Child Slave Labor
Approximately 15,000 children between the ages of 9 and 12 have been sold into forced labor on cocoa plantations on the northern Ivory Coast. ... Usually, slave traders, also known as “traffickers,” take them to the Ivory Coast in Mali, a country of West Africa. ... If the adult is a relative, no questions are asked, but if not, the child must have parental consent to cross the border. ... “Slave trading is a kind of perversion of a traditional practice, which is now becoming a very visible problem. ... They are eating my flesh,” says Victor, a slave from the cocoa fields. “I bless them because they eat it,” says another slave. ... So maybe the next time you grab a Snickers bar or eat some chocolate chips, you should think about what a CHILD has had to go through to help make that chocolate you’re eating…the chocolate they have never even tasted before.