to express the sense of the Senate regarding abusive child labor practices in the growing and processing of cocoa.

1. Inserts new text on page 326, between lines 10 and 11

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   Inserted: ABUSIVE CHILD LABOR PRACTICES IN COCOA INDUSTRY

   Inserted: Sec. 6113. (a) Congress makes the following findings:

   Inserted: (1) The plight of hundreds of thousands of child slaves toiling in cocoa plantations in West Africa was reported in a series by Knight Ridder newspapers in June 2001. (global)

   Inserted: (2) The report found that some of these children are sold or tricked into slavery. Most of them are between the ages of 12 and 16 and some are as young as 9 years old.

   Inserted: (3) There are 1,500,000 farms in West Africa that produce approximately 72 percent of the total global supply of cocoa, with Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana producing about 62 percent and 22 percent, respectively, of the total cocoa production in Africa. Other key producers are Indonesia, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Brazil.

   Inserted: (4) United States consumers purchase over $13,000,000,000 in chocolate products annually.

   Inserted: (5) On September 19, 2001, representatives of the chocolate industry signed a voluntary Protocol for the Growing and Processing of Cocoa Beans and their Derivative Products in a Manner that Complies with ILO Convention 182 Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor.

   Inserted: (6) The Protocol outlines 6 steps the industry formally agreed to undertake to end abusive and forced child labor on cocoa farms by July 2005.

   Inserted: (7) A vital step of the Protocol was the development and implementation by the industry of a credible, transparent, and publicly accountable industry-wide certification system to ensure, by July 1, 2005, that cocoa beans and their derivative products have not been grown or processed by abusive child labor or slave labor.

   Inserted: (8) Since the Protocol was signed, some positive steps have been taken to address the worst forms of child labor and slave labor in cocoa growing, but the July 1, 2005, deadline for creation and implementation of the certification system was not fully met.

   Inserted: (b) It is the sense of Congress that--

   Inserted: (1) the cocoa industry is to be commended, as the Protocol agreement is the first time that an industry has accepted moral, social, and financial responsibility for the production of raw materials, wherever they are produced;

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   Inserted: (2) the Government of the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire and the Government of the Republic of Ghana should be commended for the tangible steps they have taken to address the situation of child labor in the cocoa sector;

   Inserted: (3) even though the cocoa industry did not fully meet the July 1, 2005, deadline for creation and implementation of the labor certification system, it has agreed to redouble its efforts to achieve a certification system that will cover 50 percent of the cocoa growing regions of Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana by July 1, 2008;

   Inserted: (4) the cocoa industry should make every effort to meet this deadline in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana and expand the certification process to other West African nations and any other country where abusive child labor and slave labor are used in the growing and processing of cocoa;

   Inserted: (5) an independent oversight body should be designated and supported to work with the chocolate industry, national governments, and nongovernmental organizations on the progress of the development and implementation of the certification system by July 1, 2008, through a series of public reports;

   Inserted: (6) the governments of West African nations that grow and manufacture cocoa should consider child labor and forced labor issues of top priorities;

   Inserted: (7) the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons of the Department of State should include information on the association between trafficking in persons and the cocoa industries of Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, and other cocoa producing regions in the annual report on trafficking in persons that is submitted to Congress; and

   Inserted: (8) the Department of State should assist the Government of Cote d'Ivoire and the Government of Ghana in preventing the trafficking of persons into the cocoa fields and other industries in West Africa.

   Original wording

   On page 326, between lines 10 and 11, insert the following:

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