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Caution- your Valentine sweets may come from Child Slaveryby Paul Tick For Valentine's Day, many people like to exchange kisses (real and chocolate) and other sweets. Sadly, UNICEF has reported on the existence of child slavery in the Ivory Coast, one of the six biggest suppliers of cocoa. There International Labor Organization has reported widespread child slavery in West Africa. The U.S. State Department has reported that there are 15,000 child slaves in the Ivory Coast. Another 300,000 children are working in near-slavery conditions on cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon. Boys, as young as 9 years old, are sold to slave traffickers by impoverished parents who think their children will make an honest living, and then will be able to send money back home. They see few other options to their extreme poverty. Once separated from their parents, the boys are forced to work more than 12 hours per day for no pay. They are locked up at night. "Beatings were part of my life" and he suffered them daily, a freed slave reported. These young children must work with dangerous machetes and apply quantities of pesticides with little, if any, protection. When these conditions were first exposed, the giant chocolate manufacturers denied any responsibility for them. After all, they said, they do not own the farms or hire the labor. In 2001, after further exposure and threats of government action, the giant chocolate manufacturers took some action. They announced that they would eliminate the worst aspects of child labor by 2005. While this may be a step in the right direction, critics point out that this does "...not guarantee fair prices, which is the only way to ensure that slavery and poverty are brought to an end." M&M/Mars is the fourth largest privately held company in the United States. The three owners of this company are worth a combined $27 billion. More than 200 organizations and thousands of individuals have asked M&M/Mars to use Fair Trade chocolate, but the company refuses. You can contact them with your concerns at 1-800-627-77852, or consumer.affairs@mmmars.com . Through www.globalexchange.org, you can send them a free fax. The Fair Trade system is a way of monitoring international trade practices and guaranteeing that workers get a fair price for their products. This system presently pays twice as much per pound of cocoa, as compared to the standard prices. Equal Exchange, the nation's leading Fair Trade coffee distributer, has introduced a hot cocoa mix with a certified Fair Trade label. It is organic, and is supplied by a cooperative of small farmers in the Dominican Republic. Fair Trade chocolate bars from Rapunzel are available at Honest Weight Food Cooperative. The chocolate lovers in my household give these products the thumbs-up. So, before you buy any more of the sweet stuff, check to see that it has a Fair Trade label. Also note that, according to food activists and author John Robbins, organic chocolate is "unlikely to have been tainted by slavery." Other organic chocolates, such as Ah!laska! chocolate syrup, are also available at Honest Weight. So keep in mind the choices that you have at your local coop and at other natural foods stores, and help end child slavery with your thoughtful purchases. Information for this article came from Utne Reader (November/December 2002) and www.globalexchange.org , a website with useful information on many Fair Trade and global justice issues. See also www.rapunzel.com. |
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