Burkina Faso’s children escape slavery... thanks to trade union action

December 2013: Twelve children reunited with their families in Burkina Faso
The road transport union UCRB (Union des Chauffeurs Routiers du Burkina Faso) intercepted a "load" of children in Côte d’Ivoire and took care of reuniting them with their families. How did Ivorian, Burkinabe and Belgian trade unions get involved in this rescue operation?

Since 2011, the FGTB and its food industry federation HORVAL have been heading a trade union project to combat child labour and children trafficking in these two African countries, in conjunction with the Ivorian agri-food union, SYNA-CNRA and the UCRB, the Burkina transport union. The project’s strategy rests on two key sectors: the cocoa plantations in Côte d’Ivoire and road transport in Burkina Faso.
Together, the FGTB, HORVAL, the SYNA-CNRA and UCRB set up a trade union network to fight child labour throughout the entire cacao supply chain, from the plantations in Côte d’Ivoire to Belgium, where it is used to make chocolate. Belgians consume a large amount of chocolate, over 10 kilos per person per year... And Belgium produces 172,000 tonnes of chocolate a year. Most of the cacao beans come from Côte d’Ivoire’s plantations, which employ children, mainly from Burkina Faso, a situation condemned by trade unions.
"The children’s working conditions are very hard. They are exposed to all kinds of risks in the plantations, where they perform the most hazardous tasks, such as transporting heavy loads, clearing the land with machetes and applying toxic pesticides. They are paid very little and are often only given lodging and very little food. They generally work away from home and do excessively long hours, day and night. Around 43% of them work without adult supervision.

The FGTB-HORVAL project is aimed at strengthening the structures and the capacities of their two partner organisations, the SYNA-CNRA and the UCRB, to equip them to work effectively on the ground to fight child labour and trafficking. In Côte d’Ivoire, the aim is to raise awareness among cacao farmers about the risks linked to using child labour as well as the need to educate children and the dangers of child trafficking. The public targeted also includes the workers in the factories that process the cacao (such as Barry Callebaut and Nestlé) and the political authorities. In Burkina Faso, the project aims to make road transport workers more aware of this phenomenon, to step up their vigilance and encourage them to take responsibility, as well as making parents conscious of the dangers involved in trafficking and pressing the political authorities to put their political commitments into action.
To fight this scourge, trade union work is being done at both ends of the cacao supply chain. In the South, our partners are raising awareness, training and organising Ivorian agricultural workers and Burkinabe transport workers. In the North, HORVAL and the FGTB are organising international solidarity. The aim is to develop a "South-South" and "North-South" network, with a view to establishing a sustainable and decent supply chain, without child labour or trafficking.
In June 2014, the FGTB will attend the annual ILO conference, which will address the issue of forced labour. At the same time, HORVAL and its partners will take part in the World Cacao Conference from 9 to 13 June 2014 in Amsterdam, to highlight a series of trade union concerns.
On 17 October 2013, Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso signed a bilateral agreement to fight child trafficking between their countries. The FGTB was delighted with this historic step forward. Now, everything must be done to ensure the agreement is respected.
The FGTB implements a trade union cooperation programme co-financed by the Belgian state (DGD, Belgian Directorate for Development Cooperation). Its projects are implemented in Africa, in the main, but also in Palestine and Latin America. They deal with matters such as health and safety at work, trade union education and training, etc. One project is aimed at fighting child labour and the trafficking of child slaves.

FGTB/ABVV (Yolanda Lamas and Leticia Beresi).