Child Slaves in Africa

That the Parliament expresses outrage at the transportation of child slaves along the Ivory Coast of Africa especially in view of Scotland’s special connections with Africa and the long and valiant history of Scottish churches and many charities in fighting against slavery; believes that disclosures of current brutality towards children present only a fraction of the truth about enslavement of hundreds of thousands of children which sometimes benefits the food industry in Britain; demands that the Scottish Executive and Her Majesty’s Government investigate immediately the use of child slaves and its connections with the chocolate and cocoa industries in Britain; supports the anti-Slavery League, Save the Children and all organisations pleading for the liberation of children from slavery; demands that, as a first move, the Scottish Executive and Her Majesty’s Government appoint investigators of the chocolate trade, and calls upon all catering suppliers to the Scottish Parliament to withdraw all products involving chocolate or cocoa as a first small public gesture of the outrage felt by MSPs.