Child labour in cocoa industry
With the fears that the multi-billion dollar cocoa industry may have consigned the Harkin-Engel Protocol to the dustbin of history, there seems to be no end to the suffering of the poor children working in about two million cocoa farms in West Africa.
For seven years, the world was fooled. Promises of great expectations by an industry that thrives on the sweat of poor African kid labourers have amounted to nothing. Reports of recent investigations have also indicated that the self-acclaimed and much flaunted efforts by the multi-billion dollar cocoa industry are simply a ruse.
Specifically, the Tulane University, United States that was commissioned by the American Government to investigate the efforts made so far in its latest report, said specific actions expected to combat child and forced labour in West Africa do not really pan out on the ground.
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