3071-The political economy of new slavery

Amanda Berlan 159
power of multinationals and renewed their calls for corporate social
responsibility (CSR) and Fair Trade. A new round of tug-of-war between
multinational companies and the socially conscious had begun, and the
debate has raged on ever since. Accusations concerning poor labour
practices and the exploitation of children still abound and Ghana is
often cited as a country where such abuses are common. In this chapter
I outline certain common misconceptions about the cocoa industry in
Ghana and I highlight the importance of local factors in understanding
certain forms of child labour and contemporary slavery. I illustrate how
academic research can make a useful contribution to the world of
policy-making and advocacy by reviewing a rights-based, prescriptive
approach in the light of evidence I have gathered during 12 months of
fieldwork among cocoa producers in Ghana. More specifically I investigate
the role of education in combating child labour and the need to
adopt a holistic approach to child rights in this context.
Myths surrounding the cocoa industry in Ghana
Much of the general concern surrounding globalization has rightly been
the seemingly unstoppable power of the multinationals and the low
prices on the world market of basic commodities. A lot of attention has
been given by campaigning groups to the meagre returns given to Third
World producers, which, combined with increased awareness about the
plight of children in sweatshops or in other forms of abusive labour, has
created a lot of sympathy for and interest in Fair Trade. In the case of
cocoa growers in Ghana, the concern that labourers, and children in
particular, are slaving away on Western-owned plantations is somewhat
misplaced. Expatriate land ownership was outlawed in 1957 following
independence and Kwame Nkrumah (the first president of the Republic
of Ghana) took drastic steps to place the agricultural sector firmly back
into Ghanaian hands. There are still many legal restrictions on foreign
land ownership or the setting up of large-scale plantations, and cocoa is
typically grown on family-owned farms, which on average do not exceed
ten acres. Following independence, the cocoa industry was reorganized
and the government established a complete monopoly over it by
taking over every aspect of cocoa from the purchase of beans from the
farmers to agricultural extension services or foreign export. Licenses for
foreign cocoa buyers were outlawed and the government became the
sole channel for buying cocoa from farmers and selling it to foreign
buyers on the international market. Part of this absolute monopoly
remains today as the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod); it is still the