Editing Chocolate (section)

===Child labor in cocoa harvesting===
{{Main|Child labour in cocoa production}}
{{See also|Cocoa production in Ivory Coast|Cocoa production in Ghana}}
[[File:Chuao 003.JPG|thumb|Child drying cacao in [[Chuao]], Venezuela]]
The widespread use of children in cocoa production is controversial, not only for the concerns about [[child labor]] and exploitation, but also because according to a 2002 estimate, up to 12,000 of the 200,000 children then working in the [[Ivory Coast]] cocoa industry<ref name="accuses companies">{{cite news | last=  Hawksley | first=  Humphrey | url=  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1311982.stm | title=  Ivory Coast accuses chocolate companies | work=  BBC News | date=  4 May 2001 | access-date=  4 August 2010 | url-status=  live | archive-url=  https://web.archive.org/web/20090114115945/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1311982.stm | archive-date=  14 January 2009 | df=  dmy-all }}</ref> may have been victims of [[Trafficking of children|trafficking]] or [[Child slavery|slavery]].<ref name="fortune2018">{{cite news |url=http://fortune.com/big-chocolate-child-labor/ |title=Inside Big Chocolate's Child Labor Problem |last=O'Keefe |first=Brian |date=1 March 2016 |newspaper=Fortune |access-date=7 January 2018 |quote=For a decade and a half, the big chocolate makers have promised to end child labor in their industry – and have spent tens of millions of dollars in the effort. But as of the latest estimate, 2.1&nbsp;million West African children still do the dangerous and physically taxing work of harvesting cocoa. What will it take to fix the problem? |archive-date=12 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190112042758/http://fortune.com/big-chocolate-child-labor/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Most attention on this subject has focused on [[West Africa]], which collectively supplies 69 percent of the world's cocoa,<ref name="WCF 2010 update">{{cite web|url=http://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/learn-about-cocoa/documents/CocoaMarketUpdateasof5.18.10.pdf |title=Cocoa Market Update |publisher=World Cocoa Foundation |date=May 2010 |access-date=11 December 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111013152355/http://www.worldcocoafoundation.org/learn-about-cocoa/documents/CocoaMarketUpdateasof5.18.10.pdf |archive-date=13 October 2011 }}</ref> and the Ivory Coast in particular, which supplies 35 percent of the world's cocoa.<ref name="WCF 2010 update" /> Thirty percent of children under age 15 in [[sub-Saharan Africa]] are child laborers, mostly in agricultural activities including cocoa farming.<ref name="rooting">{{cite web  | title = Rooting out child labour from cocoa farms: Paper No. 4 Child labour monitoring – A partnership of communities and government  | publisher = [[International Labour Organization]]  | year = 2007  | url = http://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/download.do;jsessionid=0a038009cee0ccecc1079524dd2be22e7bc286da8c5.hkzFngTDp6WImQuUaNaLa3D3lN4K-xaIah8S-xyIn3uKmAiN-AnwbQbxaNvzaAmI-huKa30xgx95fjWTa3eIpkzFngTDp6WImQuxbN8Nbh4SahiK8OexhOaOgzX9i4j38QfznA5Pp7ftolbGmkTy?type=document&id=6447  | url-status = live  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160402090558/http://www.ilo.org/ipecinfo/product/download.do;jsessionid=0a038009cee0ccecc1079524dd2be22e7bc286da8c5.hkzFngTDp6WImQuUaNaLa3D3lN4K-xaIah8S-xyIn3uKmAiN-AnwbQbxaNvzaAmI-huKa30xgx95fjWTa3eIpkzFngTDp6WImQuxbN8Nbh4SahiK8OexhOaOgzX9i4j38QfznA5Pp7ftolbGmkTy?type=document&id=6447  | archive-date = 2 April 2016 | df = dmy-all  }}</ref> Major chocolate producers, such as [[Nestlé]], buy cocoa at [[commodities exchange]]s where Ivorian cocoa is mixed with other cocoa.<ref name="oxfam">{{cite web|title=The cocoa market: A background study |publisher=[[Oxfam]] |year=2002 |url=http://www.maketradefair.com/en/assets/english/CocoaStudy.pdf  |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080910131409/https://www.maketradefair.com/en/assets/english/CocoaStudy.pdf |archive-date=10 September 2008 }}</ref>

As of 2017, approximately 2.1&nbsp;million children in Ghana and Ivory Coast were involved in farming cocoa, carrying heavy loads, clearing forests, and being exposed to pesticides.<ref name="reuters2017">{{cite news |author1=Kieran Guilbert |date=12 June 2017 |title=Falling cocoa prices threaten child labor spike in Ghana, Ivory Coast |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-westafrica-cocoa-children/falling-cocoa-prices-threaten-child-labor-spike-in-ghana-ivory-coast-idUSKBN1931ZQ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211009172050/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-westafrica-cocoa-children/falling-cocoa-prices-threaten-child-labor-spike-in-ghana-ivory-coast-idUSKBN1931ZQ |archive-date=9 October 2021 |access-date=7 January 2019 |work=Reuters}}</ref> According to the former secretary-general of the Alliance of Cocoa Producing Countries: "I think child labor cannot be just the responsibility of industry to solve. I think it's the proverbial all-hands-on-deck: government, civil society, the private sector. And there, you need leadership."<ref name="fortune2018" /> Reported in 2018, a 3-year [[Pilot experiment|pilot program]] – conducted by Nestlé with 26,000 farmers mostly located in Ivory Coast – observed a 51% decrease in the number of children doing hazardous jobs in cocoa farming.<ref name="balch">{{cite web |author1=Oliver Balch |date=20 June 2018 |title=Child labour: the true cost of chocolate production |url=https://www.raconteur.net/business-innovation/child-labour-cocoa-production |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727060501/https://www.raconteur.net/business-innovation/child-labour-cocoa-production |archive-date=27 July 2020 |access-date=7 January 2019 |publisher=Raconteur}}</ref> The [[United States Department of Labor|US Department of Labor]] formed the Child Labor Cocoa Coordinating Group as a public-private partnership with the governments of Ghana and Ivory Coast to address child labor practices in the cocoa industry.<ref>{{cite web |title=Child Labor in the Production of Cocoa |url=https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/child-labor-cocoa |publisher=Bureau of International Labor Affairs, United States Department of Labor, Washington, DC |access-date=7 January 2019 |date=2018 |archive-date=19 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181219050405/https://www.dol.gov/agencies/ilab/child-labor-cocoa |url-status=live }}</ref> The International Cocoa Initiative involving major cocoa manufacturers established the Child Labor Monitoring and Remediation System intended to monitor thousands of farms in Ghana and Ivory Coast for child labor conditions,<ref name="balch" /><ref name="reuters2017" /> but the program reached less than 20% of the child laborers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://newfoodeconomy.org/chocolate-farmers-ivory-coast-ghana/ |title=Cocoa has a poverty problem. You can help by eating more dark chocolate |date=7 July 2018 |publisher=New Food Economy |access-date=7 July 2018 |archive-date=23 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191023110138/https://newfoodeconomy.org/chocolate-farmers-ivory-coast-ghana/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> Despite these efforts, goals to reduce child labor in West Africa by 70% before 2020 are frustrated by persistent poverty, absence of schools, expansion of cocoa farmland, and increased demand for cocoa.<ref name="balch" /><ref name="cb2018">{{cite web |title=2018 Cocoa Barometer Report |url=http://www.cocoabarometer.org/Cocoa_Barometer/News/Entries/2018/4/19_2018_Cocoa_Barometer_Released.html |publisher=The Cocoa Barometer |access-date=8 January 2019 |date=19 April 2018 |archive-date=7 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190107024021/http://cocoabarometer.org/Cocoa_Barometer/News/Entries/2018/4/19_2018_Cocoa_Barometer_Released.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In April 2018, the Cocoa Barometer report stated: "Not a single company or government is anywhere near reaching the sector-wide objective of the elimination of child labor, and not even near their commitments of a 70% reduction of child labor by 2020". They cited persistent poverty, the absence of schools, increasing world cocoa demand, more [[intensive farming]] of cocoa, and continued exploitation of child labor.<ref name="balch" /><ref name=cb2018/>