Positive Chocolate

Save the Children Canada calls on consumer power to help end child trafficking in the production of chocolate

“We’re launching POSITIVE CHOCOLATE today because we believe that when consumers understand the relationship between chocolate and child trafficking, they will gladly purchase products that have not been produced by forced child labour.” Save the Children Canada Executive Director Adrienne Clements.

Ottawa March 27th 2002: Save the Children Canada and TransFair Canada have chosen the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa to launch the second phase of an international Save the Children and TransFair POSITIVE CHOCOLATE campaign to heighten awareness in Canada about child trafficking in the Cocoa industry.

The goal of the campaign is to increase commitment among consumers, government officials and chocolate manufacturers to move quickly on the entrenchment of child rights in the production of chocolate.

A UN report indicates that 15,000 children have been sold in forced labour in the agriculture sector including cocoa farms in the Ivory Coast, in the last few years. Today in West Africa, children as young as 9 are toiling in appalling and hazardous conditions on Cocoa farms often, with only enough food to keep them barely alive. They live a world where the whip is king and the cost of being caught running away can end in having the soles of their feet cut with razors.

The most powerful advocacy group in the world - Consumers

“This is a truly unique opportunity for people to show the world how they feel about child trafficking.” says Clements. “With POSITIVE CHOCOLATE, we’ve created a movement that puts the ability to bring about positive change into the hands of the most powerful advocacy group in the world, consumers.”

The POSITIVE CHOCOLATE announcement comes as the marketing of chocolate products for Easter is reaching its peak.

Save the Children Canada has partnered with TransFair Canada, the country’s only independent certification organization for fair trade coffee, tea, cocoa and sugar to launch this campaign.

Caroline Whitby, Managing Director, TransFair Canada says. “Buying fair trade chocolate is a simple way for consumers to ensure that cocoa producers benefit from the trade and that there is, no, forced child labour involved.”

The FAIR TRADE CERTIFIED logo guarantees that a product meets international fair trade standards, as set out by the FAIR TRADE LABELLING ORGANIZATIONS INTERNATIONAL. In the case of chocolate, this means that the cocoa and sugar was produced on family farms devoid of any forced labour, including forced child labour.

Clements says she wants to make it clear that, “this is not a fund raising venture for Save the Children. We will not make any money from this campaign on the sale of chocolate. The purpose of POSITIVE CHOCOLATE is to raise awareness about the issue of child trafficking and, to encourage consumers to make informed choices.”

Changing consumer-buying habits is one of many battles in the war on child slavery. Save the Children Canada remains on the front lines in West Africa, where it has been instrumental in helping to broker the first bi-lateral agreement in Africa to fight cross-border child trafficking, signed by governments of both Mali and the Ivory Coast. The organization is also currently working with the Government of Burkina Faso to implement a similar national plan of action to combat child trafficking.

Chocolate manufactures and their associations have shown a willingness to address the issue by signing the World Cocoa Industry Agreement. Consumers can also take action by letting chocolate manufacturers know that implementing this agreement is critical to the elimination of child trafficking.

In addition Save the Children Canada has established a transition centre, Horon So, (freedom house in the local language) to care for children who have been intercepted, rescued or escaped from slave labour in the Ivory Coast.

Country Director for West Africa, Michel Larouche, has already worked with 200 of these children. Larouche, a noted authority on child trafficking says, “Child trafficking is a very well organized business. What we are looking at in the case of cocoa is not simply parents wanting their children to get some work experience, but middle-men who independently approach boys and girls working in local markets, promise them a salary and lure them into a life of slave labour.” Larouche points out that in some cases, “children are kidnapped; just picked up and smuggled across the border to Ivory Coast by trafficking intermediaries

Notes to Editors:

Launch is scheduled for 11:00 AM, Wednesday March, 27th at The Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa.

A list of retailers selling Fairly Traded chocolate products can found at: www.savethechildren.ca

JPEG photos of Horon So ( Freedom House) can also be found at: www.savethechildren.ca

Save the Children Canada is a member of the International Save the Children Alliance. With 32 members and operational programs in over 100 countries, the Alliance is the world's largest global movement for children.

Save the Children has been working both overseas and in Canada for over 80 years to improve the quality of children's lives through the realization of their rights.

Save the Children fights for children's rights. We deliver immediate and lasting improvements to children's lives worldwide.

Further information: Ian Macaulay (250) 744-7931
Francophone media: Elizabeth Boileau (450) 653-0712