Abidjan: Child workers are still being exploited in West African cocoa fields and the chocolate industry's efforts to stop the abuse are not sufficient to meet a July 2005 deadline, humanitarian and labour activists say.

Images of child abuse in West African cocoa plantations triggered an international outcry in 2000 and resulted in a United States congressional protocol, which has no basis in law, giving American chocolate companies four years to make significant progress towards solving the problem.

If not, politicians promise to draft laws requiring US chocolate makers to put a "no child slavery" label on their goods after guaranteeing no forced child labour was used.

Conditions

There were about 109 000 children working in dangerous conditions in Ivory Coast, the source of 40% of the world's cocoa, according to a US State Department report in 2003. Hazards include harmful pesticides and risk of injury from machetes.

So far, the industry has met most of the protocol's requirements, including creating a foundation, the International Cocoa Initiative, to make sure cocoa production is environmentally friendly and safe for children.

A major requirement, to set up a certification system to monitor child labour, has yet to be fulfilled.

Several critics say there are too many gaps left.

"It's a very long shot, to implement a certification programme by next July," said Frans Roselaers, of the International Labour Organisation, who has been working with the chocolate industry. "It hasn't been done anywhere on that scale with success before."

Africans often viewed child labour as normal, said Roselaers, who directs a programme to end the abuse of child workers.

"It would not be realistic or responsible on our part to think that you can change attitudes in the way that you can build a plant and start production," he said.

Anita Sheth, a senior researcher at Save the Children Canada, said too many unanswered questions remained.

"How does monitoring happen on roughly 1 million cocoa farms? How do farmers get increased prices, or fair prices, for their cocoa beans and how does this contribute to changing child labour practices on the ground?" she said.

Peter McAllister, of the International Cocoa Initiative, said there was no definitive figure on how many children were forced labourers in West Africa.

Initially, governments and industry had denied the problem, he said. But Ivory Coast's recent pledge to eradicate child labour on its cocoa plantations showed attitudes were changing.

Ivorian officials have said, however, that they doubt the 2005 deadline could be met.

Cocoa is a temperamental plant that grows only within 20 degrees of the equator. Ivory Coast is the biggest producer, followed by Ghana, Indonesia and Nigeria. West Africa provides 70% of the world's cocoa.

Representatives of the Washington-based World Cocoa Foundation and Chocolate Manufacturers Association, who signed the protocol, said that they were confident they would be able to ward off labelling.

A certification system will be tested in Ghana and Ivory Coast later this year, says Bill Guytone, president of the World Cocoa Foundation. It will assess how each country is doing as a whole, rather than certifying individual farmers.

At the core of the system are programmes ranging from sustainable environmental projects to farmer training courses involving an array of humanitarian and development agencies. There also will be a monitoring and enforcement system.

Enforcement could include arrests, prosecutions and fines for farmers who violate the law.