet. [30] If the guards thought they weren’t working quickly enough, they would beat them with tree branches. [30] The plaintiffs also described how they were kept in locked rooms at night and only given scraps of food to eat. [30]

The workers’ attorney, Paul L. Hoffman, said his clients were “former child slaves seeking compensation from two U.S. corporations which maintain a system of child slavery and forced labor in their Ivory Coast supply chain as a matter of corporate policy to gain a competitive advantage in the U.S. market.” [42]

Business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, along with Nestlé and Cargill, wanted the case tossed out, and got their wish when the Supreme Court appallingly ruled in favor of the chocolate companies. [42, 43] 

Nestlé and Cargill, along with Mars, Hershey’s, Barry Callebaut, Olam and Mondelēz, were simultaneously sued in another federal case (which is still pending) involving eight formerly enslaved plaintiffs also trafficked from Mali to cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast. [32, 44] Among other abuses, the plaintiffs were fed very little and were often kept alone, isolated from one other, while on the cocoa farms. [32] The chocolate companies unsurprisingly tried to get the case tossed here as well. [45]

Child Labor and Slavery in Brazil

Unlike child labor and slavery in the West African cocoa industry, which has been exposed for some time, these abuses remained hidden on Brazilian cocoa farms until only a few years ago. [11]

While cocoa is native to the Amazon, Brazil only produces about 3.7% of the world’s supply. The Brazilian states of Pará and Bahia account for almost all of the country’s cocoa production. The residents of the main municipalities that produce cocoa, Ilhéus in Bahia and Medicilândia in Pará, face high rates of poverty. In Illhéus, for example, more than 22% the population live in homes without a toilet or running water. [11] 

At least 7,900 children and adolescents between the ages of 10 and 17 work on Brazil’s cocoa farms. [11] Veronica, a 14-year-old child who was interviewed in the documentary The Cocoa Route , has been working in cocoa since the age of 7. [46] 

Stacking the cacao beans is the part of the harvest process that most often uses child labor in Brazil. Like in Western Africa, the Brazilian child workers also use machetes to harvest the cocoa from tree branches. They then carry baskets of the fruit, which can weigh up to 44 pounds, on their backs. [11]

Parents who work in cacao production often have no choice but to include their children in the harvest. Interviewed parents described that since farmers are paid such a low price for the cocoa, if their children do not collaborate on the plantations, “the bills don’t get paid.” [11]

Many children who work on cocoa farms do not attend school, or if they do attend, they may arrive without their homework completed and fall behind in their learning as a result. [11, 46] In a report by the ILO, the parents interviewed want to prioritize education in their children’s lives, but are faced with no alternative. [11] 

One cocoa farmer described, “If I didn’t have this rope around my neck, my 12-year-old-son, who works in the harvest, would be studying.” [11]

Cases of slavery in Brazilian cocoa production were also discovered in recent years. Enslaved cocoa workers have been subject to unsanitary housing, poor work conditions, debt bondage, and long work hours. In three inspection operations in the same main cocoa producing municipalities, Medicilândia and Ilhéus, 83 workers were rescued. [11]

In June 2017, three workers were rescued from conditions of slavery that they had been experiencing since 2009. Inspectors discovered two huts with “appalling storage and hygiene conditions” and without electricity, running water, or toilets. The people that lived there had to collect untreated water to drink using empty agricultural chemical packaging to carry the water. [11]

The Industry’s Response

For years, the chocolate industry has not sufficiently addressed accusations of child labor in its supply chain, and many companies refuse to release information about where they sourced their cocoa . [47] Recently, many of the world’s largest chocolate manufacturers have admitted to the existence of child labor and slavery within their supply chains, but this is only because they have been pressured to by consumers. 

Since companies have been forced to acknowledge these abusive practices, their next tactic has been to distance themselves from their responsibility to end them: they publicly express concern over child labor and slavery in order to distract consumers from the fact that they profit off of the unliveable conditions for cocoa laborers. [4, 48, 14] The world’s largest chocolate manufacturers have formed various initiatives to supposedly address child labor and slavery in cocoa production, but these initiatives have unsurprisingly done little to remove either abuse. [49, 50] 

While the chocolate companies frequently claim large numbers of farmers are impacted by their programs, the language they use is vague. For example, in Cargill’s “Cocoa Promise” program, they say they seek to have “1,000,000 farmers ‘benefiting’ from the services by 2030.” Cargill and other companies intentionally mislead consumers to believe that farmers’ lives are improving, or will improve, even though farmers themselves tend to see little impact on their lives from these programs. [49] 

Moreover, these initiatives often don’t even involve very many farmers. Nestle’s Cocoa Plan, for instance, only works with 5% of cocoa farmers in the Ivory Coast. There has been almost no reporting that reveals any large-scale impact from these programs. [49]

We also know from watching the largest chocolate manufacturers postpone a commitment to end the worst forms of child labor in cocoa for more than 15 years that promises it makes about its efforts mean nothing. In 2001, heads of Mars, Hershey, Nestlé USA, and other companies signed a deal called the Harkin-Engel Protocol, pledging to end “the worst forms of child labor” in their cocoa suppliers in four years. In 2005, they missed the deadline to end child labor in their cocoa supply, and proceeded to miss deadlines in 2008 and 2010. [8] The chocolate industry then scaled back its “goal” to reducing child labor only by 70% in 2020, and by that year, the amount of child labor had increased. [8, 51]

The chocolate companies signed the Harkin-Engel Protocol because they were desperate to avoid proposed legislation that would have created a federal certification system to indicate whether or not cocoa was harvested using child slavery. Under the protocol, federal regulators were kept from monitoring the chocolate supply, and the responsibility to end child labor and slavery in the chocolate industry was instead placed with the chocolate companies. [8]  

Susan Smith, a previous spokesperson for the Chocolate Manufacturers Association, said, “We don’t need legislation to deal with the problem. We are already acting.” [8] Yet, two decades later, the problem has only worsened.

“We haven’t eradicated child labor because no one has been forced to,” said Antonie Fountain, the managing director of a group seeking to end child labor in the cocoa industry called the Voice Network. “What has been the consequence . . . for not meeting the goals? How many fines did they face? How many prison sentences? None. There has been zero consequence.” [8]

While the chocolate industry has taken little action to address child labor and slavery, companies have put enourmous energy into exaggerating their efforts. Leaked documents from a World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) strategy meeting, where representatives from Nestlé, Hershey’s, Mars, and others were present, showed that the industry prioritized messaging around its “accomplishments” in addressing child labor and slavery over actually ending those abuses. [18, 48]

The leaked documents additionally show how the chocolate industry attempts to downplay the abuse in its supply chain. As the WFC meeting notes reveal, chocolate companies were given early access to the draft of a NORC at the University of Chicago report on the prevalence of child labor on Ghana and the Ivory Coast’s cocoa farms. [18, 48] The companies expressed “comments and concerns” that led NORC to revise and likely water down the report. [18, 48] 

The draft of the NORC report, which was also leaked, included higher numbers of children working in cocoa: the early version stated that 2.1 million children are engaged in child labor on Ghana and the Ivory Coast’s cocoa farms, but NORC lowered the number of child laborers to 1.56 million in the final published version. [52, 33] No amount of reworking the methodology can hide the fact that the numbers of children working on cocoa farms has increased over the past 20 years due to the cocoa industry’s failure. [51] Neither of these estimates even include the number of trafficked children working in cocoa, given that the NORC report did not cover forced child labor. [33]

The WFC strategy meeting document included an agreed-upon statement from the cocoa industry that seeks to obscure the prevalence of child labor and slavery: “The cocoa and chocolate industry has zero tolerance for forced labor by adults or children and these practices are extremely rare.” [48] 

The chocolate industry is also being called upon to develop and financially support programs to rescue and rehabilitate children who have been sold to cocoa farms. [53] To date, the industry has done just as little to aid survivors of child labor as it has done to prevent child labor in the first place. This lip service is characteristic of the chocolate industry, which has the resources to address and eliminate child labor but consistently fails to take action.

Are the Labels on Chocolate Meaningful?

The truth is that as consumers today, we have no sure way of knowing if the chocolate we buy involved the use of slavery or child labor. Between a quarter and a third of all cocoa is grown under a certification label, such as various fair trade certifications and the Rainforest Alliance/UTZ Certification; however, no single label can guarantee that the chocolate was made without the use of exploitive labor. [54, 55] The third-party inspectors for these certifications are usually only required to visit fewer than 10% of cocoa farms. [8] Moreover, audits are usually announced in advance, which enables farmers to hide evidence of rule violations. [56] These inspections have made child labor more hidden while remaining just as prevalent. [22]

Some certifiers even claim that their standards for labor practices do not come with a guarantee that they are being met. One certifier said, “There is no guarantee. We don’t use the word guarantee.” [40]

In 2010, the founders of the “Fair Trade” certification process had to suspend several of their Western African suppliers due to evidence that they were using child labor. [57]   Additionally, in 2011, a Danish journalist investigated farms in Western Africa where major chocolate companies buy cocoa. He filmed illegal child labor on these farms, including those certified by the now merged certification bodies, UTZ and Rainforest Alliance. [3] Another advocate found trafficked children laboring on Fair Trade certified cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast as recently as May 2017. [49]

UTZ has rules against child labor, but it co-sponsored reports in 2013 and 2017 that found that child labor was even more prevalent on UTZ certified farms in the Ivory Coast than other farms. Children on UTZ-certified farms were also more likely to be engaged in hazardous tasks such as working with agricultural chemicals and machetes. [56]

An author of one of the UTZ-sponsored reports said, “Consumers believe that by buying certified cocoa they are doing something good for the environment, or children or farmers. But that is a fiction.” [56]

Charity Ryerson, a co-founder of a corporate accountability nonprofit, said she found little evidence when visiting cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast that anyone was making sure “certified” farms were complying with standards. She described how a requirement for clean bathrooms was checked off on an evaluation checklist even though none of the farms have bathrooms. [49, 56]

Ryerson added, “From our experience talking to farmers, it was clear that certification meant almost nothing. It’s an open secret in the Ivory Coast that no one checks the certified farms for compliance.” [56]

A report by the University of Sheffield found that 95% of the cocoa workers they surveyed in Ghana did not know whether their worksite was certified or not. [40]

Brazil is the “least certified cocoa country,” but the situation with its certifications is very similar to that of cocoa in Western Africa. [58] Patrícia de Mello Sanfelici, a member of the ILO report team, said that companies will show “perfect reports, but in fact they are only documents … they don’t represent the real thing, what really happens when we are not looking.” [58] It is not an accident that certifications fail to improve labor conditions in the cocoa industry. Because certifiers compete with one another, they often lower standards or enforcement in order to attract clients. [49]

The following is an excerpt from a study conducted by the Corporate Accountability Lab on the failure of initiatives in the chocolate industry like certifications:

In order to understand the gap between consumer perception and farmer impact better, we brought certified chocolate bars to villages where some or all farmers were certified. We held up the bar with the label, and explained to the farmers what consumers expected out of the label (primarily that farmers were paid a fair price, earned a decent living, and certain practices—like child labor and deforestation—were not present). We also explained the difference in retail price between Fairtrade and uncertified chocolate.

The overwhelming response of farmers to this information was shock and outrage. One farmer pulled his worn shirt out in front of him and asked if it looked like he earned a decent living. A woman in one village said she could hardly afford to send her children to school, so how could anyone think she earned a fair price. Our farmer consultations revealed virtually imperceptible differences between certified and uncertified farms in terms of living incomes, poverty, education, access to healthcare, farmer bargaining power, or access to information . 

Chocolate companies keep certifying their products to tell consumers that they source their cocoa ethically, but these companies continue to enable abuse on cocoa farms.

The Problems With Cocoa Cooperatives

While cocoa cooperatives may seem like a solution to the issue of chocolate companies withholding decision-making power from cocoa farmers, the cooperatives are rarely fully worker-owned (at least in Western Africa) and are often simply “buying agents” created by chocolate companies. A member of the World Cocoa Farmers Organization said, “What we have in most producing countries especially in West Central Africa is cooperatives put in place by one of the chocolate companies so they can say to people ‘we buy from cooperatives.’” He said that out of 20 cocoa cooperatives in the Ivory Coast, you won’t even find two that are driven by cocoa farmers. [59]

Another issue is that even if not all of the cocoa farms employ the same labor practices, cocoa beans that a certifier gets from separate farms may not be labeled and may all be mixed together upon arrival. Journalists documented bags of beans from about 40 different farmers arriving at Coopaweb, a cocoa cooperative in the Ivory Coast, being opened and combined with one another prior to being shipped out. Coopaweb sells its beans to Cargill, which supplies companies like Hershey’s, Mars, and Nestlé, and was Fair Trade certified until it had its certification suspended for undisclosed reasons. [4]

A Living Income for Cocoa Farmers

Certifications do little to address the root cause of child labor and slavery in the cocoa industry: the absense of a living income for cocoa farmers. A living income is the income a household needs to earn in order for its members to afford food, water, housing, health care, education, clothing, transportation, emergency funds, and other essential needs. [22] Almost no cocoa farmers in Ghana or the Ivory Coast make a living income. [22] This even includes cocoa farmers who must turn to growing additional crops besides cocoa in order to supplement their incomes. [60] As long as farmers do not earn a living income, they will not have enough to pay the workers on their farms a living income either and child labor and slavery will continue to pervade the industry.

Most certified cocoa farmers also still live in poverty. [61] Certified farms receive payments called premiums, but they are partially paid to a communal fund for farmer training. [62] The remaining money paid directly to farmers is minimal. A UTZ certified farmer, for instance, receives only the equivalent of around $99 to $158 in cash per year from premiums. [62] Fernando Morales-de la Cruz, founder of Cacao for Change, said, “As a business model, Fairtrade was never designed to be fair to farmers or farm workers because the payment made to them has always been unfair.” [63]

In addition to certification bodies, some chocolate companies and the governments of Ghana and the Ivory Coast have put forward policies for minimum prices that should be paid to farmers for their cocoa. Despite having names like “Living Income Reference Price” and “Living Income Differential,” these prices are still too low for cocoa farmers to actually make a living income. [64]

Moreover, chocolate companies have been resistant to paying Ghana and the Ivory Coast’s Living Income Differential (LID), an extra $400 charged per ton of cocoa paid to the countries’ governments. [65, 66] The purpose of the LID is to increase cocoa farmer incomes, although there is concern about how much of the money will directly benefit farmers. [66]  

In 2020 Hershey’s bought approximately 30,000 tons of cocoa on an exchange in order to avoid paying this extra price. [67] Whether or not the LID is successful in its goal, the fact that Hershey’s tried to opt out of an effort to improve farmer incomes reveals how much it values profit over workers’ lives.

Despite their role in contributing to child labor, slavery, and human trafficking, the chocolate industry has not taken significant steps to remedy the problem. Within their $103 billion-per-year industry, chocolate companies have the power to end the use of child labor and slave labor by paying cocoa farmers a living income for their product. [37]

For example, the chocolate company Ferrero could provide a living income for all 90,000 cocoa farmers producing its cocoa and still pay the Ferrero family about $233 million a year. [22]

Coronavirus

The COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the global economy has led to the deterioration of cocoa producing countries’ economic situations. [18] The combination of lower farmer incomes and school closures is likely what led to an estimated 15–20% increase in child labor on the Ivory Coast and Ghana’s cocoa farms in the first months of the pandemic. [68, 18, 69] Child laborers and victims of slavery are also even more vulnerable to the virus due to their lack of healthcare. [70]

The chocolate industry’s response to the pandemic has been inadequate. Like the money chocolate companies have spent to address child labor and slavery in general, their donations to COVID-19 relief efforts represent only a fraction of the companies’ revenue: for example, Hershey’s donations in the initial months represented only 0.05% of their profits. [18, 70]

Our Responsibility

Multiple government and NGO programs have been developed in an attempt to address the root causes of “the worst forms of child labor” and slavery in the chocolate industry. However, these efforts will not be successful unless the chocolate industry begins to show genuine support for paying cocoa farmers a living income.

Consumers play an essential role in diminishing the food industry’s injustices. Child slavery on cocoa farms is a difficult issue to fully address because the most serious abuses take place across the world; however, that does not mean our responsibility is reduced. Chocolate has become a regular presence in many of our lives, but it is important to remember it is a luxury.

What You Can Do

• Consult our list: Use Food Empowerment Project’s (F.E.P.’s) chocolate list to be sure that when you buy vegan chocolate, you are not supporting companies that source their cocoa from areas where slavery and the worst forms of child labor are prevalent. Other than a few exceptions (which are explained), we encourage people not to purchase chocolate that is sourced from Western Africa or Brazil. Even if this chocolate is vegan, that does not mean it is cruelty-free. The list is available on our website along with free downloadable apps for the iPhone and Android.
• Speak Out: Contact chocolate companies and let them know how you feel about the injustices in the cocoa industry. Demand transparency from companies that have refused to disclose where they source their cocoa from, and call on companies to pay a living income to cocoa farmers. Even if a company is recommended on our chocolate list, contact them to let them know that is why you are buying their product. Our free app makes it easy to contact the companies.

*This fact about children’s exposure to agricultural chemicals is from the published version of the NORC report, “Assessing Progress in Reducing Child Labor in Cocoa Production in Cocoa Growing Areas of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.” Given that the final version of the report was reworked due to the chocolate industry’s influence, this data is not entirely credible. However, in the original draft it was estimated that over 1 million children working on cocoa farms in Ghana and the Ivory Coast are exposed to agricultural chemicals.

References:

1] “Growing Cocoa.” Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), http://www.fao.org/3/AD220E/AD220E01.htm. Accessed 20 Oct. 2021.

[2] Wessel, Marius and P.M. Foluke Quist-Wessel. “Cocoa Production in West Africa, a Review and Analysis of Recent Developments.” NJAS – Wageningen Journal of Life Science, vol. 74–75, Dec. 2015, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.njas.2015.09.001. Accessed 20 Oct. 2021.

[3] Shady Chocolate. Directed by Miki Mistrati and U. Roberto Romano, Bastard Film & TV, 2012. 

[4] Chocolate’s Heart of Darkness. Directed by Paul Moreira, Public Sénat, 2019.

[5] Oversight of Public and Private Initiatives to Eliminate Worst Forms of Child Labor in the Cocoa Sector in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Tulane University Payson Center for International Development and Technology Transfer, 31 Mar. 2011, https://issuu.com/stevebutton/docs/tulane_final_report. Accessed 20 Oct. 2021.

[6] BBC. March 24, 2010. “Tracing the Bitter Truth of Chocolate and Child Labour.” Panorama, BBC, 24 Mar. 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD85fPzLUjo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2021.

[7] McKenzie, David and Brent Swails. “Child Slavery and Chocolate: All Too Easy to Find.” CNN, 19 Jan. 2012, https://thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/19/child-slavery-and-chocolate-all-too-easy-to-find/. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[8] Whoriskey, Peter and Rachel Siegel. “Cocoa’s Child Laborers: Mars, Nestlé and Hershey Pledged Nearly Two Decades Ago to Stop Using Cocoa Harvested By Children. Yet Much of the Chocolate You Buy Still Starts With Child Labor.” The Washington Post, 5 Jun. 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/business/hershey-nestle-mars-chocolate-child-labor-west-africa/. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[9] 2020 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor. United States Department of Labor (DOL), Sept. 2020, https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2020/2020_TDA_BigBook_Online_optimized.pdf?mc_cid=93f99c6252&mc_eid=8685c28e55. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[10] Williams, O, et al. “Perception of Nigerian Cocoa Farmers on Child Labour: Implications for Hazardous Child Labour.” Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension, Economics & Sociology, vol. 10, no. 3, Jan. 2016, https://doi.org/10.9734/AJAEES/2016/21644. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[11] Cadeia produtiva do Cacau – Avanços e desafios rumo à promoção do trabalho decente: análise situacional. International Labour Organization (ILO), Nov. 2018, https://www.ilo.org/brasilia/publicacoes/WCMS_817094/lang–pt/index.htm. Accessed 28 Oct. 2021. Working paper. 

[12] “Franco-Canadian Journalist Killed by First Lady’s Security Guards, says French TV.” RFI, 22 Jul. 2009, http://www1.rfi.fr/actuen/articles/115/article_4453.asp. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[13] “Ivory Coast Arrests 3 Journalists over Cocoa Story.” Voice of America, 16 Jul. 2010, https://www.voanews.com/a/ivory-coast-arrests-3-journalists-over-cocoa-story-98661144/161593.html. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[14] Invisible Hands. Directed by Shraysi Tandon, First Run Features, 2018. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021. 

[15] El Makhloufi, Abdel, et al. Towards a Sustainable Agro-Logistics in Developing Countries. Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS), Sept. 2018, http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/735521553488355096/pdf/Towards-Sustainable-Agrologistics-in-Developing-Countries-Cocoa-Supply-Chain-in-Cote-D-ivoire.pdf. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021. 

[16] Athreya, Bama. “White Man’s ‘Burden’ and the New Colonialism in West African Cocoa Production.” Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts, vol. 5, no. 1, 2011, pp. 51–59, https://doi.org/10.2979/racethmulglocon.5.1.51. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[17] Yu, Douglas. “West African Cocoa Farmers Yet to Earn A Living Income Despite Sales Growth of Fairtrade Certified Cocoa Beans.” Confectionary News, 19 Oct. 2018, https://www.confectionerynews.com/Article/2018/10/19/West-African-cocoa-farmers-yet-to-earn-a-living-income-says-Fairtrade#:~:text=The%20survey%20indicated%2042%25%20of,a%20living%20income%2C%20it%20added. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[18] “NGOs: Are Industry and Governments Watering Down New Cocoa Report Data to Downplay Persistent Child Labor and Farmer Poverty?” Fair World Project (FWP), 13 Oct. 2020, https://fairworldproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GA-NORC-report-press-release-Child-Labor-and-Farmer-Poverty.pdf. Press Release. Accessed 3 Nov. 2020.

[19] Nestlé USA, Inc. v. Doe et al. No. 19–416, Supreme Court of the U.S., June 2021, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5810dda3e3df28ce37b58357/t/5f90b737ac064c0924860232/1603319607525/Cocoa+Amicus+Main+Document+E+FILE++Oct+21+2020.pdf. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021. 

[20] Child Labour: Global Estimates 2020, Trends and the Road Forward. International Labour Organization (ILO), 2020, https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_norm/@ipec/documents/publication/wcms_797515.pdf. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[21] CLCCG Annual Report. United States Department of Labor (DOL), 2018, https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/legacy/files/CLCCG2018AnnualReport.pdf. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[22] Fountain, Antonie C. and Friedel Huetz-Adams. Cocoa Barometer 2020. VOICE Network, 2020, https://www.voicenetwork.eu/cocoa-barometer/. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[23] Rolfes, Ellen. “One Million Children Labor in Africa’s Goldmines.” PBS NewsHour, 10 July 2013, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/world-july-dec13-burkinafaso_07-10. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[24] “Child Labour in Africa.” International Labour Organization (ILO), https://www.ilo.org/africa/areas-of-work/child-labour/lang–en/index.htm. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[25] Gregory, Amanda. “Chocolate and Child Slavery: Say No to Human Trafficking this Holiday Season.” Huffington Post, 31 Oct. 2013, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/chocolate-and-child-slave_b_4181089. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[26] The Dark Side of Chocolate. Directed by Miki Mistrati and U. Roberto Romano, Bastard Film & TV, 2010. 

[27] Ventura, Luca. “Poorest Countries in the World 2021.” Global Finance Magazine, 21 May 2021, https://www.gfmag.com/global-data/economic-data/the-poorest-countries-in-the-world. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[28] Raghavan, Sudarsan, and Sumana Chatterjee. “How Your Chocolate May be Tainted.” Knight Ridder Newspapers, 2001, http://www.rrojasdatabank.info/chocolate.pdf. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021. 

[29] 2013/14 Survey Research on Child Labor in West African Cocoa Growing Areas. Tulane University Payson Center for International Development, 30 July 2015, https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/research_file_attachment/Tulane%20University%20-%20Survey%20Research%20Cocoa%20Sector%20-%2030%20July%202015.pdf. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[30] Nestlé USA, Inc. v. Doe et al. No. 19–416, Supreme Court of the U.S, June 2021, https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/19/19-416/157704/20201014155852761_Nestle%20Revised%20Final%20Type%20A.pdf. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021. 

[31] “Recommendation 190.” International Labour Organization (ILO), 1999, https://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc87/com-chir.htm. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[32] Balch, Oliver. “Mars, Nestlé and Hershey to Face Child Slavery Lawsuit in U.S.” The Guardian, 12 Feb. 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/12/mars-nestle-and-hershey-to-face-landmark-child-slavery-lawsuit-in-us. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021. 

[33] Sadhu, Santadarshan, et al. NORC Final Report: Assessing Progress in Reducing Child Labor in Cocoa Production in Cocoa Growing Areas of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. NORC at the University of Chicago, Oct. 2020, https://www.norc.org/PDFs/Cocoa%20Report/NORC%202020%20Cocoa%20Report_English.pdf. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[34] Senator Engel (NY). “1700.” Congressional Record, v. 147, pt. 9, 28 June 2001, (June 28, 2001) pp. H3781, https://www.congress.gov/crec/2001/06/28/CREC-2001-06-28.pdf. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[35] “C182 – Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention.” No. 182. International Labour Organization (ILO), 1999, https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C182. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[36] Côte d’Ivoire, United States Department of Labor (DOL), 2015, https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ILAB/child_labor_reports/tda2015/cotedivoire.pdf. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[37] Whoriskey, Peter. “U.S. Report: Much of the World’s Chocolate Supply Relies on More Than 1 Million Child Workers.” The Washington Post, 19 Oct. 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/10/19/million-child-laborers-chocolate-supply/. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[38] Mills, Abby. Personal interview. 28 May 2014.

[39] Bitter Sweets: Prevalence of Fourced Labour and Child Labour in the Cocoa Sectors of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Tulane University and the Walk Free Foundation, Sept. 2018, https://cocoainitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Cocoa-Report_181004_V15-FNL_digital.pdf. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[40] LeBaron, Genevieve. The Global Business of Forced Labour. Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI) & University of Sheffield, 2018, http://globalbusinessofforcedlabour.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Report-of-Findings-Global-Business-of-Forced-Labour.pdf. Accessed 21 Oct. 2021.

[41] Slavery: A Global Investigation. Directed by Brian Woods and Kate Blewett, True Vision TV, 2000, https://www.truevisiontv.com/films/slavery-a-global-investigation. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[42] Whoriskey, Peter. “Supreme Court Weighs Child-Slavery Case Against Nestlé USA, Cargill.” The Washington Post, 1 Dec. 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/01/cocoa-supreme-court-child-labor/. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[43] Barnes, Robert and Peter Whoriskey. “Supreme Court Says Chocolate Companies Cannot Be Sued Over Child Slavery on African Cocoa Farms.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-cocoa-farms-africa-child-slavery/2021/06/17/295ab51e-beed-11eb-83e3-0ca705a96ba4_story.html. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021. 

[44] Demetrakakes, Pan. “Cocoa Giants Hit With Another Bay Area Lawsuit.” Food Processing, 15 Feb. 2021, https://www.foodprocessing.com/industrynews/2021/cocoa-giants-hit-with-another-slave-lawsuit/. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[45]  Issouf Coubaly, et al. v. Cargill, Inc., et al. Memorandum of Points and Authorities In Support of Defendants’ Joint Motion to Dismiss. No. 21-0386, United States District Court for the District of Columbia, http://www.iradvocates.org/sites/iradvocates.org/files/7.30.21%20Defs%20Memo.%20in%20Support%20of%20Motion%20to%20Dismiss.pdf. Accessed 26 Oct. 2021. 

[46] The Cocoa Route. Directed by Marques Casara and Poliana Dallabrida, Papel Social, 2019, https://vimeo.com/332509945. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[47] Feeley, Jef. “Hershey Investors Suing Over Child Labor Allowed to Pursue Files.” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, originally published in Bloomberg Businessweek, 19 Mar. 2014, https://www.stltoday.com/business/local/hershey-investors-suing-over-child-labor-allowed-to-pursue-files/article_97f46f27-52bd-5881-96a6-80fadb4bfa21.html. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[48] “Minutes of the Teleconference WCF ad hoc NORC Communications Working Group Call.” Neslté, et al., 26 Feb. 2020,  https://fairworldproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/WCF-NORC-strategy-2.pdf. Accessed 26 Oct. 2021.

[49] Empty Promises: The Failure of Voluntary Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives to Improve Farmer Incomes in the Ivorian Cocoa Sector. Corporate Accountability Lab, July 2019, https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5810dda3e3df28ce37b58357/t/5d321076f1125e0001ac51ab/1563562117949/Empty_Promises_2019.pdf. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[50] “Money and Power: The Unnamed Ingredients.” For a Better World, from Fair World Project, 13 Apr. 2021, https://fairworldproject.org/podcast/season-1/episode-6/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=b9515490-4737-49d0-bcb0-d464c04ec0c7. Accessed 26 Oct. 2021.

[51] Myers, Anthony. “New Report Reveals Child Labor on West African Cocoa Farms Has Increased in Past 10 Years.” Confectionary News, 7 May 2020, https://www.confectionerynews.com/Article/2020/05/07/New-report-reveals-child-labor-on-West-African-cocoa-farms-has-increased-in-past-10-years. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[52] Sadhu, Shanto, et al. Assessing Progress in Reducing Child Labor in Cocoa Production in Cocoa Growing Areas of Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. NORC at the University of Chicago, https://foodispower.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/CONFIDENTIAL_NORC-2018-19-Cocoa-Report-DRAFT_English-3.pdf. Draft. Accessed 26 Oct. 2021.

[53] “Demands.” 10 Campaign, 2012, http://www.10campaign.com/demands/. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021. 

[54] “Certification Is Not the Systematic Solution to Unsustainable Cocoa.” VOICE Network, 2019, https://www.voicenetwork.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/190619-VOICE-Certification-Position-Paper-Final.pdf. Accessed 26 Oct. 2021.

[55] “Fairtrade Combats Child Labor.” Fairtrade America, https://www.fairtradeamerica.org/why-fairtrade/explore-the-issues/child-labor-rights-safety/#:~:text=Fairtrade%20Standards%20prohibit%20child%20labor,is%20free%20of%20child%20labor. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[56] Whoriskey, Peter. “Chocolate Companies Sell ‘Certified Cocoa.’ But Some of Those Farms Use Child Labor, Harm Forests.” The Washington Post, 23 Oct. 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/10/23/chocolate-companies-say-their-cocoa-is-certified-some-farms-use-child-labor-thousands-are-protected-forests/. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[57] “‘Shocked But Not Surprised’: Fairtrade Responds to Report of Widespread Child Labour in West African Cocoa Industry.” Fairtrade International, 24 July 2020, https://www.fairtrade.net/news/shocked-but-not-surprised-fairtrade-responds-to-report-of-widespread-child-labour-in-west-african-cocoa-industry. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[58] Examining Brazil’s Cocoa-Chocolate Supply Chain: Film Screening and Discussion, Part 2. Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute (FCCI) and Harvard University, 24 Apr. 2019, https://chocolatrasonline.com.br/chocolate-cacau-e-direitos-humanos/. Accessed 26 Oct. 2021.

[59] Nieburg, Oliver. “‘Fake Cooperatives’: Farmer Groups Warn of Sharm Fair Trade Co-ops in Cocoa.” Confectionary News , 28 Nov. 2017, https://www.confectionerynews.com/Article/2017/11/28/Fake-cooperatives-Cocoa-farmer-groups-warn-of-sham-fair-trade-co-ops. Accessed 9 Dec. 2021. 

[60] Kiewisch, Elizabeth. “Looking Within the Household: A Study on Gender, Food Security, and Resilience in Cocoa-Growing Communities.” Gender & Development , vol. 23, no. 3, 13 Nov. 2015, pp. 497–513, https://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/files_mf/1450383402GenderandDevelopmentElizabethKiewischNov2015.pdf. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021. 

[61] Fountain, Antonie C. and Friedel Huetz-Adams. Cocoa Barometer 2018 . VOICE Network, 2018, https://www.voicenetwork.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2018-Cocoa-Barometer.pdf. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[62] Nieburg, Oliver. “Fair Game: How Effective is Cocoa Certification?” Food Navigator , 20 Dec. 2017, https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2017/12/20/Fair-trade-How-effective-is-cocoa-certification?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20-Dec-2017&c=7fiBYGSIbNocWxvWGeklvYrc0PxTtSqy&p2=. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[63] Michail, Niamh. “Higher Fairtrade Prices Are Still Unfair, Says Cacao for Change Founder.” Food Navigator , 11 Dec. 2018, https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2018/12/11/Higher-Fairtrade-prices-are-still-unfair-says-Cacao-for-Change-founder. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[64] “Necessary Farm Gate Prices for a Living Income: Existing Living Income Reference Prices are Too Low.” VOICE Network , Jan. 2020, https://www.voicenetwork.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/200113-Necessary-Farm-Gate-Prices-for-a-Living-Income-Definitive.pdf. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[65] Myers, Anthony. “Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire Threaten Cocoa Sustainability Schemes if Producers Don’t Pay More for Beans.” Confectionary News , 14 Oct. 2019, https://www.confectionerynews.com/Article/2019/10/14/Ghana-and-Cote-d-Ivoire-threaten-cocoa-sustainability-schemes-if-producers-don-t-pay-more-for-beans. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[66] “VOICE Network Welcomes Historic Move to Raise Cocoa Prices, Questions Remain on Implementation.” VOICE Network , 2019, https://www.voicenetwork.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/190905-VOICE-Position-on-West-African-Cocoa-Floor-Price.pdf. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[67] Myers, Anthony. “Hershey Move of Buying Cocoa on Futures Market Threatens LID Agreement with Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.” Confectionary News , https://www.confectionerynews.com/Article/2020/11/23/Hershey-move-of-buying-cocoa-on-futures-market-threatens-LID-agreement-with-Ghana-and-Cote-d-Ivoire?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=23-Nov-2020. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[68] Knott, Stacey. “Cash Transfer Program Aims to Combat Child Labor in Ghana.” Voice of America, 8 May 2020, https://www.voanews.com/africa/cash-transfer-program-aims-combat-child-labor-ghana. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[69] Schmidt, Sonia and Kaila Uyeda. Toward a Sweeter Future: Analysis and Recommendations Concerning Child Labor in the Cocoa Industry in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Unicef, 15 July 2020, https://gdc.unicef.org/resource/towards-sweeter-future-analysis-and-recommendations-concerning-child-labor-cocoa-industry. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021. 

[70] “COVID-19 Response from Cocoa Farmers.” VOICE Network , 7 Apr. 2020, https://www.voicenetwork.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/200407-Voice-Network-COVID-19-response-for-Cocoa-Farmers.pdf. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021.

[71] “Tell Hershey’s: Protect Cocoa Farmers, Not Just Shareholders, from COVID-19.” Fair World Project, https://fairworldproject.salsalabs.org/tell-hersheys-protect-cocoa-farmers-covid19/index.html?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=d7420122-dff9-4f9c-8c60-c67455c50986. Accessed 25 Oct. 2021. 

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• v.4(1); 2020

Child modern slavery, trafficking and health: a practical review of factors contributing to children’s vulnerability and the potential impacts of severe exploitation on health

Laura c n wood.

Centre for Child & Family Justice Research, Lancaster University Department of Sociology, Lancaster, UK

Associated Data

Child trafficking is a form of modern slavery, a rapidly growing, mutating and multifaceted system of severe human exploitation, violence against children, child abuse and child rights violations. Modern slavery and human trafficking (MSHT) represents a major global public health concern with victims exposed to profound short-term and long-term physical, mental, psychological, developmental and even generational risks to health. Children with increased vulnerability to MSHT, victims (in active exploitation) and survivors (post-MSHT exploitation) are attending healthcare settings, presenting critical windows of opportunity for safeguarding and health intervention.

Recognition of child modern slavery victims can be very challenging. Healthcare providers benefit from understanding the diversity of potential physical, mental, behavioural and developmental health presentations, and the complexity of children’s responses to threat, fear, manipulation, deception and abuse.

Healthcare professionals are also encouraged to have influence, where possible, beyond the care of individual patients. Research, health insights, advocacy and promotion of MSHT survivor input enhances the collaborative development of evidence-based approaches to prevention, intervention and aftercare of affected children and families.

Key messages

• Child modern slavery and human trafficking (MSHT) is a global public health concern with profound risks to life-course health and development.
• Children from all ages, genders, homes, backgrounds and socioeconomic status may be exploited.
• Breakdown of social protective barriers (including migration), significant relational dysfunction or loss (including child abuse, removal from family) and economic stress can increase vulnerability to MSHT.
• Child MSHT victims are presenting in healthcare settings yet may remain undetected.
• Physical, mental, emotional, behavioural and developmental health presentations of child MSHT victims and survivors can be complex.
• Child MSHT victims may not have confidence in healthcare staff or systems—trust needs to be built.
• Health professionals from all disciplines are encouraged to engage in the development of evidence-based, survivor-informed approaches to the prevention, intervention and aftercare of children and families subjected to MSHT.

Introduction

‘Modern slavery’ is an umbrella term for criminal acts of severe human exploitation. 1 For victims under the age of 18 years, modern slavery in its myriad forms is considered violence against children (as defined by WHO 2 ), child abuse and a gross child rights violation compelling an urgent safeguarding and healthcare response.

Child trafficking, perhaps the most recognised form of child modern slavery is legally defined in the UK as the ‘recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt’ of a child (<18 years of age) for the purpose of exploitation. 3 Trafficking typically involves the deliberate relocation (once or multiple times) of a victim locally, nationally or internationally resulting in isolation, victim disorientation and dependence. For children exploited for sex, trafficking and generic child sexual exploitation (CSE) terminology may be inconsistently applied. 4 Children may be trafficked or enslaved for a range of purposes (detailed in table 1 ) that frequently overlap or occur on a continuum within and beyond childhood. In all nations, local regions also have trafficking and exploitation purposes unique or nuanced to local demand (such as child soldiers, 5 child camel jockeys, 6 fishing, 7 witchcraft practices, 8 forced surrogacy 9 and illegal adoption for exploitation) with directly associated health impacts.

Forms of modern slavery of children and adolescents with examples (global, non-exhaustive) 1 58

*In the UK, children may work limited hours in certain jobs from 13 years old, and full time from 16 years. The exception is children with performance licenses (acting, modelling etc). 59

Children of any nationality, legal status, gender and age can be at risk of trafficking. Risks increase when social protective networks are fractured secondary to intrafamilial or societal tensions, rejection of a child and aspects of their identity (including gender, sexuality, religion or disability), war or armed conflict, persecution, breakdown of the rule of law, climate emergencies and ensuing migration journeys. 10 Trafficking adds complexity to international child, refugee and asylee care and the safeguarding of children accused of criminal activity. Vulnerable families may also be trafficked as a unit, requiring consideration of parental context when child abuse concerns are raised. 11

Global estimates of slavery and trafficking victim numbers are higher now than at any prior point in human history, with over 40 million individuals directly impacted, 1 in 4 of whom are children. Millions more are affected indirectly, including children of a trafficked parent. 12

Accurate child trafficking statistics are notoriously difficult to ascertain, and official figures may be misrepresentative of victim numbers, diversity and lived experience of slavery. Data collection challenges are numerous and include the complex, covert, hostile and highly lucrative nature of the crime (second only to the illegal drugs trade), with significant imbalances of power, wealth and impunity perpetuating it. Modern slavery practices function to suppress help-seeking behaviour through psychological and physical means, distancing victims from recognition, support and research. 13 Accurate victim identification by authorities may also be hindered by distracting stereotypes of victim vulnerability and presentation. Discriminatory practices (particularly where victim identification and immigration status are interlinked) have also been raised as concerns within government victim-identification and support mechanisms. 14 Additionally, disparities in trafficking definition use, inconsistencies in data collection methodologies, recording and analysis hamper precise measurement. 15 16

In the UK, recent Home Office National Referral Mechanism statistics continue to demonstrate a rising trend in referrals of potential victims. Between 1 July and 30 September 2019, 2808 potential victims were referred of whom 40% claimed exploitation as a minor. These figures represent a 61% increase in overall victim referrals from the same quarter in 2018. Ninety-one nationalities of origin were represented, with British nationals denoting 26% of potential victims. Labour exploitation (which includes criminal exploitation) is the dominant detected exploitation format for both adults and children. 17

Children with increased vulnerability to modern slavery and human trafficking (MSHT), victims (in active exploitation) and survivors (post-MSHT exploitation) are attending healthcare settings, offering critical windows of opportunity for safeguarding and intervention in the trajectory of potential severe health harm. 18 19 Victimised children may present with their traffickers or associates (who may be family members) when a health need impacts their ability to work or earn. 20 Other children may seek support unaccompanied, in crisis, in conjunction with police, emergency service or immigration authority action. The status of the child as a trafficked person may be known at the time of presentation for healthcare or may be identified at some point in generic health services, mental health and addiction support, sexual health, maternity or foster care. Modern slavery also has significant intersectionality with other forms of community, familial and interpersonal violence. Health and social care professionals should consider exploitation in such presentations, as the concept and articulation of slavery or trafficking is frequently not used or understood by victims.

Health and social care staff should recognise that trafficked children may not hold any automatic trust of staff or healthcare systems. International victims particularly may have little experience with doctors, dentists or other staff and may poorly understand their roles, trustworthiness or UK patient-engagement styles. Children may have previously experienced exploitation or been disbelieved by other adults who held a position of trust or authority, including those in health, social care, immigration or other systems designed to protect. 21

While recognition and care of potential child victims can be challenging, health professionals from all disciplines are encouraged to build on their pre-existing safeguarding, healthcare and interpersonal skills to become astute to potential markers of slavery, exploitative abuse and trauma. Children are unable to consent to exploitation 22 and a child’s apparent complicity or criminal intent, normalisation of their abusive situation or emotional attachment to perpetrators should be viewed through a trauma-informed, non-judgemental lens.

Vulnerabilities rooted in pretrafficking experiences

Research regarding pre-trafficking vulnerabilities remains very limited. Simplified push and pull factor models of understanding why certain children are trafficked may mask complex and fluid interactions of cultural, societal, familial, economic and intrinsic vulnerabilities. However, due to the significant intersectionality between trafficking and more researched fields of abuse and trauma such as domestic violence, CSE, children in state care and refugee health, the consideration of trafficking risks can be cautiously expanded. Given the diverse origin countries of trafficked children in the UK, this article takes a global lens on health risks and recognises that trafficking experiences must be considered in the context of the whole life course of the child. Equally, while this article focusses on vulnerabilities pertaining to the child, no blame is placed on the victim and the location of the child in a much wider system of inadequate protection is recognised. 21

Many children who are subjected to slavery have experienced family situations of economic stress. 23 While it is important not to assume economic stress leads to a negative childhood, it can be associated with detrimental social, health and developmental circumstances beginning in the preconception environment, through in utero growth, infancy and childhood. 24 Challenges may include lack of antenatal care, low birth weight, lack of medical and preventative healthcare (including vaccinations), food insecurity, poor nutrition and suboptimal housing environments (ie, exposure to waste, hazardous chemicals and reduced air quality). Children may have difficulties accessing education and engaging in learning due to fatigue, reduced concentration, stress and behavioural expressions of unmet need. Illiteracy, innumeracy and fewer years of school attendance heighten trafficking vulnerability. 25 Severe carer stress and generational poverty factors may also impact parenting ability and availability, health, life choices, expectations and opportunities. 24

Deeply embedded issues of stigmatisation, honour, shame and survival threat can compound situations of poverty leading to complex views on the value and expectations of male and female children, personal sacrifice and the acceptability of risking the well-being of a child (or a child risking their own well-being) in the pursuit of employment, money, it's culturally associated values and survival. 26 Traffickers frequently exploit those in dire circumstances by offering hope of work, finance, food, shelter, love, personal independence, education, opportunity and honour to those who see no other option and to whom a fragment of hope is irresistible. With a double effect, when the victim realises their abusive trap they may feel further shame and responsibility for their situation, compounding the challenges of seeking help. For international victims whose family are engaged in the trafficking scenario (wittingly or unwittingly), traffickers may have also extracted relatively large sums of money, touted to be for visas, flights or documents and be demanding a large payment of high-interest debt for the arrangement of the child’s ‘new job’. Families may have taken bank loans or loan shark finances to facilitate this and the victim will be aware that the family will be crippled by debt or assaulted should money not be provided. 27 In many countries, such trafficking and exploitation of the poor is further compounded by police and justice system corruption and perpetrator impunity. 28 In contrast with many media portrayals of child trafficking, the kidnapping or abduction of children for the purpose of exploitation is significantly less common, although these methods may peak in certain circumstances, such as forced recruitment of child soldiers by rebel groups. 29

Children who have experienced child abuse, forms of violence, familial dysfunction, relational loss and removal into foster care represent a disproportionate percentage of trafficked children. 30 Children in these circumstances have often been exposed to significant relational trauma leading to complex attachment difficulties and a sense of worthlessness and shame. 31 Additionally, there is a higher prevalence of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and in utero substance exposure in this population. 32 All of this early adversity may contribute to developmental problems, educational and relational difficulties, decreased danger awareness and increased vulnerability to manipulation. 33

Grooming for exploitation

Traffickers are able to observe the vulnerable child directly, or online, and apply grooming techniques to gain trust. Such tactics often appear to address the unmet needs of a child—praise, flattery, value and worth, the promise of romance, love, adventure and a good future, provision of material goods and gifts that may secondarily enhance status and the pride of feeling ‘hand-picked’ and accepted in an aspired-to peer group. 34 Tactics also deliberately seek to isolate the child from existing carers, friends, support networks and to vilify police or other potentially helpful authorities.

Traffickers may use deception and manipulation to build complex psychological scaffoldings around a child for a short period of time before beginning insidious psychological abuse (may include spiritual abuse), blackmail, overt abuse, violence and exploitation which may continue to be layered with expressions of love, value or sole provision for basic human needs. In doing so, powerful survival response trauma-bonds are created between victim and trafficker that may negate the need for physical restraint. 35 Trafficking should also be considered in the context of gang activity, violence and the illegal drugs trade. 36 Trafficking can also be a significant component of radicalisation practices. 37

Unclear status: victim, offender or both?

Determining the boundary between the child as ‘crime victim’ and the child as ‘crime perpetrator’ can present an incredibly complex challenge at multiple levels. Key examples include the ongoing criminalisation of ‘child prostitutes’ (including in the USA 38 ) and children within the illegal drugs trade. While a detailed discussion of this topic is outside the margins of this review, it is pertinent to recognise the significant level to which child victimhood and criminality (perceived or legally evidenced) is bound to our differing global and individual sociologies of childhood, expectations of children and conceptualisations around ‘childhood innocence’, ‘good children’, ‘bad children’ and ‘bad families’. Child criminalisation can be painfully and tortuously tied to attitudes (overt or surreptitious) of racism, xenophobia, negative stereotyping and scapegoating of people groups from individual to state level. As health professionals of all disciplines, it is vital to prioritise and advocate for the health and well-being of children across all legal categories and processes. Children in the criminal justice system have often faced significant earlier life challenges and are especially likely to feel unsafe, with survival response behaviours and stress more readily triggered and potentially misunderstood. 39 Attuned health professionals can play a significant role in justice and rehabilitation.

Self-identification as a victim and acceptance of help

When a potentially victimised child is detected, they may also struggle to identify as trafficked even when terminology is explained. Reasons may include a lack of insight into their exploitation; for example, a young person may be groomed to believe that selling sexual acts and giving money to their ‘boyfriend’ is acceptable in exchange for a relationship, or that missing school to earn fast money selling drugs is the glamourous lifestyle they desire. 40 Victims may also be unable or embarrassed to relate to the classic media portrayals of a victim (typically a young, helpless, ‘innocent-looking’ female being trafficked for sex). Immigration complications and a sense of personal blame regarding their situation may also significantly impact engagement with safe adults. 21

Staff need to actively build trust with potential victims, exploring how their unique world view and experience may influence their health presentation and decisions. For example, a victim from a culture where a child is perceived to dishonour their parents by not providing for them financially, or accepting comfort while their family suffer, may determine to remain with traffickers in the hope of sending money home. A child who views the involvement of their parent(s) or romantic partner in the trafficking process as a kind action to help them escape poverty may be very distressed by the portrayal of these individuals as abuse perpetrators and criminals, particularly if the child believes they did not know the trafficking realities that lay ahead, or they do not perceive their situation as abusive. 41 Issues of honour and shame can be particularly connected to sexual abuse. For families or communities where extramarital or same-sex sexual activity is considered taboo (regardless of abusive context), the victim/survivor may be deemed punishable by ostracisation, abandonment, violence, denial of future marriage or even death. 42 Such complexities can lead to frustration or misunderstandings if children respond in unexpected ways to actions designed to help them. High numbers (27%) of potential trafficking victims go missing from care, particularly in the first 48 hours, many of whom are never found. 43 It is important to recognise that status as a victim or survivor of trafficking does not negate a child having capacity, opinions and agency. Children should be involved in decisions regarding their care whenever possible. Health disciplines and social care need to continue working together to provide strategic, individualised safeguarding responses.

Avoidance of stereotyping

Stereotyping of trafficking practices, victim and perpetrator demographics, presentation and characteristics have been profoundly harmful to victims. It is important that professionals are not blinkered by fixed mindsets or emotive ideas of the ‘perfect victim’ or the ‘perfect rescue’. The background, presentation and needs of trafficked children are diverse. Abuse risks span the socioeconomic gradient and victims may be from affluent families, attending fee paying schools and recruited for their non-stereotypical appearance. 44 Children from loving, nurturing families can also be exploited, with perpetrators abusing the inherent vulnerability of the developing child and immature brain. Safeguarding and the development of patient trust should be promoted in all child health encounters.

Acting on concerns

All children suspected of being trafficked or subjected to modern slavery or abuse (including children of potentially trafficked or exploited parents) must be managed in line with your organisation’s child safeguarding policy. Details of additional support through the Modern Slavery Helpline (UK only) are available in box 1 .

Safeguarding children at risk

All patients suspected to be at risk of trafficking, modern slavery or abuse must be managed in line with your organisation’s child safeguarding policy.

For further advice please contact the Modern Slavery Helpline (UK only):

UK MODERN SLAVERY HELPLINE: 08000 121 700

https://www.modernslaveryhelpline.org/

Health risks associated with child trafficking

Trafficked children may be deprived of the basic provisions for healthy growth and development including adequate restorative sleep, exercise, balanced nutrition, clean water, clean air, appropriate clothing, shoes, basic hygiene, sanitary products, shelter, safety and crucially, healthy relational nurture. 45 46 Living conditions may be highly inappropriate with victims in prolonged physical and mental distress secondary to hunger, thirst, exhaustion, extremes of temperature and an atmosphere of unpredictable violence. Children will respond to such atmospheres in order to survive but will be unable to thrive.

Physical health

Health presentations will vary dependent on individual circumstances of abuse including whether the child remains in their family home, country of origin/prior residence, journey risks, chronological and developmental age, abuse formats, level of psychological trauma and survival responses. The child may have developed mechanisms to mask distress or disengage, trained not to draw attention to their needs. 47 Astute healthcare providers may also recognise multiple children presenting with similar patterns of health need, skin markings or stories suggestive of local trafficking activity. Health presentations alone are not diagnostic of trafficking and may have origins unrelated to trafficking or abuse.

Box 2 demonstrates key general indicators of potential MSHT. Table 2 highlights potential MSHT health presentations by body system. Injuries are considered in table 5. All tables are designed to complement standard history taking, physical examination and consideration of health presentations common to all children.

Potential indicators of child modern slavery and human trafficking—general (non-exhaustive) 40 45 60–62

• Inappropriately dressed for age, time of day or weather. Unkempt appearance or presence of unusually expensive items.
• Unusual behaviour including marked wariness, agitation, aggression, belligerence, sexualised manner, fear, timidity or submission.
• May be with an accompanying person who appears controlling or who insists on speaking for the child. Accompanying individual may show particularly ‘charming’ behaviour to staff or appear very attentive to child.
• Healthcare attendance in association with police or social services response to social concern or criminal activity.
• Healthcare attendance related to alcohol, illegal substance or inappropriate medication use.
• Delayed presentation with advanced or severely complicated health needs that would have been readily resolved as minor issues if help provided at an early stage.
• Child appearing unusually tired, sallow or sleep deprived.
• Child homeless or unsure of home address, current location or contact numbers of responsible adults.
• Not registered with general practitioner or school.
• Child has no or limited local language skills.
• Child asking for help and safety (verbally or non-verbally).
• Carer requesting help due to child’s behaviour deterioration, missing episodes, drug use.

Example potential indicators of child MSHT—body systems (non-exhaustive)

MSHT, modern slavery and human trafficking.

Skin, Dental & Sensory Systems

Depending on the child’s lived experiences of MSHT, reflections of chronic or underlying malnourishment and maltreatment may be evidenced on thorough examination of the child—the detection of one concerning feature prompting further assessment. The tattooing of children and women has been particularly prevalent within sexual exploitation. Table 3 highlights potential indicators of MSHT in the skin, dental and sensory systems.

Example potential indicators of MSHT—skin, dental and sensory systems (non-exhaustive) 45 65 70–72

Sexual & Reproductive Health

The sexual abuse of children of all genders is known to occur within the settings of MSHT, when children are trafficked for the core purpose of sexual exploitation and alongside all other MSHT formats. Child sexual abuse within MSHT may be violent, repetitive and without provision of contraception, disease protection or treatment. Sexual abuse carries profound risks to the mental, physical, emotional, behavioural and developmental health of children which may be lifelong ( table 4 ).

Example potential indicators of MSHT—sexual and reproductive health systems (non-exhaustive) 45 68

Violence, Torture & Degradation

Children may have experienced violence on a wide spectrum of severity and frequency. Violence may be at the hands of sex buyers, work managers, gang members, traffickers, carers or others. Violence which may amount to state or non-state torture may also be perpetrated against children. 48

Violence and degradation are used to subjugate victims and instil a sense of hopelessness, helplessness and fear. In complex cases (including ritual abuse), severe violence may be used to deliberately develop dissociative identity disorders. 49 Recognised severe abuse methods include the holding of children in dark, small cages to ‘break their will’ prior to sexual exploitation, 50 chaining and beating of children, painful stress positions and sexual torture. In cases where trafficking victim’s physical appearance is important, torture forms that leave minimal physical markings may be employed. All forms of severe abuse and torture have profound psychological, developmental and health impacts on victims and specialist advice should be sought. 48 table 5 highlights potential physical injury indicators of MSHT.

Example potential indicators of MSHT—physical injury and torture (non-exhaustive)

Addiction, Alcohol Dependency & Substance Misuse

Victims may have struggled with addiction prior to trafficking, begun using substances as a coping mechanism or have been forced to use alcohol or substances by traffickers to increase dependency and compliance. 51 Children are exposed to significant physical, mental and developmental harm through substance abuse, improper use of prescription and contraceptive drugs, psychoactive herbal or traditional substances and forced internal carriage of illegal drugs (as indicated in tables 3–5 ). 52 Children may present intoxicated, high, withdrawing or in poisoning or overdose states.

Psychological Violence, Trauma & Mental Health

The negative health impact of severe psychological violence within the trafficking process and across the life course of a victimised child must not be underestimated. Children’s brains, even in utero, adapt to an environment of danger around them, enhancing the protective pathways of the brain and body through release of stress hormones, enabling the ‘fight, flight, freeze or submit’ physiological responses. For children experiencing severe, prolonged and compounded forms of violence (particularly in the absence of restorative relational support) the child’s neurological pathways appropriately remain primed for danger and self-preservation. The child’s brain development moulds to the environment of threat, prioritising survival over all other higher functions, damaging learning, executive function, relational and communication skills. 53

Psychological violence is experienced and expressed in the physical body. The Adverse Childhood Experiences studies have evidenced clear links between childhood abuse and poor adult physical, mental and relational health. Chronic stress hormone pathway dysregulation leads to cellular damage and epigenetic adaptations, increasing the relative risk of a host of diseases including cancer, respiratory disease, liver, cardiac and immune system dysfunction. 54 Risks are compounded by increased neurological drive for substances or activities that stimulate the reward and pleasure region of the brain including alcohol, drug, carbohydrate or behavioural addictions with their associated health harms. Psychological responses to belittlement, degradation, loss of agency and rejection include powerful, consuming feelings of shame, guilt and worthlessness. Such responses hold some protective value in keeping the victim withdrawn, hidden, compliant and dependent yet are catastrophic for healthy development and psychological internal working models from which to understand the world, others, relationships and self. 53 Victims may experience significant fear and guilt regarding the perceived placing of family members or friends in danger, with traffickers frequently using the threat or practice of violence against a victim’s loved ones, particularly their children, to enforce control. 55

Mental health disorders and trauma symptoms are frequently detected in child trafficking survivors and include post-traumatic stress disorder (often complex), severe affective disorders (including anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder), severe stress and adjustment disorders. 40 Symptoms may be highly intrusive and be associated with other health risks including sleep disorders, nightmares, flashbacks, collapse, trauma-memory-associated body pain (with or without conscious memory of abuse), dissociation, palpitations and breathing difficulties ( table 6 ).

Potential indicators of child MSHT—mental health (non-exhaustive) 40 70 77

Supporting parenting & moving forward with experiences of MSHT

The physical, psychological and mental health consequences of child trafficking form a challenging landscape for healthcare providers, potentially leading to long-term impacts on healthy development. A small but growing body of survivor stories and research is evidencing the impact of childhood trauma on parenting. While parental mental ill health or trauma survivorship should never be assumed to lead to detrimental parenting, there is the potential for impact on the next generation when parents remain with high distress, unmet needs and inadequate professional encouragement and support. 56 Investment in the health, well-being and trauma recovery (not only symptom management) of trafficked children and parents is paramount.

Child trafficking victims demonstrate remarkable strength, tenacity, endurance and survivorship during their exploitation, the developmental trajectories of their brain responding to their environment. To recover, heal and move forward from abuse, children must first be supported into circumstances of physical, psychological and genuine relational safety, love and acceptance. From a basis of felt security, the function of physiological stress pathways can be stabilised and the child (or then adult) can access higher thought functions and work therapeutically to address, manage and heal deep psychological responses to trauma. 57 Some survivors demonstrate remarkable post-traumatic growth and go on to thrive, others live with severely limiting psychological and health sequelae.

Child trafficking is an aggressive form of violence against children and a growing global public health problem. Healthcare providers play a crucial role in combating modern slavery and trafficking by advocating for healthy, nurturing childhoods (vulnerability reduction), recognition of child victims when they present to healthcare and the provision of trauma-informed, survivor-informed, timely healthcare and safeguarding responses. The health impacts of child modern slavery and trafficking are numerous and compounding, particularly severe due to the impact of psychological and physical violence on the developing brain and body. There is a critical need for further education, advocacy, research and health expertise regarding child pretrafficking vulnerabilities, victim recognition, effective interventions and recovery pathways. The pathways from early childhood to perpetration of trafficking and exploitation also require urgent research.

Supplementary Material

Acknowledgments.

The author wishes to thank Jordan Greenbaum and Sarah Boutros for their support in manuscript development.

Twitter: @DrLauraCN

Funding: This study was funded by Economic and Social Research Council 1+3 PhD Studentship.

Competing interests: LCNW is the Child and Family Modern Slavery Lead for VITA, an organisation seeking to advance the public health response to modern slavery.

Patient consent for publication: Not required.

Provenance and peer review: Commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

Data availability statement: No data are available.

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Article contents

Cocoa and child slavery in west africa.

• Michael Odijie Michael Odijie Center of African Studies, University of Cambridge
• https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.816
• Published online: 27 August 2020

The ongoing scholarship on child slavery in cocoa farming in West Africa is examined by illustrating major developments in the field. Slavery was a mainstay of the labor force in early West Africa cocoa farming, especially in Sao Tomé and Príncipe. Whereas slavery in cocoa farming in West Africa historically involved adult slaves, the modern version is almost exclusively based on child slavery. With the promise of a job, child slaves are transported to Côte d’Ivoire from neighboring countries like Mali and Burkina Faso and transported to cocoa farms in remote villages. In Ghana, child slaves are transported from poorer regions. The modern literature on child slavery in the West African cocoa sector, which to a great extent has been led by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and activists, has not properly engaged with the history or evolution of cocoa farming or its link to modern child slavery. While the documentaries and journalistic case studies produced by NGOs and activists have offered crucial evidence of the occurrence of child slavery on West African cocoa farms, they have generated only limited questions and arguments. This is partly due to the practical goals of this literature—for example, showing that child slavery exists (via documentary approaches)—and the use of surveys to attempt to measure its prevalence. This focus primarily serves the antislavery campaign. The literature has also suffered from a lack of conceptual direction. The proximity of categories such as child labor and hazardous child labor has allowed stakeholders to shift the conversation away from child slavery to less problematic forms of labor, especially given the methodological difficulties encountered in uncovering child slavery. However, the literature that has sought to explain the causes of child slavery in cocoa farming in West Africa has been robust and historical due to the contribution of Marxist and other scholars who are not necessarily involved in the antislavery campaign. The campaign against child slavery in cocoa farming has led to copious programs and initiatives on the part of the West African government and other stakeholders.

• child slavery
• Côte d’Ivoire

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Lesson plans

Learning About Slavery With Primary Sources

In this lesson, students will use primary sources from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture to better understand the history of slavery in the United States.

By Nicole Daniels

Find all our Lessons of the Day here.

Lesson Overview

Featured Article: “ A Brief History of Slavery That You Didn’t Learn in School ”

In August 2019, The New York Times Magazine published The 1619 Project , an ongoing initiative that aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.

In this lesson, you will read an essay that uses primary sources as a point of entry to making sense of the history of slavery in the United States. The primary sources were selected by Mary Elliott, a curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. The featured article was written by both Ms. Elliott and Jazmine Hughes, a New York Times writer and editor.

Note : If you are looking for more teaching resources related to The 1619 Project, The New York Times Magazine partnered with the Pulitzer Center to create a free curriculum that includes a reading guide, extension activities and other curricular resources.

The article uses primary sources to tell the story of slavery from 1619 to 1865. To begin thinking critically about primary sources, look at the cover image for the article, which uses this broadside from the museum’s collection . As you look closely at the image, make some observations about what you notice, wonder and feel. You can share in small groups or in a larger class discussion, “I notice…,” “I wonder …” and “I feel …” Or, you can create a chart with three columns to record your observations and reactions.

Then, if you would like to further investigate the broadside from a historical lens, you can use a document analysis worksheet from the National Archives. There are two worksheet options for written documents: one for secondary students and one for younger students and English-language learners .

If you would like more background, take some time to read the two-paragraph introduction to the article, either to yourself or aloud as a class.

Why do you think Ms. Elliott and Ms. Hughes chose to start their exploration of primary sources with these words? What drew you into the text? How did their use of language and imagery affect your reading experience?

According to the authors, why was the moment in August 1619 significant? How was the arrival of “20 and odd Negroes” different from the earlier presence of people of African descent in North America?

Questions for Writing and Discussion

Note to Teachers: Given the length and structure of the featured article , we have created questions for each of its three sections. Depending on how much time you are able to dedicate to this lesson, it may be most effective to have students work in small groups, with each group focusing on one section and then sharing their findings with the class.

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