Free the Slaves, Anti-Slavery International's associate in the United States, has successfully won a commitment from the Chocolate Manufacturers Association to end 'slavery, serfdom, and debt bondage in the growing and processing of West African cocoa beans and their derivative products'. This follows the 1 October Protocol in which the US cocoa and chocolate industry agrees to eliminate child slavery from the chocolate industry.

In a Letter of Agreement from the Association it states that: ' consistent with paragraph (3) of the Protocol, the industry will, by December 1, 2001, issue a joint statement with major stakeholders recognizing, as a matter of urgency, the need to end slavery, serfdom, and debt bondage in the growing and processing of West African cocoa beans and their derivative products, in conjunction with efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labor in the growing and processing of cocoa beans and their derivative products.'

Anti-Slavery welcomes this inclusion. It is vital that any investigation and subsequent strategy tackles all forms of forced labour and addresses the conditions that foster trafficking in the region, principally poverty and lack of alternatives.

The 'Harkin-Engel' Protocol set a four year timetable for all stages of the cocoa industry to comply with standards set by the International Labour Organization's Convention against the worst forms of child labour, No. 182. It has been signed by leading representatives of the United States cocoa and chocolate industry and witnessed by the IPEC programme of the ILO, International Union of Food and Allied Workers, Child Labor Coalition, National Consumers League and Free the Slaves. These latter organisations will monitor the implementation of the Protocol and provide expert advice.

The extent of forced labour on cocoa farms in West Africa is not known. The first large-scale survey to assess labour conditions on cocoa farms in the region is being undertaken by the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture, assisted by the ILO. It is surveying 3,000 farms across West Africa; the results will inform the future strategy to end child and forced labour in the cocoa industry.