Child Labor in the Ivory Coast and Abroad

Around the world today over 190 million children between the ages of 4 to 15 work, 50 % in sub-Saharan Africa. It is estimated the 74 million of these children are engaged in hazardous activities, included in that group are the kids conscripted by the chocolate industry. Most of these kids work on their families small farms, exploited by their parents, making the problem even more complicated and emotional.

Living deep in poverty they are highly dependent on the speculative global markets, vulnerable to their environment. Lacking education, food, water, health services, electricity and many other basic needs they remain under the radar in a cycle of poverty.  Buried in debt, these workers need the price of the commodity to continue to rise on the global market and more understanding from the corporations manipulating their lives. Civil war had plagued the Ivory Coast in the early 2000s giving the industry the title of blood chocolate and making it nearly impossible to fight the corrupt government, one happier making excuses than changes