Introduction

The history of cocoa production is filled with tales ofslavery, forced labour, illegal child labour and agreat deal of deception. Efforts to eliminate theseforms of labour abuse have met with varying degreesof success. The cocoa and chocolate industries, aswell as governments, have been successful indiverting attention away from these abuses. Theobjective of this chapter is to review the historyof slave and forced labour in the cocoa industry,including forced labour and illegal child labour, toillustrate how governments often collaborate withthe cocoa industry to create and perpetuate theseabuses. This collaboration creates illusoryrestrictions on forced labour that allow slavery topersist. Slavery in the cocoa industray is a seriousform of food crime affecting hundreds of thousandsof people (Walk Free Foundation, 2016).

To illustrate the ways in which governments and thecocoa industry have interacted, their relationshipis assessed from the time of the arrival of theEuropeans in the Americas to contemporary times. Thefirst section focuses on the consequences of theEuropean invasion and the conquest of the Americasafter the arrival of Cristoforo Colombo (also knownas Christopher Columbus) in 1492. The second sectionis concerned with attempts to either embarrasschocolate makers to stop buying slave-producedcocoa, or to convince cocoa-producing nations tovoluntarily put an end to the use of slave labour.The third section is focused on potential ways toreduce or elimate slavery and forced labour in thecocoa industry.

Origins of the problem

When Colombo arrived in the Americas, cocoa productionwas well established. Colombo did not think much ofit as a potential trade product. It was not untilsomtime after 1585, after Hernando Cortez introducedit to Spain, that it began to emerge as a tradecommodity (Coe and Coe, 2007). Its ascendency as oneof the world's favourite food treats coincided withan increase in the use of slave labour, as well as amajor change in the source of slave labour.