Background information was published on child labor in the cocoa sector in West Africa

The German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa (GISCO) published a paper on child labour in the cocoa sector in West Africa

In line with its objectives, GISCO addresses the background to abusive child labor in West Africa and approaches to abolishing it in the cocoa sector.

 

Hazardous or abusive child labor exists in many sectors worldwide and is also one of the greatest challenges in cocoa farming. In the largest producing countries Côte d‘Ivoire and Ghana alone, more than 2 million children work in dangerous conditions on cocoa fields. The main cause is the poverty of cocoa farmer families in the main producing countries in West Africa. Other major causes are a lack of infrastructure and education. For instance the lack of birth certificates prevents access to education.

The fact sheet of the German Initiative on Sustainable Cocoa can be found here.