Chocolate is something which we take for granted. It is something we can practically get whenever and wherever we want. But does anybody truly know where it comes from?

Recently I have written a case study on this issue. While discussing this case in the class, I was surprised to know that out of 40 students only 2 knew about chocolate slavery ( before reading the case i mean)

Here is a fact: Over 40 percent of the world’s conventional chocolate (i.e. non-organic and non-Fair Trade) comes from Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), where the International Labor Organization (ILO) and US State Department have reported widespread instances of child slavery. Exploitation of cocoa farmers and farm workers is the global norm in the chocolate industry, rather than the exception. The largest chocolate manufacturers like Hershey Food Corp., Mars, Inc., Nestle USA, Kraft Foods admitted to the media that they were aware of these conditions.

I started off by looking for the fair trade label on the chocolates that I buy and it’s your time to make an effort to help stop slavery in Cocoa Harvest industry. I’m not suggesting that you stop eating/buying chocolates completely but when you buy, please ask or look for Fair trade certified chocolates as well. This will reduce the extent of child labor, ensure that workers are paid fairly and are free from abusive labor practices and will also promote the use of environmentally sustainable methods.

It is so sad these victims of Chocolate Slavery donot get a chance to even eat well, leave alone the chance to actually taste the end product of their harvest. Also, most of the Chocolate slavery victims are kids who are literally kidnapped from neighboring regions and countries to work in the fields under highly sub-human conditions like whip lashes with cycle chains.

The western world heard the cry of the Chocolate Slavery victims in 2001 when Malick Doumbia first heard the managed a heroic escape and landed on the front page of BBC. Since then, the Chocolate lobby has made some efforts and a tall pledge to end all Chocolate Slavery and take steps to certify & buy slave-free Cocoa by 2005. That time has come and gone but the problem still remains.

Some argue that this situation is endemic to the culture of the region and that this of worker compensation, though not fair, could be found in other types of regional trade as well. Others point that ever since the European aristocracy went wild for the Aztec delicacy in the eighteenth century , colonial territories were ravaged and slaves imported in droves as native populations died out under the strain of feeding the world’s appetite for chocolate.

What do you think about these arguments? Do you feel that more can be done to rid the world of chocolate slavery? How do you think Consumers can make an impact on the industry’s decisions and actions as well as the delays in the timeline that was initially suggested ?

Chocolate Slavery Video - Courtesy: Free the Slaves and youtube.

Reference Material on Chocolate Slavery:

1. Chocolate Slavery

2. Stop Chocolate Slavery

3. Mali’s Children in Chocolate Slavery

4. Pact to end African Chocolate Slavery