So while quickly checking bloglines tonight before going to bed and found Mel had posted this- it moved me so much I have stayed up a bit later to pass the post on.
I had no idea and have followed her links and read more into it .. If you want to know more there are some links below.
In 2005 there was an estimated figure of 12,000 children who
had been trafficked into
Ivory Coast
to work as slaves on the cocoa plantations. The children who pick the cocoa beans earn nothing, sold by the trafficker and made to suffer.
In 2006 the chocolate industry had a reported turnover of $39,585,800,000 from just the top 10 companies.
They promised in 2001 to eradicate the worst forms of exploitative labour from their industry by 2005. They failed. They promised to do it by July 1st 2008 by putting in place certification of each farm that it was slave free.
Tragically they have redefined certification so it now merely means surveying the situation. On top of that they target only 50% of the cocoa producing regions in
Ivory Coast
and
Ghana
instead of the required 100%.
Industry has already begun to say they have met their obligations.
Industry can already tell us if our chocolate is additive free, sugar free, fat free or colour free. But they will not tell us it is slave free because they can’t.
It isn’t.
Source: http://www.stopthetraffik.org/media/press270608.aspx
http://consumption-rebellion.blogspot.com/2008/07/updating-my-list-of-slave-free.html
