What you can do to end child slavery in the chocolate industry

[Karmadillo]

Here's a link to a list of actions you can take to end the use of child slavery in the chocolate industry. With the abundance of Halloween candy most of us have on hand tonight, it shouldn't be that hard to find some M&M Mars products to return to the manufacturer with a polite note asking them to use Fair Trade cocoa in the future. It's worth noting the use of Fair Trade cocoa will not only strike a blow against child slavery, it will do an awful lot to guarantee a decent return for independent, small-scale cocoa producers.

I included a couple of additional links, one describing an effort to bring an end to the use of slave labor chocolate in school fund raising, the other giving some background on the conditions child slaves endure.

http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/fairtrade/cocoa/getInvolved.html

NOTE: If you go the site, you'll find links embedded in the suggestions below.

1. Help us pressure M&M/Mars to offer Fair Trade!

2. BUY Fair Trade chocolate for gifts for your loved ones that show you care about fairness for everyone.

3. ORGANIZE a Fair Trade cocoa campaign in your community! For ideas and materials, contact Melissa at [e-mail] or 415-575-5538. Download our Fair Trade Chocolate Action Kit to get started!

4. Get involved in our Children's Education Campaign.

5. LEARN about the plight of cocoa farmers and slavery in Ivory Coast. Check out our background information and news updates.

6. EDUCATE your school, church, or community group about what you've learned. We can supply a speaker and other educational materials. Contact us for details.

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http://www.nysut.org/newyorkteacher/2003-2004/031022solidarity03.html

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Supporters of the campaign are asking Mars, Inc., one of the country's largest chocolate makers, to help end child slavery by selling Fair Trade chocolate. Millions of American students each year participate in school fund-raisers that include candy bar sales.

"Our students shouldn't have to sell chocolate to raise money for their schools that was made by kids who never even get to see a school," Hobart said.

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http://www.rabble.ca/news_full_story.shtml?x=26776

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About 12,500 children working on large-scale cocoa farms had no relatives in the area, a sign that they had been sold into slavery. Some impoverished parents peddle their children to traffickers, in the desperate hope that a portion of their offspring's earnings will be sent home.

Usually the children — and the promises of money — are never heard of again.

The child labourers are forced to pick the cocoa pods, slice them open and scoop out the cocoa beans. These kids work long, hard days, often from six in the morning until six at night. Beatings by farm owners and managers are common. “The beatings were a part of my life,” then-14-year-old freed slave Aly Diabate told international reporters in 2001. “Anytime they loaded you with bags (of cocoa) and you fell while carrying them, nobody helped you. Instead, they beat you and beat you until you picked it up again.”

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Life is not much better for independent, small-scale cocoa farmers. On average, growers earn about one penny of the dollar we pay for a typical candy bar. Farmers and their children are trapped in a pit of poverty, without the income or education needed to climb out.

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