Almost half of the world's chocolate comes from the Ivory Coast. The chocolate industry, especially companies like Nestle, rely on the region to supply the world's voracious appetite for chocolate - worth nearly $100 billion.

In recent years, research by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture has revealed that some 284,000 children between the ages of 9 and 12 are working in hazardous conditions on West African cocoa farms. The children are brutalized and denied freedom - bought and sold as slaves and forced to do difficult and dangerous work. All of these children are prevented from attending schools or even seeing their families. And thousands of them have no family at all in the region, suggesting they are also the victims of child trafficking.

In 2005, public outrage in the United States and Europe pressured the chocolate industry into making commitments to end the use of child labor. The deadlines for their proposed reforms have passed, but the situation has not changed.

Tell Nestle that you will not tolerate their exploitation. Demand that their products meet Fair Trade standards so you can be sure the chocolate you enjoy was not made with the sweat and blood of child slavery.