CoCoa Protocol?

Question

I would like to know a lot of about Cocoa Protocol like who made them. i also want to know human trafficking and child slavery in africa, past and present.

Answer 1

Harkin Engel Protocol

In 2001, reports of unacceptable labor practices in West African cocoa farming raised concerns about conditions on West African farms. Later that year, U.S. Representative Eliot Engel (D-NY) introduced a legislative amendment to fund the development of a "no child slavery" label for chocolate products sold in the U.S. U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), a leader in the movement to end the worst forms of child labor worldwide, became actively involved as well.

Together, Senator Harkin and Representative Engel worked with the cocoa and chocolate industry to develop a credible, effective response to the worst forms of child labor and adult forced labor on cocoa farms.

The response was formalized in September, 2001 with the signing of the Protocol, committing the industry to addressing the worst forms of child labor and adult forced labor on cocoa farms in West Africa. Organizations like Free the Slaves, the Child Labor Coalition, the National Consumers League and the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering and Tobacco Allied Workers Associations (IUF) witnessed the agreement.

The agreement laid out a series of date-specific actions, including the development of credible, mutually acceptable, voluntary, industry-wide standards of public certification -- to ensure that cocoa is grown responsibly.

The Harkin-Engel Protocol marked an important first - an entire industry, including companies from the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom, taking responsibility for addressing the worst forms of child labor and adult forced labor in its supply chain.

Today, the Protocol stands as a framework for progress, bringing together industry, West African governments, organized labor, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), farmer groups and experts in a concerted effort to eliminate the worst forms of child labor and adult forced labor from the growing, processing and supply chain of cocoa in West Africa.

Among the most important steps:

The establishment of the International Cocoa Initiative, a joint foundation that brings together industry and non-industry to address the worst forms of child labor in the cocoa supply chain
The development of a “certification” system for cocoa farming labor practices