All's not sweet in the making of chocolate -- that's the message a group committed to ending child trafficking and labour will unwrap for the G-8 next week.
Save the Children Canada will bring part of its "positive chocolate" campaign to Calgary as it works to pressure the government of Canada to take stronger action to end child slavery.
West African children in particular are being exploited as workers on cocoa farms and much of that product is sold on the world market, likely ending up among the beans that become chocolate bars in Canada, the group has said.
Save the Children isn't looking for a full boycott, they say, but public pressure from Canadians to push their government to take a leadership role in the fight against child trafficking, another focus of the group in its message to the G-8 countries.
'BOUGHT AND SOLD'
"Around the world, children are bought and sold as commercial commodities and exposed to horrifying working conditions," said Anita Sheth, the group's advocacy co-ordinator.
It's estimated migrant trafficking in Canada is estimated between $120 million and $400 million a year and accounts for 8,000 to 16,000 people arriving illegally in the country a year.
It's estimated there are 250 million children between the ages of 5 and 15 working in the world, mostly in developing countries.
Low cocoa prices are one of the factors experts say contribute to child labour in West Africa, as are high levels of poverty.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. NoNonsense English offers this material non-commercially for research and educational purposes. I believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner, i.e. the media service or newspaper which first published the article online and which is indicated at the top of the article unless otherwise specified.