Come Undone.: April 2010

Recently a friend of mine brought to my attention that about 80% of the worlds cocoa (chocolate!) is supplied from West Africa, which is grown and harvested by children as young as 8 years old. Not only is this child labour, approximately 12,000 of some 200,000 children are slaves. Taken from their homes, often kidnapped or purchased from their families for as little as $30 with the pretense they will be taken to schools to gain education. The children face long grueling hours of work, morning until night in extreme heat. They are often beaten and exposed to dangerous pesticide and hazardous work conditions without the proper protective gear or tools. Unfortunately the cocoa coming from these countries is mixed with non slave labored beans and is often undetectable.

Companies such as Hershey and Nestle have openly admitted they know this is happening and have done nothing to change this. In 2001 to avoid a government regulation they made a voluntary commitment to certify their cocoa is “child labor-free” by July 2005, but that deadline passed with no changes. The deadline was then extended to certify 50% of farms are “child-labor free” by July 2008. The cocoa companies trumpeted a few pilot programs, but continue to purchase and reap profits from child labor cocoa. This is still happening.

This issue doesn't just apply to the cocoa farms of West Africa but to many other issues such as cotton farms, sex trade and domestic helpers in wealthy homes. We can't even say its an issue that only affects third world countries or countries that lack education. Its estimated that 17,500 people are trafficked into the United States each year.

Human trafficking is the fasted growing form of international crime and the second largest source of income for organized crime, recently surpassing drugs. According to the UN the total market value of human trafficking is 32 BILLION DOLLARS. In 2007 Human trafficking made more money than Nike, Starbucks and Google. COMBINED.

Slavery in all parts of the world impacts our daily lives; enslaved people produce the food and clothing that form the foundation of our daily lives. Its a huge misconception that this injustice doesn't affect us.

Stop Traffick Fashion is an organization that provides victims of slavery with a job and income. They make most of the accessories seen on the site. In addition a portion of the sales revenue is donated to their partner organization who rescue victims and provide rehabilitation and training.

A few other links I found when looking into this issue are.

http://www.laborrights.org/stop-child-labor/cocoa-campaign

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god/mission/features/21073-your-easter-chocolate-supports-slavery

So what can we do?

-Use our power as consumers. 90% of chocolate bars purchased are impulse buys. By changing our course of action and choosing to buy slave free chocolate we send a message to these companies that we care about these issues. Fair trade, slave free chocolate isn't hard to find. You might need to go down a specialty candy isle, but its there.

-Write letters. Encourage the government to take action. Tell chocolate companies you care about these issues.

-Educate yourself. Be aware. I had no idea. Absolutely no idea this was going on. I guess we know these things happen but until its in our face we don't grasp the reality of the situation.

There are two types of people, those who are unaware and those who are overwhelmed by the enormity of the problem. Lets do something.