Child labour and cocoa production in West Africa. The case of Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana Research Program on Trafficking and Child Labour
This report seeks to identify and understand different degrees of vulnerability between different groups of children using the example of children's work in cocoa production in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana. The article starts with background information on Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana in geographical, economic and sociological terms and the definition of working children. Based on quantitative data from different surveys, the paper demonstrates the distribution of child work in terms of gender, ethnicity, type of child relocation and the seasonal calendar of labour. For example, boys are more likely to be involved in the production of cocoa than girls, full-time child labourers are usually between the age of 8 and 17 and the majority of migrant children come from Burkina Faso, in the case of Cote d'Ivoire and Upper East Region in the case of Ghana. Considering further the political economy of both countries, the authors conclude that the current practice of cocoa production in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana is the outcome of a historical process, in particular traditional patterns of labour migration and development related to the postcolonial state. In the case of child labour in cocoa production, it is noted that it is a consequence of poverty and economic decline. In Ghana, where the situation for the cocoa farmers is relatively good, cocoa producing districts have a higher school enrolment than other rural districts where cocoa is not produced. However, when times are bad, the farmers are most in need of children in the production process. For this reason, the paper proposes rearrangement of the school year in such way that children could take part in the most intensive parts of the harvest without missing out on schooling.