It’s Good Friday and Easter is just around the corner… this means that come Sunday yummy chocolate eggs will appear in Easter baskets all across the world. But where do the raw ingredients that make these delicious treats come from???
The Ivory Coast is the world’s greatest source of cocoa and as recently highlighted in a new report from Free the Slaves’ U.K. partner Anti-Slavery International, “children, some as young as nine years old, are being trafficked” into the area from neighboring countries and forced to work as slaves on the cocoa farms.
In addition to bringing light to this issue, Anti-Slavery International’s report is putting out the call for cocoa traders (those individuals/companies that act as brokers between the cocoa farmers and the brands who buy from them) to step up their efforts to prevent the use of child slavery in the cocoa supply chain.
Anti-Slavery International is launching “choco-coat” this Easter to help shine the spotlight on these “typically anonymous traders” and “apply pressure to them, and the brands and manufacturers” they partner with to stop child slavery in the harvesting of cocoa.
We want to spotlight the plight of thousands of children forced to work to produce the raw ingredients of the Easter Eggs we’ll soon be enjoying at home. It is unacceptable that cocoa traders are not doing more to ensure that they are not buying cocoa harvested by children trafficked into slavery. -Dr. Aidan McQuade, Anti-Slavery International’s Director
How can YOU use “choco-coat” to fight child slavery?
To bring attention to the difference between the reality and official statements, Anti-Slavery International is calling on you to choco-coat the tweets you send to friends – covering them in a sugary sweetness that transforms the original message. Write the rudest, most controversial thing you can think of, hit ‘choco-coat this tweet’ and the tool will transform your tweet in to something lovely and send it to your intended recipient.Upon receipt of the choco-coated tweets, your friends get the option to find out more about Anti-Slavery International’s campaign – as well as getting the chance to see the tweet that you actually wrote.
Go here to “Choco-Coat” your tweets. Want to learn more about Anti-Slavery International? Go here.
