Be mine, bloody valentine

Happy Valentine's Day. You've probably already bought chocolates for your loved ones, and eaten some yourself. And you probably didn't give a thought to how it was connected to human rights, peace, and political stability in Africa. Maybe its time we start asking some questions about the chocolate industry.

Where does the chocolate come from? Who harvests it? Approximately 70% of cocoa is grown in West Africa; Ivory Coast is responsible for about 40% of that. In fact, the chocolate industry is central to the West African economy. There's a catch, though. The chocolate industry is, according to an article in today's LA Times, "a magnet for child slavery." Poor families sometimes sell their children as indentured servants to cocoa farmers. The children work in poor, often abusive, conditions. In 2002, the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture reported that some 284,000 children worked in West Africa's chocolate industry. Of those children, 200,000 work in the Ivory Coast. Not all are slaves, some are paid and some work on family farms. The article also mentions that chocolate is similar to the diamond industry in that it helps fund political instability in some West African countries, particularly Ivory Coast.

The chocolate industry has made some efforts to certify cocoa producers who don't use child labor but such efforts have not been very successful. So what can we do this Valentine's Day to share our love with these children? As the article points out, boycotting chocolate would be useless since so much of the West African economy depends on it. We can, however, buy Fair Trade chocolate. Fair Trade certified confectioners pay their workers a fair wage and provide them with safer working conditions. Plan ahead for next Valentine's Day and make the day extra-special for your loved one by buying Fair Trade chocolate and improving the life of a child.

UN and EU aid in Ivory Coast

Brief History of the Ivory Coast conflict:
Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire), a former French colony in West Africa, remained stable for about 30 years after it gained independence from France in 1960. In 1999, this stability was shattered when a coup d'etat deposed president Henri Bedie, who had sowed seeds of xenophobia against Muslims in the north. One of the main causes of the conflict was the question of who was truly Ivorian; Ivory Coast was once an economically powerful country and many people immigrated to it to work on the cocoa and cotton plantations. Laurent Gbagbo replaced Bedie in 2000 and replaced xenophobia with violence. Alassane Ouattra, a Muslim and the main presidential rival, called for new elections and many of his supporters were killed as a result. In September 2002, Muslims in the north rebelled because they felt they were discriminated against in Ivorian politics. Peace deals have failed to reunite the country and violence has continued.

Current Situation:
On Wednesday, January 10, the UN Security Council voted to extend the UN peacekeeping forces' mandate in Ivory Coast and the mandate of the French forces, known as Licorne. According to a November 20, 2006 count, approximately 8,000 UN peacekeepers and 4,000 French troops were deployed in Ivory Coast to help maintain a ceasefire between President Gbagbo's military and northern rebels. The Security Council's resolution outlines the UN and French forces' job, which includes "disarmament and dismantling of militias, identification of the population and registration of voters, monitoring the arms embargo, support for the organisation of open, free, fair and transparent polls later this year and support for humanitarian aid." Last December, Koffi Annan advised the UN to extend its mandate until December 15, 2007. The Security Council renewed the bans on diamonds and weapons until October and said it may "impose sanctions against individuals deemed to be undermining peace and national reconciliation...." The Security Council also assigned to Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny the task of organizing a presidential election for the end of October 2007.

On Thursday, January 11, the European Union (EU) pledged to give 103 million Euros (approximately $133 million) to the Ivorian government for use in organizing a fair election and to fund disarmament. The money will also fund small economic projects which will help rebuild communities and improve civic organizations.