Washington, DC -- Congressman Eliot Engel (D-NY-17) joined today with Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), and Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis to announce a partnership with the governments of Ghana, Cote d’Ivorie, and the cocoa industry to sign a Declaration of Joint Action to Support Implementation of the Harkin-Engel Protocol. 

“Great strides have been made to identify precisely where child labor occurs in the West African cocoa sector.  We must now use this data to continue bringing about real change,” said Rep. Engel.  “Today, we pledge to take concrete steps to eliminate child labor in the cocoa sector.  At the end of the day, that is what the Harkin-Engel Protocol is all about.”

“Today’s Declaration aims to reduce the worst forms of child labor by 70 percent across the cocoa sectors of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire by 2020, and lays out a strategy to achieve that goal,” said Sen. Harkin. “This new framework and funding represents a partnership between the industry, the national governments and the U.S. to remove children from forced labor environments and help remediate them.”

“Child labor perpetuates a cycle of poverty that prevents families and nations from reaching their full potential,” said Secretary Solis.  “This new Framework of Action will focus on tackling household poverty so parents do not have to rely on their children’s labor.”  The initiative will rescue children from the worst forms of child labor, give them access to the education and other services they need, and work to improve the livelihoods of cocoa-growing families and their communities.

The Declaration commits $10 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Labor to help remediate children caught in the worst forms of child labor.  It also includes a $7 million commitment from the international chocolate and cocoa industry, with an additional $3 million in potential increases to existing projects meeting the goals of the Framework.  The Governments of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire will also each establish a new community-based Child Labor Monitoring System (CLMS), and provide personnel to help get children out of the cocoa fields and receive an education and vocational training.

Rep. Engel said, “When I visited Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire in 2008, I had the opportunity to meet with many important stakeholders from the two governments, the cocoa and chocolate industry and local and international non-governmental organizations.  Today’s Declaration will help all of us who care so deeply about eliminating child labor to move forward together.  We will only make real progress by working in partnership.”

Harkin added, “This Declaration commits us to a holistic approach involving the key stakeholders – not only the people signing this document, but non-governmental organizations and members of civil society.   It lays out firm responsibilities, clear benchmarks and does so in a coordinated way.”

On September 19, 2001, the Harkin-Engel Protocol was established to combat the worst forms of child labor in the cocoa industry.  The ultimate goal is to eliminate child labor in the cocoa sectors of Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.

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