Child labour in cocoa production: Difference between revisions

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'''Chocolate and slavery''' are alleged to be linked in contemporary [[chocolate]] plantations in west Africa. Some west African states have been accused of allowing the practice of [[slavery|slave labour]] in [[cocoa]] plantations. In the [[Cote d'Ivoire]] boys aged between 12 and 16 have been documented as being sold as slaves. Most slaves are impoverished young men and boys from [[Benin]], [[Togo]], and especially [[Mali]]. Children found alone at bus stations or begging for food are lured to the Ivory Coast and sold there. [http://www.american.edu/TED/chocolate-slave.htm]Traffickers promise them paid work together with housing and education; instead they suffer forced labour and severe abuse working on cocoa farms. The Cote d'Ivoire in West Africa is the largest producer and exporter of cocoa beans. West Africa, notably the Ivory Coast, supplies nearly 50% of world cocoa. Slavery is persistent and hard to detect in remote Ivorian farms. [http://www.progress.org/archive/fold201.htm]