culture shocker: Your chocolate may have been made by child slaves

photo courtesy of change.org

I love chocolate. However, after reading this article today on Change.org I am going to try and make a conscious effort to buy only Fair Trade Certified cocoa products. Here’s why:

Many chocolate companies, including Hershey (the largest in North America), use cocoa beans from the Ivory Coast to make their products. The Ivory Coast of Africa is the largest cocoa-producing area in the world, but unfortunately it is so at the extent of child labor exploitation.

In 2005 the International Labor Organization estimated that up to 6% of the 200,000 children involved in cocoa production could be the victims of human trafficking or slavery.  These children are enslaved and abused, forced to work unbearably long hours and are often beaten. Many of these children are victims of trafficking and are working completely against their will.

You can make an effort to stop this injustice by taking five minutes to tell Hershey how important it is for them to help end child slavery in Africa by calling them today at 1-800-468-1714.

Also see a list of Fair Trade chocolate companies so you won’t feel as guilty about your sweet tooth.

June 24, 2009 by rachel
Tags: Africa, change.org, child slavery, chocolate, cocoa, fair trade, hershey, human trafficking, ivory coast

One Response to “culture shocker: Your chocolate may have been made by child slaves”

• Endangered Species Chocolate says:

  Posted: August 6, 2009 at 3:28 pm

  Hey this is a great blog. It is such a shame that so many children around the world enjoy a treat produced by the blood of thousands of children the same age. Something has to be done, and we must all remember that we have a vote with every dollar we spend. If we stop economically supporting products that are produced with child slavery the companies will be forced to change their policies. We here at Endangered Species Chocolate practice what we call ethical trade. This means we do more than pay fair market prices and make sure child labor is not used. We are actively involved in improving the living conditions for our cacao farmers. We accomplish this by installing water pumps and filtration systems as well as donating school and medical supplies. These donations have improved countless lives. I, obviously, encourage you to buy Endangered Species Chocolate, however, if you choose not to for any reason please find a fairly/ethically traded chocolate that you will by. The only way to stop companies from exploiting children is refusing to purchase bloody chocolate. As always…Savor Chocolate. Save Our Planet.

  Kyle
  Endangered Species Chocolate

• Post a Comment

  Click here to cancel reply.
  Name

  Email (your email will not be published)

  Website

  Connect with your Facebook Account
  

  
  (Characters in image above required)

  Send To Twitter

  Twitter Name

  Twitter Password

  Comment