Our love for chocolate seems to grow by the year.

However, the not-so-sweet truth is that to create space for new cocoa farms, the chocolate industry is fueling deforestation at an alarming rate, hitting the accelerator on climate change, destroying native habitats, and leaving a bitter taste in our mouths.

Increasingly, companies are fighting for children’s rights, establishing systems to prevent child labour. But there is still a long way to go.

On the Be Slavery Free blog we explore how companies can identify child labour, take action when it’s found, and prevent the risk of it happening in the first place.

Chocolate is a multi-billion dollar industry, with some of the wealthiest and most powerful companies in the world profiting from it. However, many cocoa farmers, who produce the essential ingredient of the industry, still live in poverty and struggle to earn a living income.

Do you know where your chocolate comes from? Unfortunately, approximately half of the cocoa we consume probably can't be traced back to the farmer that grew it. This lack of traceability can contribute to social and environmental harm, such as poverty, child labor, and deforestation. But there is hope. Many companies and governments are starting to take traceability seriously, and there are key steps that we can all take to create positive change. Find out more

We are excited to announce that Dr Darian McBain has been appointed as the new Chair of the Be Slavery Free Board. With a PhD from Sydney University and extensive experience in sustainability, environmental issues, human rights, and NGO's, Dr McBain brings a deep understanding of business and a wealth of knowledge to the role. Her leadership will guide the Board of Be Slavery Free in the new phase of preventing and remedying modern slavery, enhancing consumer capacity, and campaigning for a world free from slavery. Dr McBain has been a member of the BSF Board since 2019 and was integral in establishing Business Fight Club and engaging with the business community in Australia and abroad.

Sometimes everything starts by simply asking - why?

Why is the national animal of Scotland a unicorn?

And why if I try and search for an ethical toy can I not find anything that might also include plastic or with a battery inside? If I look up ethical fashion, I can see mainstream clothing companies scrutinised and compared against each other as I prepare my Christmas shopping list. Why the difference?

Million Makers sets a new standard in harnessing the power of worker voice to inform businesses human rights due diligence from the ground up and from the people who know.

Jacob worked as a fruit picker in Australia while backpacking on a working holiday visa. He shared his story with Be Slavery Free.

I came to Australia in early 2017 on a working holiday visa (sub-class 417). My visa allowed me to stay in Australia for 12 months.

Flying With Eyes Wide Open

Some of us are starting to travel again. If you are, then learn to see what may be happening.

Professor Mark Hutchinson is Professor of Medicine at Adelaide University. Before covid he was flying from Italy to London City Airport. When boarding the plane, he noticed an elderly woman with a young man, perhaps her son. On arrival, he was lined up to go through Passport Control and the elderly lady was in front of him, but the young man was not to be seen. As they approached the booth the women suddenly kneeled. Mark thought “What is going on here?”

As Matt Friedman said in a recent blog – “We must all feel a sense of urgency”

Modern slavery is often complex with few simple solutions because it is a wicked problem - treating strands is not helpful when there are no strands but rather a continual tangled strand. This is how the traffickers want it to be!

To get to the how of solving the child labour issues in the cocoa growing in West Africa we have to know the why. To find the answer to the why we have to look at the cause.

I met Antonin in Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire as I was walking from my hotel to find an ATM. He crossed the road and walked alongside me and asked, “are you a big man?”. A big man in West Africa is someone who has influence, has some power and is generally considered wealthy. What pursued in his broken English and my very broken French was a discovery of his story.

Cocoa is cheap – dirt cheap, so much so that most cocoa farmers barely eke out an existence. The average cocoa farmer earns under US$1.20 per day, and women cocoa farmers are thought to earn around 50 cents per day.

Though cocoa has been a major driver of deforestation worldwide, it can become the reverse - an agent of re-greening around the planet.

Around 75% of the world’s cocoa is grown in West Africa. Child labour issues in West Africa for cocoa have been known for over 20 years. According to the NORC Report around 1.56 million children are estimated to be in child labour in two countries alone – Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire.