Cadbury faces fresh accusations of child labour on cocoa farms in Ghana
The food giant that owns the Cadbury brand is embroiled in fresh allegations of employing child labour after an investigation obtained footage of children working with machetes on cocoa farms in its supply chain.
Children as young as 10 have allegedly been found working in Ghana to harvest cocoa pods to supply Mondelēz International, which owns Cadbury. Campaigners say the farmers are being paid less than £2 a day and can’t afford to hire adult workers.
The Channel 4 Dispatches investigation, broadcaston Monday, comes more than two decades after the chocolate industry pledged to eliminate child labour.
Ayn Riggs, founder of Slave Free Chocolate, which campaigns against child labour in cocoa farms, said: “It’s horrifying to see these children using these long machetes, which are sometimes half their height. Chocolate companies promised to clean this up over 20 years ago. They knew they were profiting from child labour and have shirked their promises.”
The Cadbury revelations come as this weekend millions of pounds will be spent on chocolate treats for Easter. More than £300m is spent on Easter eggs and novelties each year, including more than 80m boxed eggs. The chocolate market is worth £5.6bn in the UK, according to the market research firm Mintel. It includes about 330m Cadbury Creme eggs which are eaten every year.
Mondelēz, which made global profits last year of more than £3.3bn, has a sustainability programme, Cocoa Life. Its logo is marked on its products, including Cadbury Dairy Milk, and its website states: “No amount of child labour in the cocoa supply chain should be acceptable.”
Under the Cocoa Life programme, Mondelēz had, by the end of 2020, mapped about 167,800 cocoa farms that supply its businesses in Ghana,
Read more on theguardian.com
