Enslavement of children In the Ivory Coast
The truth behind chocolate is not-so-sweet. The Ivory Coast is the world's largest cocoa producer, providing 43% of the world's cocoa. And yet, in 2001 the U.S. State Department reported child slavery on many cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast. A 2002 report from the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture about cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast and other African countries estimated there were 284,000 children working on cocoa farms in hazardous conditions. U.S. chocolate manufacturers have claimed they are not responsible for the conditions on cocoa plantations since they don't own them.
Chocolate comes from cocoa, and the cocoa supply is controlled by a small number of companies worldwide that are allowed to function with limited accountability. Hershey's and M&M/Mars alone control two-thirds of the $13 billion U.S. chocolate candy market. The result? An industry marred with child slavery, unsafe working conditions and a cycle of poverty with no end in sight for cocoa farmers. Chocolate companies are not held accountable for sourcing practices, and despite their knowledge about the travesties that occur on cocoa farms, they lack the will to change. due to the latter sobering fact, more children are being abducted as slaves in the production of Chocolate for the Western world. Ivory Coast, being the biggest cocoa producer in the world, also has one of the highest rates of child labour in the world (as shown in the above YouTube video).
References:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49bRA_0Z6o4&feature=player_embedded#at=13
Weirdly enough, I was born in the Ivory Coast and till now I had no idea as to its reputation of child labour.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing an enlightening post, Keto. One way people can refuse to support these heinous child labour practices is to only buy "fair trade" chocolate at places like "Global Village" or "Goodness Me."
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