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The specific topic we've chose is Child labor in Ivory Coast.
 * __What is the specific topic your group decided to focus on?__**

The reason we chose this issue is because child labor has been a very huge issue over many years. Many countries have stopped child labor, but there are still many countries using child labor! Can you imagine now, I am sitting down typing this issue, and millions of child working in a dangerous situation? I can't, so we decided to do this issue and save the child labor
 * __Why did you choose this issue?__**

Abidjan, Ivory Coast – Cocoa farmers must be paid more if they are to eliminate child exploitation, Ivory Coast’s prime minister said Friday even as chocolate producers gathered to deal with the issue of child slavery.
 * __A list of relevant articles and statistics on the issue.__**

Prime Minister Affi N’Guessan said record-low prices for cocoa have contributed to farmers’ reliance on child workers from impoverished neighboring countries, although he denied slavery was a problem in his country, the world’s largest cocoa producer.

The words came as officials from the world chocolate industry and the British Foreign Office met with Ivory Coast’s Cabinet ministers in London to discuss reports of child slavery on African cocoa plantations.

Ivorian farmers need $1.20 to $1.80 a pound for their cocoa – almost 10 times what they currently get, N’Guessan said. "That is a realistic estimate of what they need to live."

Chocolate industry officials, however, said a big increase in prices was unlikely, given recent increases in cocoa production and high stock levels.

"Obviously the price of cocoa is based on the economic fundamentals of supply and demand," said John Newman, chairman of the British chocolate organization the Biscuit, Cake Chocolate and Confectionery Alliance.

Reports of child slavery on Ivory coast’s cocoa farms last month prompted calls in Britain and elsewhere for cocoa buyers to ensure their products have not been made with exploitative child labor.

Attention was drawn to issue in April by a frantic search for a ship thought to be transporting child slaves. The ship eventually docked in Benin with more than 30 unaccompanied children, most of whom officials thought were victims of traffickers, though they stopped short of calling them slaves.

http://www.vanilla.com/html/aware-ivory.html

Slave traders are trafficking boys ranging from the age of 12 to 16 from their home countries and are selling them to cocoa farmers in Cote d'Ivoire. They work on small farms across the country, harvesting the cocoa beans day and night, under inhumane conditions. Most of the boys come from neighboring Mali, where agents hang around bus stations looking for children that are alone or are begging for food. They lure the kids to travel to Cote d'Ivoire with them, and then the traffickers sell the children to farmers in need of cheap labor (Raghavan, "Lured..."). In 1994, the United Nations General Assembly defined human trafficking as "the illegal and clandestine movement of persons across national and international borders. . . With the end goal of forcing women and children into. . .Economically oppressive and exploitative situations for profit…"(UNICEF). Although most people may not be aware that in the 21st century slavery still exists, reports declare that the number of slaves at present is the highest it has ever been (Free the Slaves). Presently, about 700,000 children and women are trafficked around the world annually. The UN says that profits for this trafficking amount to approximately $7 billion a year (Anti-Slavery International). The effect of being sold into slave labor has the obvious physical scars from the constant beatings the children receive, their inhumane living conditions, and the practical starvation that the farmers impose on them. However, the effects of slavery do not merely affect the physical well-being of the children. They also suffer from emotional scars. Psychologists say that children subjected to slave labor are irrevocably changed. "Being a slave is often a process of systematic destruction of a person's mind, body, and spirit." Not only are families separated from each other, but the child slaves become more emotionally isolated (Free the Slaves). Even after they are no longer in slavery, the children are more fearful of other people and less confident of themselves. They also have trouble readjusting to their families (Raghavan, "Rescued..."). For the children that are lucky enough to escape, their physical and psychological scars will need a long time to heal. http://www.american.edu/ted/chocolate-slave.htm

The organization we have chosen is UNICEF, an organization devoted to helping unprivileged children.
 * __What is the organization?__**

UNICEF has tried it’s best to locate child labor and eliminate it, many of the children there do not have vaccines as they are turned into slaves before they can receive proper medical treatment. UNICEF has been helping children in Cote D’Ivoire by sending medical vaccinations, medical drugs, rations, gas burners and clean water. They have also been training volunteers so they can reopen some of the abandoned medical centers that are in Cote D’Ivoire. Besides the medical fields, UNICEF has been publishing articles on happening in the Ivory Coast to raise awareness and gain volunteers.
 * __What exactly are they doing to try and combat or change your issue?__**

I like how UNICEF manages to keep update and let volunteers actually do stuff such as reopening medical centers and checking up on plantations to check for child abuse. It is different than all the other organizations that just send supplies. I believe that when people actually interact, it makes the children feel like there is someone there for them and makes a bigger difference.
 * __What are some of the things you like about their program?__**

Some questions I have for UNICEF are-
 * __What are some questions you have about it?__**
 * Who supplies their supplies?
 * How much funding do they receive monthly?
 * How many volunteers do they have?

To become involved with UNICEF, we could donate money to it, or become volunteers. In order to model our action plan after UNICEF, we would have to keep updated on all the current happenings in Cote D’Ivoire and try to spread awareness so people can boycott products that use child labor.
 * __How could you become involved with this organization or model your action plan after it?__**

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