LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - Lock Haven University’s Institute for International Studies and MountainServe Center for Global Citizenship are jointly sponsoring a screening of the newly- released documentary The Dark Side of Chocolate on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 in Ulmer Planetarium at 7:00 PM. This screening is free and open to the public.

Global Exchange is a fair-trade advocacy organization. Their film is intended to raise awareness of child labor and trafficking in the cocoa industry.

According to the Global Exchange, “The Dark Side of Chocolate shows child and forced labor in the cocoa fields for millions of children, nearly a decade after the major players in the cocoa industry promised to resolve the problem. Thousands of children have been trafficked to work in forced labor conditions in West African cocoa fields, leaving behind devastated family members, and hundreds of thousands more are child laborers in their own communities, as documented by the US Government and respected media outlets.”

Their website cites a report commissioned by the US Dept of Labor, stating that 23% of children aged 5-17 working in the cocoa fields of Ghana (world's 2nd largest cocoa producer) report back pain. The Dark Side of Chocolate “exposes the continued widespread use of child and forced labor in the cocoa industry. “

For more information contact: Anne-Marie Turnage aturnage@lhup.edu or Todd Nesbitt tnesbitt@lhup.edu
To learn more about Global Exchange’s Fair Trade Campaign and the Raise the Bar Campaign, please visit www.globalexchange.org/cocoa