Chocolate Petiton to 60 Minutes. Help us raise awareness of child slavery on cocoa farms.
Hi everyone, well this is my first post.
Some of you will know about our petition, but others might not so here is a quick update.
Our group went to Easter Camp in ChCh, where they challanged us to become more engaged with issues of justice, poverty and compassion. It was a powerful weekend and I really sensed as I looked around me, that this message was resonating with the audience. It was as if this generation is becoming weary and tired of an empty and meaningless culture. That they were looking for something worth living for.
One of the issues they raised at the camp was child slavery on cocoa farms and the link between that and the chocolate we love. As I researched the issue I was shocked to the core. Children sold by parents, or tricked into slavery. Locked in rooms with only a hole to let air in and a bucket. Children who try to escape are beaten and often have their feet cut with razors. With no badages and no shoes they are then forced to work. Talking about work, try 80 to 100 hours a week. Many work till they die and they are replaced by other children. One little boy it was reported,had to drink his own urine for 3 days because the plantation owner locked him in a shed for 3 days with no food or water.
This is only the tip of the iceberg. Child slavery is child abuse and well if its wrong here then its wrong where ever it happens. we need to get their stories out there and we need to call on big bussness to get involved.
The next stage of the journey for us was wanting to know what chocolate we could buy with a clear conisence. After learning what I have, I didnt want to eat chocolate with any chance of child suffering attached to it. So I started to ask the tough questions of the main chocolate companies and although I got very plesant replies, they fell far short of answering this key question… Are all your supply chains for cocoa completely free of any chance of slavery. No one has said yes to that question except Trade Aid and Scarbourgh Fair.
So the petition was birthed out of a desire to know whats happening, a desire to tell these childrens stories, to challange the chocolate industry, to make our nation aware of whats happening, to give consumers the information to make ethical choices and making those in power aware of the fact that this nation finds slavery unacceptable, and we need to do something at a Govermental level.
As a youth group we knew our voice would have limited range but with the resourses and experience of a programme like 60 Minutes could take this story to the nation and so we becan the petition. What we never dreamed of or expected was the overwhelming interest and support we would find, from people all over NZ. If you are doing the petition or have signed the online version, we thank you. together our voices have power.
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