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Cheap Chocolate from and for Kids

CC-by-sa M.R.

All the ethical things have always been a problem but now days people are more aware these things. Nothing isn’t private any more. The media has brought all the bad and good out of companies and consumers know now more than ever. These days, the ethical problems are usually in developing countries where production is cheap.
Why the production is cheaper in developing countries than in Europe? In developing countries people don’t have enough knowledge about their rights or if they know, they don’t have options to influence things. Why we are using someone’s ignorance to make them do something wrong? In Europe we used child labor untill 1922. After that we haven’t had big problems with child labor, but there still are estimated 150 million children working in child labor all over the world.
Now days we have huge companies and they are global.  Once in a while, in media there are these huge companies with rumors about child labor. The media wants to increase our knowledge what is behind these huge companies. One of the fields in child labor is the production of cocoa, which is the main ingredient in chocolate. Mars Inc. is one of the biggest privately held company which produces confectionery, pet food and other food products. Mars Inc. has been also in media about their cocoa production like Nestle. Mars Inc. has signed the Cocoa Protocol in 2001, promising to work for a total eradication of child labor in the cocoa sector by 2008.
In Mars Inc. website they say “As part of our commitment as a responsible global company, we are striving to make cocoa a vibrant, environmentally sound industry from farm to factory.” I really believe that and I hope that they continue until the cocoa production is clear of child labor. Is that enough? Is that the way to stop child labor in cocoa farms? ”To achieve meaningful change, we believe that farmer productivity needs to be the first priority. By doing this, we can help farmers produce better crops and make more money for their families. Ultimately, this will create a sustainable supply of quality cocoa as farmers are empowered to reinvest in their businesses and communities.” This is what Mars Inc. promises.
Huge companies promise to help the farmer but are they really looking were the money goes. If a farmer can use child labor for free why would they use expensive adult for labor? Do we know how to stop the child labor or are we just feeding the child labor?
If there was a easy way to stop child labor, then we wouldn’t have to speak about what those children deserve. Stopping child labor is never easy and it will take a decade to solve the problem. We have to be ready to help developing countries because child labor is connect to so many other problems. We have to increase knowledge and put all the children back to school. I won´t stop eating chocolate because I think it’s not the wright way to stop child labor. I promise to spread knowledge about child labor in media.

Sources:
http://data.unicef.org/child-protection/child-labour
http://www.ilo.org/global/topics/child-labour/lang--en/index.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars,_Incorporated
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_family
http://www.thedarksideofchocolate.org/
http://www.mars.com/global/brands/cocoa-sustainability/mars-and-cocoa-su...
http://www.laborrights.org/in-the-news/child-labor-still-prevalent-w-afr...
http://www.foodispower.org/slavery-chocolate/

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