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Campaign to Reform the Global Cocoa Trade |
Chocolate should be a source of joy for all children, including those in countries where cocoa, chocolate's main ingredient, is grown. Unfortunately, that is not the case today.
In 2000 and 2001 journalists and human rights activists documented the problem of forced child labor on many cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast, source of 50% of the cocoa consumed in the United States.
But despite ten years of promises from the major chocolate manufacturers, change is still coming too slowly to cocoa-growing communities. Just last year 54 children, ages 11 to 16, were rescued from Ivorian cocoa and palm plantations.
Moreover, persistently low prices paid to the worlds 2,000,000 cocoa farmers leave their families in poverty year after year.
The cocoa advocacy coalition
Because of the pronounced lack of action by the industry a group of concerned Fair Trade chocolate companies, social justice organizations, consumer and faith-based groups have formed an informal coalition to push for change and to raise awareness about these issues.
The coalition's major efforts so far include:
- Educating the public about the problem and viable solutions
- Organizing the Reverse Trick-or-Treating campaign
- Promoting the use of Fair Trade chocolate for Halloween and year-round
- Issuing a joint Commitment to Ethical Cocoa Sourcing.
Reverse Trick-or-Treating
The coalition member Global Exchange has worked hard with Equal Exchange and other allies to create the Reverse Trick-or-Treating campaign, a fun, easy way to raise awareness of the issue in your community and promote the Fair Trade alternative.
We are hoping you will join us this Halloween by helping to distribute information and delicious Fair Trade chocolate in your neighborhood. To learn more, please visit our Reverse Trick-or-Treating page.
Download the Commitment to Ethical Cocoa Sourcing in pdf format.
Media coverage of the cocoa/child labor problem
- "Certifying 'Blood Chocolate'"
In These Times, June 25, 2010
- "Blood and Chocolate"
Gourmet, September 16, 2009
- "Scores of children rescued from organized slave labour in INTERPOL-led operation conducted by Cτte dIvoire police"
Interpol, August 3, 2009
- "Chocolate with a heart"
Christian Science Monitor, February 11, 2009
- "Chocolate Company Scorecard 2009: The Sweet and the Bitter" (PDF)
International Labor Rights Forum, February 2009
- "Chocolate's Bittersweet Economy"
Fortune, February 2008
- "Child cocoa workers still exploited"
BBC News, April 2007
- "Child Labor: The Hidden Ingredient to the Billion-Dollar Chocolate Industry?"
Democracy Now!, February 2007
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