Chocolate, that heavenly product, is the central theme of every moment of our lives that require a celebration or a pick-me-up. Drunk or eaten, chocolate gives a feeling of euphoria, stimulates the brain, cleanses the blood, reduces coughing, and is alleged to be anticarcinogenic and aphrodisiacal as well. What’s more, it tastes great! Created from the beans of the cacao trees that are grown naturally in rain forests, the chocolate industry is worth over $5 billion. Two-third of the world’s chocolate is produced in West Africa and nearly half of this is from Côte d’Ivoire.

However, behind the pretty packaging of these sweet delights lies a bitter truth. These chocolate farms are home to the modern world’s greatest slave industry. Over 300,000 children employed at these farms are between 9 and 12 years of age and work as slaves. Nearly half of this mind-numbing number belongs to the poverty ridden neighbouring country of Mali from where they have been kidnapped or bought from their parents for a meagre $30-$100, enticed by promises of a good job or an education.

Children here work an average of 12 to 14 hours every day carrying loads of several kilos, working with machetes, using pesticides that are far from being beneficial to their health when inhaled; denied the chance for an education. Rescue workers have met children who have worked at the farms for over five years without being paid a dollar. It doesn’t occur to them that their rights are being trampled over when they are being forced into labour and others are benefiting from their hard work. Others, who are lucky enough to be paid, make barely enough to feed themselves. The chocolate slaves are beaten as punishment when they ask for money or try to run away, and some are even allegedly caged at night. It is perhaps the fortunate who dies at these farms, as many have.

Chocolate farm owners lay the blame on the falling price of chocolate in the international market. They insist they are forced into employing slaves because of the low price of cacao beans paid by MNCs. A few years ago, in an attempt to raise the price of chocolates, four African countries including Côte d’Ivoire, withdrew 250,000 tonnes of cocoa from the market and destroyed it. This action led to revealing the best kept secret of the chocolate industry: child slavery.

After denying that their chocolate was tainted by the mark of slavery, shamefaced, several major chocolate companies agreed to a voluntary protocol in 2001 to ensure that no more children are employed at farms they were associated with. Several years later, their promises still remain sadly unfulfilled. For those who do not wish to taste the blood of African children with every bite of chocolate, many chocolate products in the market are labelled ‘Fair Trade’, indicating that the chocolate is produced from farms that do not employ children or grown slaves.

The wounds on the bodies of Africa’s chocolate slaves tell the story of the birth of a product they were never born to enjoy. But we can ensure that this heinous custom is strangled and buried, not by never consuming chocolate products, but by encouraging the purchase of chocolate labelled as fair trade. So, have you had your taste of chocolate today?