Date of publication: February 14, 2009
Source: Common Dreams
Author: Adrienne Fitch-Frankel
By Adrienne Fitch-Frankel
...Valentine's Day and chocolate go hand-in-hand, but for parents of children trafficked into the cocoa fields and kept there as slaves, our hunger for chocolate is a nightmare of heartache for their stolen children.
And, on Valentine's Day, one of the main holidays when we exchange chocolate, we have some unfortunate news that this nightmare is likely to get worse. Just two days ago, on February 12, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime released its Global Report on Trafficking in Persons. In a statement accompanying the release of the report, the Executive Director of UNDOC, Antonio Maria Costa, said of forced laborers "Their numbers will surely swell as the economic crisis deepens the pool of potential victims and increases demand for cheap goods and services."