Children and Chocolate. When you pair the two in the U.S., the child is usually enjoying a sweet, tasty chocolate bar. When you pair the two in Ghana or Cote d’Ivoire or any other cocoa producing country, it can mean a child working in a cocoa field- hardly an endearing image. But, is it that cut and dry? The definition of child labor carries with it a lot of  complexity. When you consider that the cocoa that goes into your chocolate bar could come from small-scale cocoa farms, run by families, does that picture change? Can we compare the child that grows up on a family farm in America, who is responsible for certain chores on the farm and learns their parent’s work, to the child working in the cocoa field?

The answer is probably, “it depends on the circumstances”. But, with an industry as infamous for child slavery, trafficking, and forced labor as the cocoa industry how can an external auditing system, like Fair Trade, make that call?

A very troubling documentary from the BBC program, Panorama, reported that in September 2009, Kuapa Kokoo, the Fair Trade cocoa co-operative in Ghana which supplies Divine Chocolate, suspended seven out of 33 of their cocoa farming communities after they were found to be using the worst forms of child labor. After taking steps to address these cases, their Fair Trade certification was re-instated.

Fair Trade advocates claim that this proves the system is working. That, unlike non-certified cocoa which cannot be tracked to a particular farm, the Fair Trade system audits the supply chain, giving us access to the farmer and their methods of production. The Fair Trade Labeling Organization does prohibit child labor. However, they require the members of these producer organizations to be small-scale farmers.  They explain, “The majority of the members of the organization must be smallholders (small-scale farmers) who don’t depend on hired workers all the time, but run their farm mainly by using their own and their family’s labour.”

I know, on the surface this all seems reasonable. If the children are your family, it’s ok, if they’re not, it’s not ok. But can third party verification systems really check everyone’s birth records? Can they be expected to police for child labor?

What I find more promising is Kuapa Kokoo’s recently ratified Policy on Child Labor.   The policy lists some specific actions the cooperative is taking to address the child labor issue among its members; such as, internal control systems to monitor and promote compliance with Fair Trade standards; training and community action planning; a child labor awareness campaign; and a remediation team and rehabilitation program for identified victims.

At a recent Kid’s Camp at Kuapa Kokoo, run in partnership with the NGO Trading Visions, the children at the camp helped define what acceptable work is and what is unacceptable.  The following definitions are taken from Tom Allen’s “Report from a child labour workshop in Ghana.”

• “Child work” is work that is limited to a few hours a day, and supervised by responsible adults. It includes doing household chores, learning your parent’s trade, and working at school under the supervision of teachers (e.g. cleaning and sweeping, or tending the school garden).
• “Child labor” is excessive work, unsupervised work, and work that interferes with education and development or exploits the child.

Rather than focusing on just enforcement, Kuapa Kokoo is attempting to change the culture of their community. It’s important to remember that when the inspectors are away and whether they’re your parent or not, if an adult gives a child work to do, it is expected that they obey. What this type of child labor policy can do is lay out for the adults exactly what ways a child may benefit from attending school and having limited work on the farm, and what are the negative consequences they will face within their own community for choosing to use exploitative child labor.

This community effort to address local child labor seems like the key piece to have in addition to pressure from consumers and cocoa buyers. While I still don’t believe the Fair Trade system can  guarantee there is no child labor involved in Fair Trade chocolate, Fair Trade cooperatives do have a more direct connection to consumers and buyers, and are therefore more likely to address this issue in a responsible manner.

But as the “big” cocoa industry players like Hershey, Nestle and World’s Finest try to find ways to certify that their chocolate is child labor free in accordance with the Harken-Engel protocol we’re once again dealing with the question of how outsiders can distinguish between child labor and child work in the first place. And who will bear the responsibility to do the policing; governments, corporations, exporters? Even with clear standards, is it  possible to know what is happening on the farms that we have no connection to?