Let’s unwrap some more of the truth behind our cocoa, and what chocolate companies are doing about it.

West Africa’s Ghana and Coite d’Ivoire are the two biggest cocoa supplying nations. Sadly, around 30,000 people are enslaved on cocoa farms in these two countries—many of whom are migrants and their children from nearby countries. ⁽³⁾⁽⁴⁾ 

In 2019, an investigative journalist asked a boy on a West African cocoa farm how old he was. The boy answered “19”, but in the brief moment the farm overseer looked away, he crouched down and wrote “15” in the sand.⁽⁵⁾ He’d been out of school, working to harvest cocoa beans since age 10.

Child labour is a major issue on cocoa farms in West Africa and Brazil. While it’s normal for children all around the world to help their families with work, we call it child labour when this work interferes with their chance at an education, or is damaging to a child’s physical, social or psychological development because it's performed at too young an age. Of the six million people working on cocoa farms in Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, 1.56 million are children, some as young as five.⁽⁶⁾ Of these, an estimated 16,000 are enslaved; working without pay or unable to leave.

The Chocolate Scorecard

When it comes to creating widespread and lasting change in the chocolate industry, there are a multitude of players with an important role to play – from workers to policy makers, to consumers like you and me. But one of the most significant players are chocolate companies – those who work in the trading, processing, manufacturing and marketing of chocolate. This includes familiar companies like Whittaker’s and Mars, and companies like Barry Callebaut, that have a lower profile with consumers but make a lot of the chocolate smaller companies in New Zealand use.⁽⁷⁾  

The chocolate industry is dominated by a small group of very large companies.

If these companies were to make changes to their business policies, practices and models, the impact across the entire industry would be massive.

That’s why Be Slavery Free don’t just survey these chocolate companies for accountability but work closely with them, supporting them to improve their policies and practices. So, how are the chocolate companies currently doing on addressing exploitation? There’s strong improvement, but there’s still got a long way to go.

When it comes to creating widespread and lasting change in the chocolate industry, there are a multitude of players with an important role to play – from workers to policy makers, to consumers like you and me. But one of the most significant players are chocolate companies – those who work in the trading, processing, manufacturing and marketing of chocolate. This includes familiar companies like Whittaker’s and Mars, and companies like Barry Callebaut, that have a lower profile with consumers but make a lot of the chocolate smaller companies in New Zealand use.⁽⁷⁾  

The chocolate industry is dominated by a small group of very large companies.

If these companies were to make changes to their business policies, practices and models, the impact across the entire industry would be massive.

That’s why Be Slavery Free don’t just survey these chocolate companies for accountability but work closely with them, supporting them to improve their policies and practices. So, how are the chocolate companies currently doing on addressing exploitation? There’s strong improvement, but there’s still got a long way to go.