1.2 Child slavery on the news
The tragic stories of the children involved became known across the USA in 2001 when Knight Ridder newspaper published a series on these slaves . The series profiled young boys who were tricked into slavery , or sold as slaves , to Côte d ’ Ivoire cocoa farmers .
Many major and minor news agencies have published reports about child slavery on cocoa farms , but still it goes on . It seems that many people unfortunately think that all the problems are resolved .
1.3 How it happens
Most of the enslaved child workers come from neighboring Mali , which , according to the UN , is the 10 th most undeveloped country in the world . Some slaves are from other West African countries , but Mali is the largest slave supplier . Itʹs easy to lure children from povertystricken families where parents sometimes sell their children to ʺrecruitersʺ , assuming their kids will get a chance at a better life . Throughout Africa it is not strange to see children working , as sometimes poor families need their children to work . Some children are apprenticed . So if people see children working , they are not surprised , as this is normal .
Sometimes traffickers promise the boys money , bicycles , clothes , food , and a chance to give their parents a better life . Traffickers play on these hopes and dreams , going around certain areas recruiting and sometimes even convincing parents to pay the passage fee from the village to the farms . Sometimes the boys ’ families knowingly sell them .
Unfortunately , the promises of being able to support their families or afford small luxuries are too good to be true . Once the children , usually boys , have been delivered to the cocoa plantations , itʹs too late . The dreams of new opportunities and of helping their poor families soon disappear along with their hope . The boys , sometimes as young as 8 but usually between 9 and 16 , are thrown in small huts and forced to work 80 to 100 hours a week against their will . There is no laughter or play . Their legs soon bear scars from machete injuries , as one of the things they do is hack cocoa pods open using a machete . There are no
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