Is that treat worth it?

Watch out, Valentines industries. Earlier today I took on diamonds. Now I’m going after candy.

From International Labor Rights Fund:

It is estimated that America spends $13 billion a year on chocolate. However, in the past few years, it has become increasingly clear that this favorite American product is tainted with the labor of innocent young children.

The fact that child slaves are used in the harvesting of cocoa beans in Cote D’Ivoire (Ivory Coast – ed), the world’s major supplier of cocoa, is undisputed. The US State Department estimates that there are approximately 15,000 children working on cocoa, coffee, and cotton farms in the Cote D’Ivoire. In June 2001, the ILO also reported that trafficked child labor was used in cocoa production in West Africa. Media reports have unveiled stories about boys tricked or sold into slavery, some as young as nine years old, to work on cocoa plantations in Cote d’Ivoire. ILRF has verified these reports through our own independent investigations conducted in 2002 and 2003, and has interviewed children who have escaped from the cocoa plantations.

Cote d’Ivoire is the largest exporter of the world’s cocoa beans, providing 43% of the world’s supply. The US imports the majority of these cocoa beans, for use in chocolate candy, marketed by such top brands as M&M/Mars and Hershey.

Another source says World’s Finest Chocolate and Nestle also uses Cote D’Ivoire cocoa beans.

A reporter in The Netherlands is trying to draw attention to this horror by forcing the government to charge him with benefiting from child slavery by consuming chocolate from Cote D’Ivoire. He urges consumers to buy fair trade chocolate, but admits it’s difficult to know the origins of cocoa beans.

But the industry prefers to haggle over semantics.

From CNN:

I cannot deny that there are issues with child labor but it is totally wrong to call it slavery,” said Robert Zehnder, secretary general of the European Cocoa Association (ECA). “We work with governments and NGOs to address the problem.”

David Zimmer from the CAOBISCO industry association said boycotts of chocolate would hurt farmers in West Africa as 10 million people depended on cocoa for their livelihood.

Members of the global chocolate and cocoa industry signed an accord in late 2001 for the introduction of a certification system by July 2005 that would enable customers to choose chocolate produced without abusive labor practices. But, to the frustration of rights groups, deadlines have been slipping.

Until I can get fair trade chocolate–Whole Foods, to which I do not have access, is one of the few supermarkets which commonly carries it–I have no choice but to give up chocolate. I have no illusions that I can make a difference, but morally I have to do it. I’m not exhorting others to do the same; you’ll have to be lead by your own consciences. But I hope you’ll think about it.

More reading: Fair Trade Chocolate: The Sweet Solution to Abusive Child Labor and Poverty

UPDATE: here’s a list of slave-free chocolate brands you can buy with a clear conscience.

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