The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is exceptionally rich in agricultural and natural resources. However, their extraction has been too often controlled by armed, predatory, and corrupted actors and has been associated with a wide range of modern slavery practices, such as forced labor, labor exploitation, child labor, debt bondage, forced marriage, and sexual exploitation.
This research investigates the intersection between modern slavery and illicit appropriation of resources in the DRC’s agricultural sector, which has received little attention to date (especially if compared with the mining sector). While doing so, the research focuses specifically on the cocoa sector, for a number of reasons. First, cocoa plantations are largely concentrated in the Eastern regions of the country, where the intersection between armed conflict, illicit appropriation of resources, and modern slavery is highest. Second, the DRC cocoa sector has been under constant expansion over the past two decades, the to the point that the country exported cocoa beans for a value of $119 million in 2023. Third, while cocoa used to be considered “militia-proof” because its true value is not realized until it is processed, armed actors have progressively developed a considerable interest for the crop.
Through desk-based research and key informant interviews, the research found that multiple armed actors (including armed groups and militias) are involved in the practice of attacking cocoa farms, massacring, raping, and killing innocent cocoa farmers to appropriate their produce. Additionally, some members of the Armed Forced of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) have also been involved in raiding cocoa farms. Fear of armed attacks by the ADF, unidentified armed assailants, and FARDC members has been forcing many cocoa farmers to abandon their fields, that are then occupied and harvested by different armed actors.
Farmers who survive violent attacks on their farms or villages are forcibly put under the control of the armed actors and forced to engage in farm labor for the latter’s exclusive economic benefit. Besides, farmers are not only targeted by armed groups to engage in forced labor in the fields – even though this is the most common pattern. Rather, cocoa farmers captured by armed actors may also be held captive for several days and forced to work as porters. Children may also be abducted by the armed groups, forcibly separated from their families, and forced to engage in cocoa harvesting for the group’s benefit.
Once the cocoa beans are in the hands of armed actors, the most common strategy to make the maximum profit is to smuggle the beans into Uganda. As in the case of raids against cocoa-growing farms, it is not only armed groups and criminal gangs. Rather, some FARDC soldiers are also implicated in the smuggling business. Thus, vast amounts of cocoa harvested by Eastern DRC’s farmers and illegally appropriated by armed groups and soldiers enter global supply chains through Uganda. According to respondents, up to 80% of Congolese cocoa passes through the opaque and criminal circuit before being exported to Uganda. Once in Uganda, traders affix Ugandan certificates of origin, including for export, and the cocoa is sold to international chocolate companies.
Based on these findings, we developed a series of recommendations. Specifically, we recommend the Congolese government to train front-line officials on standard operating procedures to proactively identify victims of forced labor; to create avenues through which local agricultural communities can safely report cases of attacks, abuses, and exploitation; to eliminate the excessive fees, charges, and paperwork requirements that disincentivize legal trade; as well as to combat corruption in the armed forces and foster greater cooperation between law enforcement, customs services, and other relevant bodies.
We also recommend the Ugandan government to enhance regulatory controls on any cocoa coming from the DRC to ensure verification of the export permits, custom clearance documents, and DRC tax receipts; to launch investigations into the illicit appropriation of agriculture and natural resources; and to recognize that smuggling networks may be economically beneficially in the short term, but are ultimately detrimental to the Ugandan state, its functioning, and its development.
Finally, we recommend the cocoa industry to implement a holistic human rights due diligence policy; to develop and enforce a supplier code of conduct, which should reflect international labor standards; to invest more serious and consistent efforts in the traceability of cocoa beans; and to pressure the Ugandan and Congolese governments to curb cocoa smuggling.
