One of the most hidden secrets in the chocolate industry is illegal child trafficking and forced child labor. The poorest places in Africa are forced to send their children into slavery under the impression they will be payed and make a better living, giving up their children from 7-12 years of age. Many Africans make money smuggling children around borders in shady back roads to the ivory coast to child labor plantations for major company's in Abidjan like Nestle, Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland Company, Mars Incorporated, Kraft and Barry Callebaut. This is a heart breaking daily reality for African adults who are aware of the corruption of this trade.
Each having the headquarters in Abidjan with several 100 employs for manufacturing the chocolate from children trafficked into forced child labor. These 4 company's run the entire production of coco harvesting from the ivory coast. These company's purchase harvested coco beans from plantations using child labor at 1 kilo = 1 euro!! Then they are sold to national exporters for a extremely larger price. These beans are then moved legally through the stock exchange and sent for manufacturing of chocolate bars. 1 kilo of coco is then turned into 40 chocolate bars.
Saf Cacao takes the illegally harvested coco beans and exports them legally to America and Europe. Saf Cacao official standard is to deny the trafficking of children for slave labor in order to maintain legality, but this is a bold face lie. This illegal trade is maintained through a number of double speak and spin doctors using denial as a means to legitimize the trade namely the department of labour ivory coast. This is done in order to maintain a profit for luxury by greedy import exporters and government officials on the back of small malnourished children from the poorest places in Africa.
Africans are force to break child labor laws by internationalist for profits, to put a price on Africa's children. Modern day slavery in the name of clean economy. Many of the people put in power to uphold these child labor laws are the main ones advocating the trafficking and child labor for profit. These profiteers pose as activist for these labor laws but are wolfs in sheep's clothing used to snare any one trying to stop it. This is true for corruption around the world.
Children working for Saf Cacao around the ages of 10-12 and can not even speak the local language of the ivory coast and are left with out a education or a voice. Children can be bought for labor for around 200 euros or even less. These children and their family's are not payed for the child labor. These plantations keep workers young in order to be easily outsmarted, intimidated, scared and are beaten if production is slow. These children are always tricked into being trafficked into this forced labor under the impression they will make their family's proud and prosperous. After the children understand the terms they try to escape. Children are then hunted down and chased to be brought back to the plantations. Some African adults work to help children escape the clutches of these slave plantations at the risk of their own lives.
The company's responsible keep this industry going in spite of a signed international contract that prevents and makes child labor illegal. Small campaigns are held as a masquerade to save face and save small amounts of children from these labor camps in order to maintain legitimacy on the surface. Even the local Africans who are majorly concerned about this slave labor and work to prevent this are defeated to know that they are over powered by these international conglomerate. It is the same names that sign the check of the police forces trying to stop the slave labor that help to keep the industry in power.
As a result children are bought, sold and stored as a commodity in Africa. Even after native Africans have begged and pleaded with these company's to stop the child labor they fell on def ears and are stonewalled. While all this greed, bribery, violence and corruption Africa grieves alone undefended. The children in these child labor camps are often killed in order to prevent an outbreak of insider information calling for a stop to the industry. There is no progress in the movement to stop child labor in Africa and the problem has been censored internationally in order to keep the industry booming for profits. Keeping the rich wealthy and the poor slaves.
Their is no regulations for this child labor industry so their are no counts to how many children that have been subject to this slave labor. Nestle alone spend six million in a program annually to stop child labor, but turns over a profit of eleven billion nine hundred ninety-four million from the same industry. The company's involved denies making any comment on this problem in order to prevent legal issues. They do how ever officially deny any responsibility and say they are not responsible for the slave labor by proxy. They refuse to admit it happens they refuse responsibility for the slave labor, yet are the only ones who are profiting from it.
Nestle alone have built their market on the lives of children for over 50 years and will continue to do so unopposed.
Id like to make a special thanks to Miki Mistrati for traveling around the planet to expose this first hand in order to show the consumers who are the real one responsible for continuing to be uninterested and uninformed about this issue. For any of the cover ups blogs readers i ask you to please share this video loud wide and as proud as you can. Help to inform the planet about this corruption.
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