In many of the countries in West Africa, including Mali, the poorest country in the world, parents suffering from poverty are selling children to traffickers. Traffickers are smuggling the children into the Ivory Coast, where they will work in the chocolate fields. They think their child is making money, but they are really working as a slave.
These children work 80-100 hours a week for very little or no money. They are provided with very little food. If they try to escape, they are beaten.
Why don't the chocolate companies pay the children?
Companies will lose money if they have to pay all these children working in the chocolate fields. They will have to gain that money back by pricing their chocolate higher. If the chocolate is too expensive not as many people will buy it.
How can something that brings smiles to children in the U.S. be painful and brutal to the children in the Ivory Coast?
Was that chocolate bar you just ate worth the pain and tears?
These children work 80-100 hours a week for very little or no money. They are provided with very little food. If they try to escape, they are beaten.
Why don't the chocolate companies pay the children?
Companies will lose money if they have to pay all these children working in the chocolate fields. They will have to gain that money back by pricing their chocolate higher. If the chocolate is too expensive not as many people will buy it.
How can something that brings smiles to children in the U.S. be painful and brutal to the children in the Ivory Coast?
Was that chocolate bar you just ate worth the pain and tears?