Blood on your teeth

When the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833, it marked the success of a boycott of sugar harvested using slave labour.

Around half a million people refused to have their tea "blood sweetened", opting for fair trade alternatives from India.

Over 150 years later, another boycott is being prepared to combat slavery. This time The Rev. Tim Costello, Chief Executive of World Vision, is calling on consumers to avoid "blood on your teeth" when eating chocolate.

Speaking on October 1 at Black Stump, an annual inter-denominational music festival, the Baptist minister told the predominantly young audience that when they bought chocolate they risked contributing to slave transportation.

The Black Stump audience heard that cocoa was being grown using slave labour and that the major chocolate producing companies were failing to rectify this.

According to anti-human trafficking campaigner Steve Chalke, nearly half the world's chocolate is made from cocoa grown in Cote d'Ivoire, in Africa. The country's beans are prized for their quality and abundance.

The fall in price of raw cocoa has forced small farmers in the cocoa region to cut labour costs in order to make enough from their crops. This has been linked to the re-emergence of slave labour.

In 2002, a study estimated that at least 284,000 children were tricked into forced labour in the West African cocoa industry. The majority of those were to be found in Cote D'Ivoire.

Most were between the ages of 12 and 16. Some were as young as 9.

Mr Chalke said those children were being "forced to apply pesticides without protective clothing and to work for up to 12 hours a day on plantations for little or no pay. Many of the children are trafficked from surrounding countries to work on the plantations."

Daily beatings
Aly Diabate is a former child slave. He was almost 12 when a slave trader promised him a bicycle and $150 a year to help support his poor parents in Mali.

He worked for a year and a half for a cocoa farmer known as "Le Gros" ("the Big Man"), but he said his only rewards were the rare days when Le Gros' overseers or older slaves didn't flog him with a bicycle chain or branches from a cocoa tree.

"The beatings were a part of my life," Aly said. If he fell while carrying the heavy bags of cocoa, no-one would help. "Instead, they beat you and beat you until you picked it up again."

Stop the Traffik is a global coalition of over 700 charities in 60 countries that is working to combat the buying and selling of children like Aly.

As part of the Australian contingent, World Vision is encouraging chocoholics to only buy Fair Trade brands, such as Green & Black's, on sale at Coles Supermarkets.

A major campaign advising consumer boycotts is currently under way. This however is threatened by new laws proposed by Tim Costello's brother, Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello.

The Trade Practice Amendment (Small Business Protection) Bill 2007 was introduced after a call from the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for an international boycott of Australian wool, in protest against mulesing of sheep. If passed, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) would be given power to take legal action against anyone organising a boycott that would damage Australian industry.

The Treasurer claimed his intention was to protect Australian farmers from damage caused by "ignorant commentary". Others, however, including Greens Senator Bob Brown, were concerned the Government was looking to stop citizens from campaigning on ethical issues.

Senator Brown told the ABC the government was aiming "to stifle dissent in Australia".

Tim Costello said that the bill had worried World Vision, but that they were "relieved" it had not been before the House of Representatives before parliament adjourned last September. He said World Vision made a submission to the government on the matter, expressing concern.

Despite the threat of the Bill, Tim Costello said he thought the campaign could succeed, using the Make Poverty History campaign as an example where young people concerned with ethical issues had made a difference.

"I'm confident," he said. "Stay tuned."

For more information on Stop the Traffik, go to www.stopthetraffik.org
Aly Diabate's story first appeared on the Stop Chocolate Slavery website: http://vision.ucsd.edu/~kbranson/stopchocolateslavery/atasteofslavery.html

Jonathan Foye