Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Togo (Ratification: 2000)

Other comments on C182

Observation

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Article 3(a) and Article 7(1) and (2)(a) and (b) of the Convention. Sale and trafficking of children and penalties. Effective and time-bound measures for prevention, assistance and removal of children from the worst forms of child labour. The Committee notes the information according to which the anti-trafficking unit participates in training magistrates and judicial police officers on trafficking and child labour issues. The unit hears child victims of trafficking in order to open up investigations and constitute files for the prosecution of the authors of these crimes.

The Committee also notes Decree No. 2021-104/PR of 29 September 2021 on the establishment, mandate and functioning of the National Commission on combatting trafficking in persons (CNLTP) and the appointment and installation of its members in February 2023.

It also takes good note of the Government statistics from 2019, which show that child protection structures registered a total of 1,723 child victims of cross-border trafficking, including 182 children taken to police and gendarmerie stations. A total of 609 children were victims of internal trafficking, of which 45 were taken to police stations. A total of 551 child victims of trafficking were socially reintegrated through school enrolment and 182 received vocational training. Likewise, between 2020 and 2021, a total of 33 boys and 114 girls were victims of cross-border trafficking, including 22 Beninese children and 125 Togolese children. In 2022, a total of 41 children, of which 16 were girls, were repatriated and taken into care by the Government of Togo.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the COVID-19 sanitary crisis has had a serious impact on removing children and taking them into care and explains the lack of information for the 2020–22 period.

While noting that the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on removing children and taking them into care, the Committee notes with regret the Government’s statement that information on the number and nature of convictions handed down and penalties imposed is not available. The Committee again requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that thorough investigations are carried out, and prosecutions brought in trafficking cases involving persons under 18 years of age. The Government is requested to provide detailed information on the convictions handed down and on the criminal penalties imposed. The Committee also requests the Government to continue to provide information on the results of the anti-trafficking unit in removing children from this worst form of child labour and ensuring their rehabilitation and social integration.

Article 3(a) and (d) and Article 7(2)(b). Forced or compulsory labour and hazardous work and effective and time-bound measures. Child domestic work. In its previous comments, the Committee urged the Government to take immediate and effective measures to ensure the effective application of the national legislation (Order No. 1556/MPFTRAPS of 22 May 2020) to ensure that children under 18 years of age did not perform domestic work.

The Committee notes that under the National Action Plan to combat the worst forms of child labour 2020–24, attached to the report, ratification of the Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189), is envisaged and that an order on domestic work is to be drafted by the Ministry of Public Service, Labour, Administrative Reform and Social Protection.

However, the Committee notes the information in the minutes of the sitting of the Committee on the Rights of the Child which examined the periodic report submitted by Togo under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (OHCHR, press release, 15 September 2023), according to which the situation regarding child labour in Togo, and in particular the domestic work performed by children, was considered to be of concern. The Committee once again urges the Government to take immediate and effective measures to ensure the effective application of the national legislation so that children under 18 years of age do not perform domestic work, giving full application to order No. 1556/MPFTRAPS of 22 May 2020, determining the types of work prohibited for children and, in practice, do not work under conditions similar to slavery or under hazardous conditions. In this respect, it once again urges the Government to provide information on the application of the provisions relating to these worst forms of child labour, including statistics on the number and nature of reported violations, investigations, prosecutions, convictions, and criminal penalties imposed. Moreover, the Committee strongly encourages the Government to take immediate and effective measures to remove child victims of the worst forms of child labour from domestic work and requests it to provide detailed information on the measures taken and on the number of children effectively removed from these worst forms of child labour and socially rehabilitated.

Article 7(2) of the Convention. Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (d). Identifying and reaching out to children at special risk. Child orphans of HIV/AIDS. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee noted that, according to UNAIDS, the number of HIV/AIDS orphans was put at 84,000 in 2018. The Committee observes that the Government’s response contains no updated statistical information on HIV/AIDS victims or orphans, as the statistics provided by the Government in its report date from the Demographic and Health Survey of Togo 2013-2014.

The Committee notes that the Strategic Framework for care of orphans and other vulnerable children in the context of HIV/AIDS in Togo 2010 to 2015 serves as the national instrument and strategic plan that determines and guides interventions, and that the Government and other actors have developed different strategies and mechanisms to ensure that HIV/AIDS orphans are not engaged in the worst forms of child labour. However, it notes with regret the absence of information on the different measures taken and progress made under the strategic plan and the mechanisms put in place.

The Committee further notes with concern that, according to UNAIDS, the number of UN/AIDS orphans is put at 80,000 for 2022. The Committee therefore once again urges the Government to intensify its efforts to ensure that HIV/AIDS orphans receive such protection as to prevent their engagement in the worst forms of child labour. It requests the Government to supply information on the measures taken and the results achieved in this respect.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.