Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

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

Other comments on C182

Observation

Direct Request

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Article 3 of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour. Subparagraph (b). Use, procuring or offering of a child for pornography or pornographic performances. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the Government’s indication that section 226bis of the Penal Code, which prohibits public offence against good behaviour or public morals by acts or words or wilful embarrassment of others in a manner that is offensive to decency, is partly a measure intended to prohibit the use, procuring or offering of a child in the pornographic industry. The Government also noted that it is prohibited for any person to publicly draw attention to an occasion on which debauchery is committed by means of written texts, recordings, or audio, visual, electronic or visible messages. According to the Government, the expression “publicly draw attention to an occasion on which debauchery is committed” is directly related to the media referred to in section 226bis of the Penal Code, namely written or audio media, including the Internet, which are of a nature to facilitate incitement to debauchery, as these practices may include pornographic photographs or films and pornographic performances. The Government also indicated that, by virtue of section 232(4) of the Penal Code, it is an offence to recruit, lure or maintain a person and hand over that person to prostitution or debauchery, the penalty being from three to five years’ imprisonment if this offence is committed with regard to a minor. The Committee asked the Government to supply information on the application in practice of sections 226bis, 232 and 233 of the Penal Code so that it might assess whether these provisions could be applied effectively to prohibit the use, procuring and offering of a child under 18 years of age for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances.

The Committee notes with regret that, once again, the Government has not provided any information on this subject. The Committee urges the Government to send extracts of court rulings handed down in application of the abovementioned sections of the Penal Code.

Articles 5 and 7(2)(b). Monitoring mechanisms and effective and time bound measures to remove children from the worst forms of child labour and provide for their rehabilitation and social integration. The Committee previously noted the setting up of a specialist unit in the national police to combat the sexual exploitation of children and paedophilia via the Internet, whose officers received specialized training so that they could perform their duties appropriately. It noted that the Child Protection Service, within the police administration at the Ministry of the Interior and Local Development, is the body responsible for combating sexual exploitation. The Committee nevertheless noted that the Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its concluding observations of 16 June 2010 (CRC/C/TUN/CO/3, paragraph 61), expressed concern at the sharp increase in the number of child victims of sexual abuse in Tunisia in 2008–09 and regretted that the data supplied were not specific or detailed, therefore making it impossible to assess the nature and extent of the problem. Furthermore, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, in its concluding observations of 5 November 2010 (CEDAW/C/TUN/CO/6, paragraph 48), expressed concern at the conclusions of a 2008 survey indicating that 16 per cent of young persons working as domestic servants had been victims of sexual violence. The Committee asked the Government to provide more detailed information on the number of children engaged in the worst forms of child labour dealt with by the child protection delegates (DPEs). The Government indicated that the statistics provided by the DPEs made it impossible to distinguish which cases involved the worst forms of child labour but that, in the context of improving the system for data collection and processing relating to the work of the DPEs, the Ministry for Women, Families, Children and Senior Citizens was in the process of establishing a database that would provide more detailed information.

The Committee notes that, according to the Government, Tunisia has had a national data collection system (Child info) concerned with child-related matters and violence against children since 2009. The Government states that the data collected will be compiled in the national report on the situation of children, which will ensure a follow-up of the files of vulnerable children. The Committee nevertheless notes that the Government has not provided information on the data collected. The Committee urges the Government to provide information on the number and nature of the surveys carried out by the Child Protection Service and on the number of child victims of economic or sexual exploitation, especially girls employed as domestic workers, dealt with by the DPEs, in its next report.