Do you know the history of the chocolate you eat? The need for a special look at the cocoa production chain as a mechanism to combat slave labour

Abstract

The text whose main objective is to arouse in the reader the need to look at chocolate production differently as a strategy that can contribute to the elimination of slave labour. Therefore, it aims to answer the following research problem: How does the cocoa production chain contribute to the maintenance of this heinous practice and how to counteract it? It is a theoretical and normative study that, through qualitative, bibliographic and documentary research, uses a deductive method to achieve the proposed objective. First, the persistence of slavery in the workplace today is analysed. Then, the study discusses the cocoa production chain and the need to control labour abuses in the chocolate industry. Finally, it points out the extremely important role that companies have to play in combating and eliminating the exploitation of human labour by applying strict controls in their value chain, coinciding with the idea of sustainable development.

Keywords

• cocoa production chain
• global value chain
• child labour
• slave labour
• sustainable development