Dark Side of Chocolate
The Dark Side of Chocolate is a documentary by the award-winning journalists Miki Mistrati and U Roberto (Robin) Romano that investigates the continued allegations of trafficking and child labor in the international chocolate industry.
Miki’s hunt for answers brings him to Mali in West Africa, where hidden footage reveals illegal trafficking of small children to the cocoa fields in neighboring Côte d’Ivoire. Kids as young as seven years old work illegally in plantations where they engage in dangerous jobs like cutting down cocoa pods with machetes and carry loads which are too heavy for children.
Côte d’Ivoire is the world’s largest producer of cocoa and it accounts for more than 40% of the world’s production. Companies like Nestle, Barry Callebaut and Mars signed the Cocoa Protocol in 2001 promising to work for a total eradication of child labor in the cocoa sector by 2008. Miki’s exposé shows otherwise.