"Today, millions of men, women and children are bought and sold as chattels, forced into bonded labour, held as slaves for ritual or religious purposes, or trafficked across borders, often to be sold into prostitution. All these forms of slavery are abhorrent, and must be eradicated ... No human being is another's property... let us reaffirm our commitment to abolish slavery from every country, and ensure that the rights and dignity of people everywhere are respected."
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, 2 December 2004

Monitoring of 80,000 small farms is being carried out by village level committees and special units set up to fight child labour. Once the scheme is fully operational, the governments will issue certificates for cocoa produced in these areas and publish details of the monitoring and action undertaken to address any problems of illegal labour found.

Industry and internationally funded social programmes will provide the resources for assisting any children displaced from work. The second stage of the process will be a system of external, independent verification currently under development.

The industry expects the full monitoring and verification scheme to be operational by July 2005, in line with the commitments given in the 2002 Cocoa Industry Protocol.

UK promises to mark abolition bicentennial

The UK Government initiated a debate in Parliament on slavery in light of 2004 as the UN International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition and the forthcoming 2007 bicentenary of Britain's abolition of the slave trade and its territories.

The 14 October session drew attention to the Slave Trade's legacy and slavery today. Throughout, Anti-Slavery International was recognised as a force both in historical and contemporary slavery.

For 2007, the Government pledged "a commemoration that does justice to the issue," Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department Fiona Mactaggart said. Adding it would be in "the form of a day, or of doing something enormous for the bicentenary ... I am not convinced that the history of slavery should be only in the history curriculum; it should be in the citizenship curriculum to mark the fact that people can be turned into commodities and how degrading that is ... the fact that slavery still happens should touch the humanity of us all ... I make a commitment to ensuring that by 2007, we will have a clear view of how the memorial should best be made."

ILO to send forced labour mission to Burma

The International Labour Organization announced on 19 November it was sending a high level mission to Burma to examine the Government's commitment to ending forced labour.

The Governing Body said a "reactivation of the measures adopted under Article 33 of the ILO Constitution [which calls for tough sanctions against countries that use forced labour] would have already been justified now," but it decided first to send a mission due to changes in the Government.

In 2000, the ILO for the first time called on Member States to "review their trade and other relations with [Burma] in light of the very serious situation concerning forced labour". In March, the body will decide whether to impose sanctions.

Trade unions estimate more than 800,000 people are used as forced labour, in agriculture, as porters and in construction for little or no pay.

Trafficking sentence marks a first for UK law

Two Albanian traffickers, Taulant Merdanaj and Elidon Bregu, are the first to be convicted of human trafficking in the United Kingdom.

On 23 December, the two were tried and found guilty under a new law against trafficking for sexual exploitation, which came into effect last May under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

The men lured two women from Lithuania, promising them work as waitresses in a nightclub. But when they arrived, Merdanaj and Bregu took their passports and held them against their will in Bregu's flat in Sheffield, forcing them to work as prostitutes as repayment for the costs of their flights.

In the landmark case, Merdanaj was convicted of trafficking people into and within the UK for sexual exploitation as well as rape and sentenced to 18 years in prison. Bregu was sentenced to nine years for trafficking within the UK.

In another positive move, the Home Office announced on 1 December, that trafficking for forced labour or organ removal was now an arrestable offence. Under the Asylum and Immigration Act (treatment of claimants etc.) 2004, offenders face up to 14 years in prison.

These are significant steps, but it is vital the UK Government provides protection and support to all people who have been trafficked on the basis of their being victims of a crime.

Discrimination and trafficking fears further blight tsunami survivors

Police arrested a 63-year-old Sri Lankan man for attempting to sell two children on 12 January, after their mother was killed by the tsunami and their home destroyed.

Within a few days of the tsunami that struck 12 countries in the Indian Ocean on 26 December, UNICEF, non-governmental organisations including ECPAT UK, and other agencies drew attention to the vulnerability of children to trafficking.

In response, the Indonesian Government banned children under 16 in Aceh province, Sumatra, the most devastated area, from leaving the country in an effort to protect them from child traffickers. The warning also prompted increased security around emergency relief camps.

According to activists, Medan in Aceh has long been an area from which children were trafficked for sexual exploitation, illegal adoption and forced labour.

In the longer-term, adults and children whose livelihoods and communities have been devastated are at risk of trafficking and other exploitation.

In Tamil Nadu, India, one of the areas hit by the powerful wave, Anti-Slavery International's partner Peace Trust and dalit organisations have drawn attention to the plight of dalits ('untouchables') in the region. Even in these shared desperate circumstances, dalits are being discriminated against. They are being denied access to food and other emergency relief as well as access to camps.

Additionally, there have been delays with restoration of drinking water, road and other vital communication repairs in several dalit areas. Furthermore, dalits are being used to remove carcasses and debris, but are not being provided with protective clothing and masks, they reported.

It is vital that all people in need are given equal access to emergency relief and shelter and that dalits are protected from any discrimination.

People in power

"Human trafficking is evil. It is hideous. It is modern-day slavery ... We cannot wait for victims to find us. We must proactively work to find them."
United States Assistant Attorney General R. Alexander Acosta, 26 November 2004

"Wherever, whenever and in whatever form slavery occurs, we unreservedly condemn it, and are committed to eliminating it."
United Kingdom Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department Fiona Mactaggart, Parliamentary session on slavery, 14 October 2004

"When governments allow children to be used in the commercial sex industry, to be swept up in the harshest forms of child labour ... they send an unspoken message that it is permissible to overlook the rights of children."
UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy 23 December 2004