Chocolate: Revealing the truth
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Chocolate: Revealing the truth
Chocolate. The very word conjures feelings of pleasure, or at least, that’ s how it is for most of us. Sadly, there is also a very dark side to it.
The next time you bite into a chocolate bar or enjoy a cup of hot chocolate you might want to consider a secret, horrible ingredient- child slavery. Lots of chocolate production causes human misery that can, and must, be stopped.
The connection between chocolate manufacturers and child slavery is one of the world’ s best-kept secrets. I’ m here to ruin it for you. We can’ t look away.
Some of the top cocoa-producing nations in West Africa continue to allow slavery, especially Côte dʹIvoire( pronounced koht dee VWAR, and also known as Ivory Coast. See page 8 for more about Côte dʹIvoire). Although throughout Africa slavery is officially illegal, it is often practiced, and enforcement of the law is limited. Real life on a West African cocoa plantation is a far cry from the neat picture painted by the chocolate brands. Every year, thousands of Malian children are sold into slavery and brought into Côte d’ Ivoire to work. Côte d’ Ivoire produces roughly 40 % of the entire world’ s cocoa. Altogether, the countries in West Africa supply around 70 % of the world’ s cocoa. On about 90 % of cocoa farms in Côte dʹIvoire children are used. These farms are mostly hidden away where nobody notices, so it is easy get away with it.
The US Department of State estimates that more than 109,000 children in Côte dʹIvoire‘ s cocoa industry work under“ the worst forms of child labor,” and that some 10,000 are victims of human trafficking or enslavement. However, many contradicting reports have been issued, and the real number of slaves in Côte dʹIvoire may be a lot higher.
The problem has complex causes. Extreme poverty and low pay from the large chocolate companies force many farmers to cut costs to an extreme in order to survive. Corrupt government systems interfere
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