Emancipation Proclamation or the Bittersweet Truth About the Cocoa Trade
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What are the strengths, limitations and challenges of ethical and socially responsible business practice? Discuss with reference to case studies of your choice.
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Emancipation Proclamation or the Bittersweet Truth about the Cocoa Trade
In April 1791 William Wilberforce introduced the first parliamentary bill to abolish the cross Atlantic slave trade.
Abraham Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862 outlawing the ownership of another human being.
In our present days, over 200 years later, according to Amnesty International there are 12 million people, mostly women and children enslaved worldwide. This hidden world of slavery exists right under our noses, within the boarders of our countries and most people wouldn’t even believe it’s real and possible under modern conditions.
As customers and potential business owners it is our humanitarian responsibility to take action through our choices, to raise awareness and to say NO to slavery.
One way to do that is to buy Fairtrade.
The average British family spends around £130 a year on their 1.8 children’s chocolate treats. The 11-year-old Aly Diabate was sold into slavery for the same amount of money in 1999. He was forced to work 100 hours a week harvesting cocoa beans. He never tasted chocolate and was repeatedly beaten as a punishment. He was held locked into a shed with 18 other boys and was only let out to work.
We live in financial times: ask any business owner and the main concern will be the profit.
Morality and education might not always come first on the global and well demanding market of cocoa trade.
To confront injustice and poverty and care for those in need, us customers and business owners must forge a strong alliance for Fairtrade, to tackle the needs of the vulnerable and marginalised in the community.
Only so can a business become sustainable and claim to be ethical.
What are the strengths, limitations and challenges of ethical and socially responsible business practice? Discuss with reference to case studies of your choice.
-------------------------------------------------
Emancipation Proclamation or the Bittersweet Truth about the Cocoa Trade
In April 1791 William Wilberforce introduced the first parliamentary bill to abolish the cross Atlantic slave trade.
Abraham Lincoln delivered the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862 outlawing the ownership of another human being.
In our present days, over 200 years later, according to Amnesty International there are 12 million people, mostly women and children enslaved worldwide. This hidden world of slavery exists right under our noses, within the boarders of our countries and most people wouldn’t even believe it’s real and possible under modern conditions.
As customers and potential business owners it is our humanitarian responsibility to take action through our choices, to raise awareness and to say NO to slavery.
One way to do that is to buy Fairtrade.
The average British family spends around £130 a year on their 1.8 children’s chocolate treats. The 11-year-old Aly Diabate was sold into slavery for the same amount of money in 1999. He was forced to work 100 hours a week harvesting cocoa beans. He never tasted chocolate and was repeatedly beaten as a punishment. He was held locked into a shed with 18 other boys and was only let out to work.
We live in financial times: ask any business owner and the main concern will be the profit.
Morality and education might not always come first on the global and well demanding market of cocoa trade.
To confront injustice and poverty and care for those in need, us customers and business owners must forge a strong alliance for Fairtrade, to tackle the needs of the vulnerable and marginalised in the community.
Only so can a business become sustainable and claim to be ethical.
References: Wikipedia (2013) “ William Wilberforce” [online], Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wilberforce#Emancipation_of_enslaved_Africans Wikipedia (2013) “Abraham Lincoln” [online], Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln Amnesty International (Sep, 2011), Slaver Today, amnesty.org.uk [online], Available at: http://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_18561.pdf Fairtrade Foundation (2011), Fairtrade labelling international history, fairtrade.org.uk [online], Available at: http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/what_is_fairtrade/history.aspx About Divine (2011), The Divine Story, divinechocolate.com [online], Available at: http://www.divinechocolate.com/about/story.aspx Pailin Srukhosit (November 2, 2011), Fair Trade: More Than Just Business, http://thebottomline.as.ucsb.edu/ [online], Available at: http://thebottomline.as.ucsb.edu/2011/11/fair-trade-more-than-just-business Food Empowerment Project (2010), Slavery in the Chocolate Industry, foodispower.org [online], Available at: http://www.foodispower.org/slavery_chocolate.php Oxbridge Writers (2013), Fairtrade example of ethical branding, oxbridgewriters.com [online], Available at: http://www.oxbridgewriters.com/essays/management/fairtrade-example-of-ethical-branding.php