APRIL 2004 199 NEWS ARTICLE

Our Committee had the honour of listening to speakers from Zimbabwe. They told us how their country was once rich, prosperous, well fed and as technologically advanced as ours. Their farms produced enough food to be the breadbasket of Africa. The present government took away family farms and turned them into state farms. The food grown on these farms is no longer used to feed the people of Zimbabwe.

The following is a poem from an anonymous citizen of Zimbabwe.

An Angel to Watch Over Them

Today as the sun comes up; our children waken hungry and wonder when there will be another plate of food.

As the long day begins, faced with their growing hunger, sorrow and confusion mist their innocent eyes.

I ask that an angel watches over them today.

Today mothers fear for the safety of their children as they prepare them for the day ahead.

Afraid that these children will be in the right place but at the wrong time, they will come face to face with the brutality of a youth brigade.

I ask that an angel watches over them today.

Today fathers walk a weary mile from the farms of their birth, to find jobs to support every growing families.

Hoping, with each tired step that someone out there will give them not charity or a handout, just a job so that they can hold their heads up high again.

I ask that an angel watches over them today.

Today young girls wish that they were dead, as their bodies are used again and again by many men and boys.

It’s their duty they are told for the betterment of their country to please a cruel government’s boy soldiers.

I ask that an angel watches over them today.

Today young men are subjected to violence, beatings and harassment for not having the loyalty to join a youth camp.

Disloyal citizens, “they are fair game” a leader says, “Nobody cares what will become of them.”

I ask that an angel watches over them today.

Today mothers walk in a march for love, hoping to soften a hard heart, praying their tears will melt the heart of stone that calls himself their leader.

A president who uses food as a weapon, against his own people answers their cry with beatings, teargas and jail.

I ask that an angel watches over them today.

Today men meet to urge each other to vote, to talk out against the abuse, to try to be counted again as men.

They are systematically targeted for unimaginable punishments, their only sin is wanting change for their country.

I ask that an angel watches over them today.

At least the day is over and the long night begins.

Mothers try to hide their fear as they look at empty pots.

Fathers try to hide their shame as they search through empty pockets.

Girls and boys try to hide the pain of continuous abuse.

Children hold out empty plates, hoping always hoping.

While in his palace a president sleeps the sleep of a heartless man.

In Zimbabwe’s time of sorrow, I ask that the angles watch over her tonight.

Author’s name withheld for fear of persecution to author’s family that still resides in Zimbabwe.

DECEMBER 2003 199 NEWS ARTICLE

CHOCOLATE

For every family there are traditions that make Christmas special. We may decorate the tree while music fills the air, or enjoy a frothy hot chocolate on a cold blistery night.

The holiday season usually includes the sweet treat of chocolate. Rich flavourful morsels, that are so beautifully wrapped for the Christmas season.

Have you ever wondered however, where that wonderful taste of chocolate actually comes from?

The Ivory Coast in West Africa and Ghana lead the world in cocoa production harvesting 70% of the world’s supply. The Ivory Coast alone contains a million cocoa farms.

Finding cheap labour for these farms is simply a matter of reaching children from poverty-stricken families and offering them promises of good work and wages. Unfortunately, these promises are too good to be true, and they are recruited as slaves. As many as seventeen boys are locked in a room sharing a tin can as a toilet. Many face brutality, isolation, hunger and exhaustion locking them into years of slavery.

The cocoa beans are exported from the individual farms and sold to a central agency that distributes it to the rest of the world. The problem here is that it is very difficult to figure out which cocoa beans come from a slave farm and which didn’t.

North American is the leading world consumer of chocolate. Canadians consume the equivalent of three chocolate bars per week.

We need to crack down on child slavery. The Canadian government gives foreign aid directly to the Ivory Coast, and they should understand that some of that aid could help these children out of slavery.

On behalf of the Human Rights Committee we would like to everyone a Very Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year.