There is documented and ingrained trafficking & exploitation of children, mostly from countries surrounding Ivory Coast, for use as labour on Ivory Coast's cocoa plantations. Not only are the biggest chocolate manufacturers aware of this, they all have head offices in Abidjan and profit massively from the trade every year.
For a fraction of their annual profits, they could not only stamp it out, but also generate employment in Ivory Coast by forming a task force to inspect plantations throughout the country and do a visibly good thing by refusing to buy from plantations where slavery and/or underage labour is found. We need to insist that the Harkin-Engel Protocol - a memorandum of agreement involving all the major chocolate producers, all of whom buy slave cocoa - is enforced as, years down the line, there is still a lot of talk but the practices continue in a country with no real ability nor political will to police the matter.
Targeting the major chocolate companies - starting with Nestle - and motivating a change in their uncaring through constant inquiry submissions and a refusal to consume their products needs to happen now!
