cocoa farms

11 CHILDREN RESCUED FROM COTE D’IVOIRE COCOA FARMS

On Wednesday 7 October, police rescued 11 children and 2 teenagers working on cocoa farms in southwestern Côte d’Ivoire and arrested three farmers on suspicion of people trafficking.

Child labour violates the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Child Labour Standards.

According to a report in June by the International Cocoa Initiative (ICI), Cote d’Ivoire saw an increase in child labour in the cocoa sector during its coronavirus lockdown.

Luc Zaka, Police Commissioner said,

We conducted this operation this morning in the two major cocoa-producing cities … and arrested the farmers who were employing them in their fields.

The children were found shelling cocoa pods in a field working nearby approximately 20 adults.

The operation was originally scheduled for May and June, but due to COVID-19 pandemic, it was postponed. The government introduced restrictions on March 16, including closure of schools and partially closing its borders. Most of those measures have now been lifted.

More than one million children work illegally on cocoa plantations in the West African country, despite the ICI projects effort to try and reduce numbers, but it’s a figure that has been rising steadily over the last decade, according to charities working in the sector.

In December last year police rescued more than a hundred children from cocoa plantations during a similar operation in the east of the country.

In March, police received more resources and opened six new operational centres in the main cocoa producing regions to fight against child trafficking and labour.

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