Many Easter-themed chocolates sold in the United States and Britain have been produced by slave labor in the Ivory Coast, according to a coalition of anti-slavery charities. The coalition, called Stop the Traffik, claims as many as 12,000 children have been bought by Ivory Coast cocoa plantations and work under desperate conditions to harvest and produce cocoa beans. Typically, young boys are bought for as little as $100, sold by their families or enticed by the opportunity to work rather than starve.

“Often what will happen is the parents are starving, they’re poor, they have nothing and somebody comes along and says ‘I’ll take your son, he’ll work on my farm and I’ll give you some money,'” said Stop the Traffik chairman Steve Chalke to the BBC. “They think ‘We’ll get money so we can eat and our son gets a job.’ They don’t know what he’s going to is a living hell.”

The Ivory Coast has been mired in civil war since a 1999 coup, leaving the country split between the government and the New Forces. In the tenuous cease-fire that has developed, many countries, including the United Kingdom, have closed their embassies due to a wave of violence targeted at Europeans, who dominated the economy as late as 1995.

In the chaos of war, slavery has resurged to support the international demand for the Ivory Coast’s cheap cocoa. Violence targeted at foreigners prevents many companies, who import bulk amounts of unrefined cocoa for the Easter holiday season, from being able to confirm whether their chocolate is produced by slavery.

While charities like Stop the Traffik have lists of fair trade companies guaranteed to have slavery-free chocolate, which companies use slave-produced chocolate is difficult to determine.

In England, over 50 members of Parliament have backed a recent call for a “Traffick Free Guarantee,” led by Parliament member Mike Hancock.

The Biscuit, Cake, Chocolate and Confectionary Association (BCCCA) has confirmed that British manufactures are spending over $12 million a year to insure that their chocolates are child labor free.

“We all want to ensure that the cocoa we buy is grown using internationally approved labor standards – notably without the worst forms of child or forced labor,” said Alison Ward of BCCCA to BBC News.

“It’s weird to me this only comes to the forefront on Easter,” said sophomore Chelsea Hornick-Becker. “It should have been news a long time ago. A lot more needs to be done.”

Americans have yet to implement litigation to prevent the importation of slave-produced chocolate, but public outcry has manifested a market of certified fair trade chocolate.

Emma Deutsch, first-year, said, “I think it’s pretty awful; that’s why I ask my parents to only buy me free trade chocolate. I try to be really conscious about what I eat.