Research essay with the topic of your own choice- YESS!

Siden jeg ikke pleier å skrive så altfor mye om skolen, så tenkte jeg å legge ut et essay jeg har skrevet de to siste dagene. jeg begynte med å ligge litt etter i denne oppgaven, men så ble jeg veldig engasjert siden vi kunne velge emne selv og er vel snart ferdig! Dette er en av de kortere oppgavene, kun 1000 ord, neste uke har jeg to essay å skrive på 1500 ord og 2000 ord som er istedenfor eksamen, så nå er det fullt kjør siste ukene! alt er selvfølgelig på engelsk, så kan se at det er litt kjedelig å lese, men jeg synes hvertfall det er en tankevekker!

2704HUM Culture, Community and Enterprise

Research project/essay

Line Pettersen 2755238

How important is it for large corporations to produce fair trade chocolate to see an incline in child labour and what can we as consumers do to help this process?

Chocolate has earned a place in the collective fantasy life of the human race, symbolic of sex, love, pleasure and luxury. When Forrest Gump said that life was like a box of chocolates, he probably wasn't thinking of West Africa, where some 312,000 children are working on cocoa farms under intolerable conditions. Thousands of Africa's children, particularly in Cote d'lvoire, are forced to labour in the production of cocoa. They are bonded to their employers and forced against their will to work in hazardous and heartbreaking conditions. They are denied access to basic education, medical care, and in many cases, the comfort and reassurance of their own families.

“Reports of slave labour on cocoa farms surfaced as early as 1998, when an Ivorian newspaper reported the widespread practice of importing and indenturing Malian boys for fieldwork on Ivorian plantations. The United States Department of State reported an initial estimate of 15,000 Malian children working on Ivorian cocoa and coffee plantations. The child workers, many of whom were under 12 years of age. Chocolate brands capture most of the value created in the cocoa supply chain” (Ewing, 2005, p.99). This is no revelation. It is more than ten years since the international media first exposed the use of trafficked child labour in cocoa production in Cote d'lvoire. In response, the major chocolate companies signed an agreement that they would stop the worst forms of child labour in their cocoa supply chains. Unfortunately, the complexities of global supply chains have made it easy for them to evade action, even when there is consumer demand for change.

“West Africa is the source of more than two-thirds of the $4.5bn world cocoa market, with Ivory Coast alone accounting for more than 40 per cent of production. The Ivorian industry is estimated to employ about 1.5m farmers - or about 10 per cent of the population - mostly on family-owned smallholdings” (Peel, 2004, p. 1). “Apart from being hot and tiring work, yields from ageing cocoa trees are declining and, although international trade prices have surged recently, prices to farmers have scarcely kept pace with rocketing local food and fuel prices, It is for reasons like this that Cadbury launched its Cocoa Partnership in 2008 - a ten-year, £45 million investment in cocoa sustainability in Ghana, South-east Asia, India and the Caribbean. Cadbury's commitment to Fairtrade certification of its flagship brand, Cadbury Dairy Milk, will see the company quadruple the amount of Ghanaian cocoa sold on Fairtrade terms. For the Fairtrade movement, as well as the direct producer benefits, the partnership is also providing a springboard to communicate the Fairtrade message to a brand-loyal mainstream public who for years have been telling Fairtrade that they "would buy Fairtrade chocolate, if only it tasted like Cadbury" (Cameron, 2009, p 14). So you would think the rest of the chocolate world industries follow their lead but, “There is fair-trade chocolate on the market, but it accounts for no more than 1% of global supply, and the movement has little traction in Ivory Coast. A more effective way to combat child labour would be for the government of Ivory Coast to invest some of the revenue it gets from high taxes on cocoa exporters in education and social services to help poor farmers. But the government of Ivory Coast is ranked among the most corrupt in the world by Transparency International, a nongovernmental watchdog group” (Parenti, 2008, p28). So with a corrupt government it’s the corporations and the factories who needs to step up.

Over the last ten years, ethical brands have become a global phenomenon. Fair trade businesses, particularly, those that follow a system of exchange that respects producers, communities, consumers and the environment, and is rooted in people-to-people connections, justice and sustainability have shown significant growth in sales, and in their presence in mainstream retailing establishments, assuring increased awareness among consumers. “The growth of interest in ethical goods has been underpinned by the increasing knowledge and awareness in ethical and global trade issues. An important aspect of the growth in sales for ethical products is that many can now be found on sale in the big supermarkets alongside products without specific ethical claims” (O’Lughlin, 2007, p. 396). I believe this an important aspect, the availability for fair trade chocolate to have a place in the big supermarkets around the world and therefore making it as available as possible for consumers.

So is it possible to end child labour and how could we do it? “Ending child labour will require action on many levels: economic growth; laws and law enforcement; social mobilization; and building schools and making them affordable, accessible and appropriate. According to David L. Lindauer. "If child labour is a necessary evil of industrialization, then a nation should be judged on how quickly it passes through this phase." But history does not need to predict the future. It should be possible to employ workers at competitive wages without also exploiting the youngest and weakest workers- and without robbing them of a chance to gain an education. Business has a potential role to play in reducing harmful child labour and that role is larger than it has  been played so far. Moreover, pressures for businesses to do more to end child labour will not go away. They seem much more likely to increase” (Bachman, 2000, p.40). ”Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR) has become the mainstream prescription by business and governments for dealing with social and environmental ills. It is a voluntary form of self-regulation that aims to tackle everything from human rights and labour standards to limiting carbon dioxide emissions that lead to climate change. But because CSR ultimately lies within the framework of markets, and requires market-based incentives for companies to invest in such programmes. Ultimately, we need to transform markets in such a way as to see an end to the larger corporate winner-takes-all approach if we are to see a sustainable future” (Doane, 2005, p.215).

What should we as consumers do? First, reward companies that can tell you how the farmers and workers that produced your chocolate were treated. Fair Trade certification is a good start. “Continue to demand that the world's largest chocolate manufacturers, including Hershey, Nestle and Cadbury, answer the question as to how you can be assured no exploited or trafficked child labour was used in the making of their products. Finally, contribute to the organizations that are doing meaningful grassroots work to help farmers and children in West Africa - look for the groups that do NOT receive corporate funding” (Athreya, 2009, p.12). "The digital era arms social activists, environmentalists, consumers and other stakeholders to exert more pressure on the global behaviour of corporations than ever before. The firms that best meet the demands for social responsibility, environmental sustainability, and global interdependence are predicted to reap the biggest rewards” (Tapscott, 2002, p. 1). So the next time you want something sweet, think of the difference you as a consumer can make and buy fair- trade chocolate.

References:

·      Athreya, B. (2009). Slaves to chocolate: major chocolate companies still using child labour. New internationalist. 421 (1), 12.

·      Bachman, S. (2000). The political economy of child labor and its impacts on international business. Business economics. 35 (3), 30-41.

·      Cameron, R. (2009). Cadbury goes fairtrade. International trade forum. 4 (1), 14.

·      Doane, D. (2005). Beyond corporate social responsibility: minnows, mammoths and markets. Futures. 37 (3), 215.

·      Ewing, A. (2005). The cocoa industry and child labour. The journal of corporate citizenship. 18 (1), 99.

·      O'Laughlin, D. (2007). Integrating ethical brands into our consumption lives. The journal of brand management. 14 (5), 396.

·      Parenti, C. (2008). Chocolate's bittersweet economy. Fortune international. 157 (2), 28.

·      Peel, M. (2004). Bitter chocolate for children. The financial times. 1 (1), 1.

·      Tapscott, D. (2002). How digital era compels corporate good citizens. Canadian Speeches . 15 (6), 1.