The Dark Side of Chocolate is a 2010 documentary about the exploitation and slavetrading of African children to harvest chocolate that is still happening almost ten years after the cocoa industry promises to end it.
Video The Dark Side of Chocolate
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Cocoa farms in Ghana and Ivory Coast provide 80% of the world with chocolate, according to CorpWatch. Chocolate producers around the world have been pressured to "verify that their chocolate is not a product of child labor or slavery."
In 2000, the BBC aired Slavery: Global Investigation that brought the issue of child labor in the cocoa industry to light.
In 2001, the Chocolate Manufacturers Association and its members signed a document prohibiting trafficking of children and labor in the cocoa industry after 2008. Despite this effort, many children are still forced to work in brown plantations in Africa.
In 2009, Mars and Cadbury joined the Rainforest Alliance to combat child labor. By 2020, these big chocolate producers hope to completely eradicate child labor on any plantation from where they buy their cocoa.
Maps The Dark Side of Chocolate
Production
The Dark Side of Chocolate is directed by Danish journalist Miki Mistrati who investigates the use of child labor and children trafficked into chocolate production. It was filmed by U. Roberto Romano and produced by Helle Faber.
Filming starts in Germany, where Mistrati asks the seller where their chocolates come from. They then flew to Mali, where many children came from. Next, they explore the Ivory Coast where the cocoa plantations are located. The film ends in Switzerland where both the International Labor Organization (ILO) and Nestle's headquarters are located.
Most of the footage in this documentary was recorded using a secret camera.
The documentary was released in 2010, first in Denmark, and later in Sweden, Ireland, Belgium, and Norway.
Synopsis
In 2001, the Chocolate Manufacturers Association formed an action plan called Harkin-Engel Protocol, an agreement signed by major brown companies nearly 10 years before the film was made, aiming to end child trafficking and forced labor in the cocoa industry.
The documentary begins in Cologne, Germany where Mistrati asks some chocolate companies representatives whether they are aware of child labor on cocoa plantations. In Mali, the film shows that children, who have been promised paid work, are brought to towns near the border like Zegoua, from where other merchants carry children across the border by bike-land. Then they went with the third merchant who sold the children to the farmers each about 250 Euro.
Children, ranging in age from 10 to 15, are forced to do hard work and are often dangerous, often beaten, and according to the film's narrator, most are never paid. The narrator also claims that most of them live on the plantation until they die, never see their families again. No documentary evidence was shown to support the claim that children were not paid or that they were made to work until they died. The Harkin-Engel Protocol promises to end the use of child labor.
When faced with this problem, company representatives denied all rumors of child labor and child trafficking, but the investigation of the filmmakers clarified the continuing use of massively trafficked child slaves in brown plantations.
Nestle and other companies declined invitations to watch movies and answer questions. In response, Mistrati installed a large screen next to Nestle's headquarters in Switzerland, forcing employees to catch a glimpse of child labor in the cocoa industry.
As the closing editing window for the film, during the roll of credit, we see the local police arrive, to ask why they are showing a movie outside Nestle's Headquarters in Vevey, Switzerland. The police asked whether the film was 'for or against Nestle'. The answer is "It's not against". After reviewing their documents, the police said, "we turned it off," referring to the screening.
Reception
In 2012, The Dark Side of Chocolate was nominated for the Adolf Grimme Award in the Information & amp; Culture.
Personnel
References
External links
- Dark Side of Chocolate on IMDb
- Tulane University: Child Labor in Cocoa Sector
- Ari LeVaux: The Dark Side of Chocolate: What Our Love Relationships With Cocoa Mean for the World. In addition to labor issues, chocolate plantations may be responsible for deforestation. But it can also empower farmers and be relatively healthy for the environment. AlterNet February 6, 2012
- JOEL ROBERTS: Dark Side of Chocolate CBS News/AP February 14, 2005
- Photo District News
- Access World News
- Other Articles in EBSCOhost
- Michigan Life Center
- Northern Life
- Huffington Post
- LaborRights.org
- Global Cocoa Project
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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