Hundreds of foreign children are being trafficked into African cocoa farms, forcing the International Labour Organization (ILO) to debate urgent systemic amendments.

This modern crisis emphasizes a critical failure connecting global division, economic barriers, unaware educational systems, and weak government financial planning with a total lack of corporate accountability. To protect these vulnerable migrant minors, the ILO must now transition from raising basic public awareness to enforcing legally binding international regulations. 

One delegate proposed the subtopics of the causes of child labour. Delegates of African countries emphasized the urgency of the issue happening within the region, intensified by severe socioeconomic implications. In the harvesting season, the number of crops has increased, resulting in young children having to assist adults and maximize the properties due to family financial difficulties. 

Furthermore, the delegate of Bangladesh believed that the causes of language and education heavily worsen the situation of child labour. As parents are unable to financially provide for their children’s education, they are sent to cocoa farms instead. This act helps achieve a higher income for the family, but it keeps the children from gaining access to education and progress. Sharing a similar idea, the delegate of Nigeria held the opinion that the children in their country have been severely affected by joining the cocoa industry, as they have no choice but to consent to receiving an unfair salary to make ends meet in their daily lives.

The delegate of Egypt affirmed that the main reason that needs to be focused on is the responsibility of adults who directly send children to cocoa farms. They are the ones who forced the children to work and erased their right to study and grow as children. It is paramount that cooperation between countries be fostered to prevent the exploitation of children in the cocoa industry in the long term. 

At its core, delegates have discussed the relevant topics in order to come up with solutions to solve the present problem. Driven by the systematic failure of access to quality education, those children are put into a dead-end where they have no choice but to drop out of school and proceed to join the labour force at a very young age. Exploiting this gap, traffickers lure minors using false promises of a better future with proper education and job stability, only to sell them to remote farms. 

The delegate of Cambodia suggested working and cooperating with teachers to encourage children to go to school. Additionally, the delegates of Ghana and Cambodia share the same idea of raising funds to support and increase the number of students in such rural areas. 

Consequently, delegates are drafting a multi-layered resolution. It demands that big corporations guarantee fair trade pricing to alleviate farmer poverty, while wealthier consumer nations provide financial aid to build schools in high-risk regions. Moreover, it mandates joint funding for public awareness campaigns to educate vulnerable rural families on how to identify and prevent trafficking tactics. 

The global community cannot educate its own children while ignoring the stolen childhoods of those working the cocoa fields.