With Halloween just around the corner, you’ll want to celebrate with chocolate that’s not tainted with child labor. The Washington-based Green America has updated our Chocolate Scorecard with new companies that support farmers and their kids, and an exciting addition – we are now including company’s efforts to combat deforestation.
On top of a child labor problem, the cocoa industry has had a huge negative impact on forests. In the Ivory Coast and Ghana, 90% of their forests have been lost and the cocoa industry is a big driver of that deforestation.
Even after nearly two decades of company commitments, there are still an estimated 2 million children involved in child labor in the cocoa industry. That means 2 million children are helping to make our Halloween candy, rather than enjoying their childhoods.
These are not children helping on the family farm part-time. These are children who are working full time, day after day, in the fields. Some of them are doing dangerous work, and some are trafficked from other countries and are forced to work for little or no money.
Unfortunately, there are no surprises in this year’s scorecard. The big brands are still falling short. Again, Godiva was at the very bottom of the list: Join us in telling Godiva to step up their commitments to ending child labor!
While ending child labor in the cocoa industry will take time, you can help by avoiding brands like Godiva, and purchase chocolate from some of the A-rated brands.
Find out where you can buy chocolate from brands like Divine and Equal Exchange, so that your chocolate is both delicious and good for cocoa farmers!