Tony’s Chocolonely praised for honesty over jump in child labour cases

Dutch confectionary firm says it will resolve most cases within nine months as it reports record-breaking revenues

Tony’s Chocolonely has admitted that cases of child labour in its supply chains has more than doubled in the past year. 

The Dutch confectionary firm attributed the spike to the addition of eight cooperatives to its list of partners, bringing the total to 19 across Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. 

The growth coincided with an increase in the number of identified child labour cases, from 1,544 to 3,448.

In its latest sustainability report, Tony’s Chocolonely suggested the figures proved its monitoring systems are working, adding that it expected to “effectively resolve” most of the cases within nine months.

Martin Buttle, who works for London-based investment house CCLA, praised the firm for its transparency. 

“This is an example of a company that is taking the lead and acknowledging the challenges of an expanding supply chain,” he told Real Economy Progress.    

Buttle leads CCLA’s efforts to improve working conditions at companies in its portfolio and beyond, and said, “if large businesses are not finding [forced labour] in their supply chains, we would argue they are likely not looking hard enough”. 

Tony’s Chocolonely also revealed a sharp decline in the number of child slavery cases it had resolved over the past year compared with previous years, which it blamed on a third-party provider. It has consequently taken the process in-house. 

Research published by the International Labour Organisation this week found that import bans on goods produced with forced labour are effective at reducing abuses, and that “company-level social dialogue can help resolve the issues that triggered the ban”.

It called for further research to be conducted to help companies and other stakeholders understand the best ways to tackle labour issues.

Defying economic challenges 

Tony’s Chocolonely’s also revealed it had overcome soaring cocoa costs and other economic challenges to achieve a 20% uptick in revenues in the past year.  

The US has become its largest market, surpassing its native country, the Netherlands. 

Last week, Fairtrade America criticised chocolate makers for choosing cocoa alternatives instead of engaging with farmers in the face of high prices.

The organisation said “companies that invest in cocoa alternatives instead of the people who grow cocoa are running away from the problems they created”, adding: “Pouring money into alternatives instead of into the hands of the six million people worldwide who depend on cocoa farming for their livelihood lays bare big chocolate’s greed for all to see”.