In fact only a few children were on board. What had happened to the others was unknown as Socialist Worker went to press. In all there are 200,000 child slaves in West Africa, most of them working on cotton plantations. Local traffickers in people make a profit supplying these workers. But the real villains are in plush boardrooms.
Ivory Coast produces half of the world's cocoa.
It is used by giant multinationals like Cadbury and Nestl to make a fat profit. The giant firms' stranglehold on raw materials prices intensifies the pressures which lead to child slavery. Cocoa prices dropped to a 30-year low last year and unpaid labour is tempting to local producers so that they can still make a profit. The Anti-Slavery International charity says the debt crisis in Africa fuels the grim trade. Ivory Coast spends nearly 14 percent of its gross national product on debt.