Genesis Sereno- Period 5
Do you like chocolate? If you answered no, then keep on reading because the things mentioned in this article affect everyone. Yes, even you! If you answered yes, then let me ask you another question. What if I were to tell you there is a “dark side” to chocolate? Would your answer change? Would you view chocolate differently? Many people are unaware of the background of the chocolate industry. The truth behind the production of chocolate is anything but sweet. On the contrary, many people find it shocking and horrifying. How can something so sweet and delicious also be the cause of misfortune and suffering?
As most people know, chocolate is part of the cocoa industry whose primary purpose is to cultivate, manufacture, and sell cacao beans which are then used to make chocolate. The Ivory Coast in Africa is the most affected by this industry with, “60% of the Ivory Coast’s export revenue com[ing] from its cocoa” [1]. According to the UN’s Food & Agriculture Organization, Ivory Coast supplies , “more than a third of the world’s cocoa and its exports for the global chocolate market were worth around 2.5 billion dollars in 2010” [2]. This means that most people living in the Ivory Coast region work in some part of the cocoa industry: factories, plantations, forests, or fields. Most of the time, forced by poverty and hunger or even against their own will, people in this region have no other choice but to work in the cocoa industry. This job however is not an easy one; it comes with many risks and consequences, some of which can even result to be fatal. Workers in cocoa plantations are exposed to many dangers such as , “dangerous tools, dust, flames or smoke, hazardous chemicals, and/or physically demanding labor such as carrying heavy loads or spending many hours in the sun” [3]. Many times workers in these plantations also drop out of school or abandon their families in order to work. The high demand for chocolate has resulted in a high demand for workers in the cocoa industry. This is often times seen as something positive since it is provides people in the Ivory Coast with more jobs; however the high demand for workers has pressured employers not only to find more workers but also to find workers who are willing to be paid very little or close to nothing.
Unfortunately, this has led employers to hire children to work in the cocoa plantations; this has led to a high rate of child labor in the Ivory Coast. The children working, “on cocoa farms are between the ages of 12 and 16, but reporters have found children as young as 5,” most of them being paid very little or almost nothing for their work [4]. Not only are most of the children working in the cocoa industry exposed to poor working conditions such as, “the hazards of using machetes [or] are exposed to agricultural chemicals on cocoa farms,” but many times they are also physically and mentally abused [5]. The production of chocolate indirectly participates in the world issue of child labor and trafficking, something to think about next time you’re eating a chocolate bar or brownie.
Child labor is a worldwide issue that affects every human being whether it is directly or indirectly. It is unjust because not only does it violate the rights of workers but also contradicts the idea of human dignity which all human beings have the right to possess. Pope Leo XIII addresses the issues of the working class in his letter, the RERUM NOVARUM, by explaining the purpose of labor and the rights of workers. In his letter Pope Leo XIII addresses a major global issue in the labor sector which is, “that a small number of very rich men have been able to lay upon the teeming masses of the laboring poor a yoke little better than that of slavery itself” [6]. This can especially be seen in regards to the child labor taking place in the Ivory Coast. Not only is slavery legally and morally wrong but it also goes against the whole purpose and rights of labor. Investigators recently, “discovered [that] children [are] trafficked into Western African cocoa farms and coerced to work without pay” [7]. They have also discovered that many times these children are locked up so they will not try to escape, beaten, and abused, something that can be defined as modern day slavery. In these circumstances employers are taking advantage of their power and workers’ rights. Pope Leo XIII explains that just as workers have certain rights and duties they owe to their employer, employers also have certain rights and duties they owe their workers. He states, “the following duties bind the wealthy owner and the employer: not to look upon their work people as their bondsmen, but to respect in every man his dignity as a person ennobled by Christian character,” and, “the employer is bound to see that the worker has time for his religious duties; that he be not exposed to corrupting influences and dangerous occasions; and that he be not led away to neglect his home and family, or to squander his earnings. Furthermore, the employer must never tax his work people beyond their strength, or employ them in work unsuited to their sex and age. His great and principal duty is to give every one what is just” [8]. The employers in the cocoa plantations are going against the rights of workers by forcing children to engage in labor that is inadequate for their age. They are also cheating them of their rights as workers by not giving them safe working conditions and just wages. The key word behind the idea of labor is “justice”.
Labor is an action that follows “natural justice” and allows humans to live and provide for themselves or their families. Labor is practiced by humans in order to reach a desired goal, get something in return, or to satisfy one’s needs. Pope Leo states that, “if one man hires out to another his strength or skill, he does so for the purpose of receiving in return what is necessary for the satisfaction of his needs; he therefore expressly intends to acquire a right full and real, not only to the remuneration, but also to the disposal of such remuneration just as he pleases,” meaning that workers should receive a just wage or pay for their work [9]. This is not the case with the workers in the cocoa plantations. Most of the time, “cocoa farmers earn less than $2 per day, an income below the poverty line” [10]. Since there is a high demand for chocolate, there is also a high demand of workers needed in order to cultivate, pick, and sell cacao beans; however employers are not willing to pay a high salary to workers and, “as a result, they often resort to the use of child labor to keep their prices competitive” [11]. Slavery and unfair wages violate workers’ rights because employers are not providing the workers with the sufficient amount of money needed to live. How are workers supposed to provide for themselves and their families if they are not receiving a decent wage? But many might say, “well, they choose to work,” “they choose to be receive that wage,” or, “if they really didn’t think they were being provided with just working conditions they would quit and find another job”. These arguments are easier said than analyzed because “there are important considerations,” which these assertions leave out or don’t account for [12]. Two things need to be taken into consideration: first, that labor is personal and second, that labor is necessary. Pope Leo XIII states that labor is personal because , “inasmuch as the force which acts is bound up with the personality and is the exclusive property of him who acts, and, further, was given to him for his advantage ” [13]. He also states that labor is necessary because, “without the result of labor a man cannot live, and self-preservation is a law of nature, which it is wrong to disobey” [14]. We as humans have a right to labor; labor is something is very important because it is only through the practice of labor that we can survive in our world today. Workers in the Ivory Coast have very few options when it comes to work; they are willing to work in basically anything in order to survive. But does there great need for work justify employer’s decision to pay them an unfair wage? No, no it doesn’t. After analyzing the purpose of labor, just as Pope Leo XIII we can conclude that, “the preservation of life is the bounden duty of one and all, and to be wanting therein is a crime” [15]. People, who don’t pay their employees a just wage, meaning a wage that will allow them and their families to survive, are participating in a big injustice, taking away from workers what is rightfully theirs. Pope Leo XIII shines light on this issue and criticizes these type of employers by stating, “if through necessity or fear of a worse evil the workman accept harder conditions because an employer or contractor will afford him no better, he is made the victim of force and injustice” [16]. It is more than evident that the majority of the working class in the Ivory Coast is a victim of the injustices taking place in the cocoa industry in regards to labor rights. Although child labor is a major issue in the Ivory Coast, it can be seen all over the world today. Many times people try to justify child labor but there is no possible way to justify an injustice. The only solution is to address the problem, try to change a misconception, and seek out change. So next time you’re eating chocolate, will you still view it the same way you viewed it before?
End Notes
[1] “Child Labor and Slavery in the Chocolate Industry.” Food Empowerment Project. Accessed December 7, 2014.
[2] “Economy & Industry.” Our Africa. Accessed December 7, 2014.
[3] “International Labor Rights Forum.” Cocoa. Accessed December 8, 2014.
[4] “Child Labor and Slavery in the Chocolate Industry.” Food Empowerment Project. Accessed December 7, 2014.
[5] ibid
[6] Pope Leo XIII Rerum Novarum Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on Capital and Labor.
[7] “Child Labor and Slavery in the Chocolate Industry.” Food Empowerment Project. Accessed December 7, 2014.
[8] Pope Leo XIII Rerum Novarum Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on Capital and Labor.
[9] ibid
[10] “Child Labor and Slavery in the Chocolate Industry.” Food Empowerment Project. Accessed December 7, 2014.
[11] ibid
[12] Pope Leo XIII Rerum Novarum Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on Capital and Labor.
[13] ibid
[14] ibid
[15] ibid
[16] ibid
Bibliography
“Child Labor and Slavery in the Chocolate Industry.” Food Empowerment Project. Accessed December 7, 2014.
“Economy & Industry.” Our Africa. Accessed December 7, 2014.
“International Labor Rights Forum.” Cocoa. Accessed December 8, 2014.
Pope Leo XIII Rerum Novarum Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII on Capital and Labor.
“THE DARK SIDE OF CHOCOLATE.” THE DARK SIDE OF CHOCOLATE. Accessed December 5, 2014.
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