Mali and Côte d'Ivoire signed an agreement on 6 September prohibiting the illegal trafficking of children for labour between the two countries.

The children, most of whom are boys, some as young as ten years old, are trafficked to work on cocoa, coffee and cotton plantations. Girls are mainly trafficked to work as domestic servants.

The accord states that both countries must develop legislation regarding the movement of children abroad.

Estimates of the numbers of children involved in this human trade between the two countries vary. They range from the Malian figure of 600, based on the number of children repatriated and arrested at the border between 1995 and 1998, to UNICEF's estimate of 10,000 to 15,000 boys currently working on Ivoirian plantations. The UNICEF figure, however, does not identify how many work illegally.

The application of the accord will be monitored by a 16-member commission which will review the progress over three years.

This issue is being highlighted in the documentary, Slavery, which focussed on the use of forced labour in Côte d'Ivoire's cocoa industry. In response to exploitation in the chocolate industry, on 2 October the Day Chocolate Company is launching a Fairtrade chocolate in the UK. The company guarantees that Dubble is made from cocoa produced by small-scale growers in Ghana bought at a secure price above the world market price, under decent health and safety conditions.