As the day dawns on love, millions of couples are exchanging gifts which symbolize their love for each other. The commercialization of this day of love leaves many emptying their pockets, however those who pay the true cost for Valentines is often applied the, some 27 million people round the globe who are enslaved.
“The estimated cost to end human trafficking globally is $14 billion. In 2008, Americans spent $17 billion on Valentine’s Day – an average of $120 per consumer (Global Fast).” Many of these purchases include chocolate candies for which children have been enslaved for the purpose of picking the cocoa pods to be made into that chocolate –the very chocolate we give our sweethearts as a symbol of our love.
In September 2001, chocolate and cocoa industry representatives signed the “Harkin Engel Protocol” , developed by Senator Tom Harkin and Representative Eliot Engel, in an effort to eliminate child labor in the cocoa industry. The protocol has a six-point approach to solve the problem, including a time sensitive process to establish credibly and eliminate the use of child slavery in cocoa industry.
Much of our chocolaty symbol of love comes from the Ivory Coast, which according to the International Labor Organization (ILO) produces 43% of the worlds cocoa. According to the ILO, over 132 million children, aged 5-14 years old, work in agriculture around the world, they are just a segment of an the estimated 246 million child labourers around the globe. These children are placed in hazardous working conditions in order to ensure that we have our sweet treats, it is truly a bittersweet story.
Additional Resources and Information:
This year make a real difference from the heart and “Fall in Love with Fair Trade” and sign the Fair Trade Valentines Day Pledge
Hear stories from the children who work in the cocoa fields from the International Cocoa Initiative, here.
Please also see previous posts on Child Trafficking, Child Labor and fair trade such as; Fair Trade Trick-or-Treating and don’t forget to check out the following resource pages:
