Slavery in the Chocolate Industry

INTRODUCTION

Children slavery the chocolate  industry is most common and the “Slavery in the Chocolate Industry”   is one of the cases which illustrate the exploitation of children  in the industry of chocolate. The case focuses specifically on West Africa countries especially Ghana and Ivory Coast where most of the cocoa beans are produced and sold to the rest of the world. However, these cocoa farmers do not hire proper workers rather they opt to children slavery in order to grow and harvest the beans. Therefore several ethical issues  are discussed   in the case  to identify if slavery is perceived as   completely or partially wrong and also to  be able to know who is morally responsible for child slavery in the chocolate industry.

The utilitarian, justice and rights view of ethics

Utilitarianism   means seeking to do the greatest good for the masses with a sacrifice of individual rights in order to protect those larger numbers of people.  So in the case study of the “Slavery on the chocolate factory” the government must make sure the farmers to get fair prices policies for their own goods, as this will encourage/force them to reduce the costs of production and stop relying on the child labor. Slavery and forced death work on children will be barely practiced with such practices in the cocoa farms if there is a fair practice of the cocoa beans price. With the utilitarian rule, just and rights are not considered as only utility is focused on not the distribution of it amongst society members.

However, with such ignorance from utilitarianism, consideration of rights and justice is brought up. Justice is concerned with what is legally right or wrong and the rights of people are considered and  cared of. Rights pertain to the entitlements of the individuals towards their freedom of choice and well being.  For the fact that children are killed, beaten and tortured on the coca farms of Ghana and Ivory Coast this indicates that children are being deprived some moral rights. Everyone has the right to life  and they have no right to be tortured therefore those farmers are going against these children rights. Also the farmers are depriving the slave children the right to education and better future thus bettering their parents‘s lifestyles. Despite the fact that the chocolate association has teamed up with human rights organizations to remedy the situation of the children’s slavery in Ivory Coast, but I think this does not make a big difference. the reasons being they are fighting only of child labor but they should  consider other  rights such as the right to live a better life. On the other side, considering Kant’ s categorical imperative theory several questions can be raised, like how would we if our children are slaves in the cocoa farms? Justice is one principle of ethic also that has been reviewed in the case study. Justice is defined as “considering an option which promotes fair treatment.” Justice can be distributive, compensatory or procedural and both of them apply in this case. Therefore we can ask ourselves is it fair to use children slaves instead of adults as workers in the farms?(reversibility) The society is being ‘unjust’ as it distributes its benefits and burdens on the children for economic gains as they are still growing up rather they should be getting education. Retributive just states that, the farmers who use children as slaves on their farms should be punished hence the children should be compensated for their health as they are working in harsh conditions thus affecting their health conditions. It is then absolutely wrong to use children as slaves in my opinion in this case as no justice, rights or care is practiced. However, the  core issue is Utilitarianism as in countries that are developed, human beings have more rights  whereas in the ones that are undeveloped human beings  do trade-off their own rights   for a stable economy of their country. This turns not to be justice for the people.

Kolberg‘s theory of moral development

Kolberg‘s theory of moral development also is applicable in the case of the slavery in the chocolate industry.  The theory‘s main idea is the moral development of  children and adolescents , that they  do not merely internalize the values and morals of the adults  around them. However, on certain situations children   come up with their own morals and values. Six stages are used to explain the moral development of  the   theory ; obedience and punishment orientation, individualism, good interpersonal relationships, maintaining social order, social contracts and individual rights and lastly the universal principles.  In this case, slavery children are being obedient as they are scared of the punishment such as beatings, whippings and starvation. Farmers do practice the second stage of Kohlberg’s theory of individualism because they try to meet their own self interests rather than the children‘s own.  For the issue of social contracts parties involved should clearly understand that protecting the life of a child is  crucial than breaking the law. Universal principles are not adhere by all these parties as people have their own set of laws regarding what is right and wrong which may not be applicable  with the law.

Systematic, corporate and individual issues raised by this case

This case shows evidence of the systematic, corporate abs individual ethical issues.  Looking at the systematic ethical  issue,  it is imperative to consider the economic issue. The case highlighted that, in between the years 1996-2000  the prices of the beans have gown down due to  impacts posed by the  uncontrollable  global forces on farmers. Due to declining prices, farmers opted to slavery so that they can cut costs and survive through the situation at hand. Slavery in the Ivory Coast is illegal but the law it is not really enforced. The major contributions to the issue are  officials accepting bribes from the those who commit slave trade, having open borders and  having few enforcement officers in the Ivory Coast and Ghana. The  second ethical issue that  has been raised  by this case is the corporate one. The intermediaries  who gets the cocoa beans these countries to grind, process and then sell them to the manufacturers are aware of the issue of children slavery in those farmers. With media attention certification system  was establish between the Chocolate Manufacturers Association and the World Cocoa foundation. However, they do have limited control of all the farms as there is a million of farms  which are family owned and located on the outskirts regions. The center of the issue, is the cocoa farmers  as individuals as it is against the law  to use children  labor as slaves and if someone is is unwillingly not agreeing is considered to be morally wrong. Consumers also play a key role in this ethical issue as they are  aware of the problem, companies that are involved but still they  buy and consume their products. Therefore consumers should also address the issue rather than to ignore  it as the purchasing of  chocolate contributes to the slavery in the chocolate industry.

Ethical responsibilities and actions of the African farmers, government, multinational companies and consumers

As parties are involved in the slavery of the chocolate industry, certain ethical responsibilities and actions apply to them. African farmers, African government, Multinational chocolate and distribution companies and consumers worldwide are the parties involved in the slavery of children therefore do share the moral responsibility for such slavery in the chocolate industry. Farmers from Ivory Coast and Ghana do use children as slaves for labor in their farms. With application of Kant’s principle of first categorical imperative to the African farmers, it is presumable that if anyone was under the same situation, will resort to slavery as they did. Nevertheless, this imperative makes a farmer to view slavery as universalisable but not reversible. This is to say, anyone on the African farmer’s situation would practice the slavery measures but would not want it to happen to him. Moreover, cocoa farmers failed to show ethical responsibility through Kant’s second categorical imperative, which holds that “one must profit/gain from others only in relationships among valued equals.” In the case of the African government, they fail to have control over the laws pertaining to children slavery. The   Ivory Coast government s’ refusal to joining the international convention regarding antislavery proves that its local laws on antislavery be just there for formality but not put into practice.   Such harsh working conditions are similar to children labor as witnessed by Karl Marx such as young age deaths, diseases and exploitatory working hours   caused by unhygienic factory conditions, whereby small children work twelve to fifteen hours a day without any break. Therefore the African government should  be ethical responsible in following stricter laws regarding slavery practices by farms. Distribution and multinational chocolate manufacturing companies also are liable to a certain responsibility and ethical actions towards the problem of children slavery in the West African countries.  For the fact that they are aware of the ongoing children slavery but continuing doing business with the African farmers proves they are not ethically responsible for children‘s interests rather for themselves. These corporations also continue to undervalue the prices for cocoa and chocolates therefore forcing farmers to cut costs and resort to children labor and slavery so as to earn profit. As for consumers, they also have a moral responsibility as some are aware of the companies which practice children slavery and the cost these companies go through in the process of acquiring the cocoa and making chocolate. As results they choose to ignore rather than to raise awareness and put a stop to such events. On the other hand, some consumers are blinded by these chocolate companies as they keep them away from realizing the truth behind the children slavery. So it can be concluded that all these parties are actors and are contributing to the slavery of the chocolate industry. There should have been ethical absolutism.