STOP CHILD LABOUR IN CABDURY'S COCOA PRODUCTION
o Which countries/regions are connected by trade to Cadbury?
- BUY: Cadbury buys most of their cocoa beans from Ghana (West Africa), Ivory Coast, Indonesia and Malaysia.
- SELLS: Cadbury sells its chocolate world-wide, and the main countries that are sold to include, England, Ireland, Canada, India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Egypt.
o What issues are raised in the cocoa production where Cadbury purchases its beans?
- CHILD LABOUR: in Ghana, around 10,000 children are victims of slavery and most children that are working on their cocoa farms are younger than 13.
- UNSAFE/DANGEROUS WORKING CONDITIONS: these children, are made to climb trees with machetes to knock the cocoa from the trees, then the children cut open the pods with machetes to remove the beans, which leads to many of them having multiple scars on their hands/arms from machete accidents. Child beatings also occur on a regular basis when children refuse or work slowly. These children also use dangerous pesticides and carrying heavy loads in the heat.
- LONG HOURS: these children work around 12 or more hours each day in these dreadful conditions.
o Why does child slavery occur in cocoa production?
- This child labour occurs, because, cocoa farmers suffer from unstable global market prices for the beans and as the prices decrease they say that is too low and they can’t afford to hire labour.
- Also, extreme poverty in neighbouring countries such as Mali and Burkina Faso also push some children to migrate and end up working on these Ivory Coast cocoa farms.
o What are the environmental impacts?
- Cadbury purchases its cocoa beans from Ghana where they cause a lot of damage to the environment, including, they extract raw materials (e.g. fossil fuels, minerals), they use heavy amounts of fertilizers and pesticides, they effect the climate change, they cause deforestation, and they cause air pollution from the transportation of the beans to factories and industrial buildings.
o Are there any possible solutions to the issue? What can we do to help?
- To help stop child labour in cocoa production, you can support campaigns, such as (http://www.antislavery.org/english/campaigns/cocoa_traders/chocolate_and_slavery_qa.aspx) or (Adwww.unicef.org.au/Child-Labour) to call on the major cocoa traders to take more action and stop this labour. These campaigns are trying to stop the cocoa production farmers from having to use child labour to produce the cocoa beans.
o How can we best raise awareness of this issue and persuade others to take action?
- Video us putting posters up around the school
- Guilt the audience to help stop this child labour
o What are the social impacts of this issue (how are workers, local residents, families, children affected)?
- Health: the children that are used for slavery and labour, work in dangerous conditions and are open to diseases and infections from cuts/sores
- Economic: the children that work in cocoa production, are not paid or paid very little amounts
- Family: these family’s lose their children to slavery and labour which effects them mentally
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