Save the Slaves of the Cocoa Industry: Have A Guilt Free Easter

The world's biggest producer of cocoa is the Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast). Unfortunately, issues with slave labour and human trafficking exist there, especially with children.

Around 200,000 children there work on cocoa farms, raising many issues about child labour and exploitation, and also about slavery, because it is estimated that up to 12,000 of those 200,000 children are victims of human trafficking or slavery. Some of these enslaved children are forced to work up to 100 hours per week and undergo severe abuse. The U.S. Department of State estimates that 109,000 of the children working there work under “the worst forms of child labour”.

Many of the slaves are boys between the ages of 12-16, from the neighbouring country of Mali. Agents look for children who are alone or who are begging for food, then lure them to come to Cote d’Ivoire with them. They are then sold.

Aly Diabate was one of those boys. He was eleven when he was lured from Mali, with the promise of a bicycle and $150, which could help his poor family. Once there, he was forced to work from 6am to around 6.30 pm, and was beaten whenever he fell while carrying the heavy bags. At night, he and eighteen other slaves were locked in a room that measured 20 by 24 feet.

Having seen the vicious beatings unleashed on those who tried to escape, Aly was too scared to attempt it. Luckily, another boy did escape and reported the man who had held them prisoner. Aly spent 18 months, and still has both emotional and physical scars.

Researching the cocoa industry in the Cote d’Ivoire can be dangerous, as the French-Canadian journalist Guy-André Kieffer found out in 2004, when he was kidnapped in a parking lot in the Cote d’Ivoire. He was never seen again and it is believed he was most likely tortured to death. Carol Off, a Canadian author who wrote the book "Bitter Chocolate" on corruption and human rights abuses associated with the cocoa industry said in an interview that while in the Cote d’Ivoire, she had been warned by the Canadian Embassy:"You shouldn't be here asking questions about cocoa. It's very dangerous. But if you have to, at the very least, don't ask any questions about Guy-André Kieffer. Whatever you do, don't even mention his name."

Many major chocolate production companies, including Nestle, use cocoa from the Cote d’Ivoire when making their products.

A report released 20^th April 2011 by World Vision showed that only 1 - 3% of global cocoa is supplied ethically. This isn’t good enough.

By buying the products of non-fairtrade companies, you are supporting this abusive industry. Please, buy fair trade this Easter.