Local farmers see anti-child labor campaigns as intimidation rather than an opportunity for children's education. For Ivorian cocoa farmers living on $2 a day, Americans boycotting their products sounds much more threatening than not sending their children to school.
Many also see child labor regulations as cultural imperialism, imposing western ideals on them.
Instead of demanding that chocolate companies adhere to fair trade practices, the government and advocates must address systemic problems of high tax rates, poverty, governmental bribes and the culture of the Ivory Coast to eliminate child labor on the cocoa farms.
According to a March 2011 BBC report chocolate companies claiming to implement the fair trade process are stil relying on child labor. The BBC report found one Ivory Coast farmer who was sending his products to the Nestle co-operative as part of its fair trade initiative still relying on his “eight year old brother and eleven year old son” to harvest the cocoa and that neither of the boys are attending school.
One of the causes behind child labor in the Ivorian cocoa industry are high tax rates that, according to a Financial Times report, has 40% of the proceeds from the sale of international cocoa going to the African government.
No comments:
Post a Comment