Catherwood LibraryILR School

The International Cocoa Initiative reported on Tuesday, World Day on Child Labor, that at least 14,986 child labor cases have been recorded in Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire since 2012 – approximately 125,000 children representing 17% of 91,000 households. The cases have been tracked using its child labor monitoring and remediation system (CLMRS), but the system depends on farmers being honest, and many farmers are too poor to not put children to work. When ICI find families via on-site interviews, the farmers are not immediately punished, but are educated about the dangers of child labor. If the family’s circumstances are extreme – only one parent supporting several children leading to extreme poverty – ICI tries to help by enrolling the parent in an income generating activity such as farming or food processing, as well as enlisting young men to do the hard physical tasks that might be given to children. While many large chocolate companies have certified their products as meeting Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance standards, this does not mean farmers will live above the poverty line or guarantee that child labor will decrease.