Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Côte d'Ivoire (Ratification: 2003)

Other comments on C182

Observation

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Articles 3(d) and 7(2)(a) and (b) of the Convention. Hazardous work. Preventing children from being engaged in the worst forms of child labour and removing them from these worst forms. 1. Children in agriculture and cocoa plantations. The Committee notes that the latest statistics on child labour, contained in the survey on the living standards of households conducted in 2008 (ENV 2008), reveal that 1,550,103 children are economically active in the agricultural sector, frequently in cocoa plantations.

The Committee notes that there is an ILO–IPEC project currently being undertaken to eliminate child labour in communities involved in agricultural work in cocoa plantations in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. In the context of this project, awareness raising activities have been carried out and training programmes dispensed to agricultural workers, cocoa farmers and employers’ and workers’ representatives. Furthermore, services have been provided to 2,500 children targeted (1,136 girls and 1,364 boys) in the form of placement in formal or informal education. In this respect, 1,176 of these children have been prevented from being recruited in the worst forms of child labour and 1,320 children withdrawn. The Committee also notes that Côte d’Ivoire is one of the countries targeted by the ILO–IPEC project to eliminate the worst forms of child labour in West Africa and strengthen subregional cooperation (ECOWAS), under which action programmes to raise awareness, educate, prevent and reintegrate 2,300 children at risk or victims of the worst forms of child labour, including in the cocoa plantations sector, have been implemented since 2012. In view of the particularly high incidence of hazardous work involving children in cocoa plantations, the Committee urges the Government to step up its efforts to prevent children under 18 years of age from working in cocoa plantations and to ensure that they are withdrawn from these plantations and socially rehabilitated, particularly by providing them with access to free education and vocational training. It asks the Government to submit detailed information on the nature of the measures taken in this respect as well as on the results achieved.

2. Gold mines. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that child labour in mines is one of the 20 types of hazardous work covered by section 1 of Order No. 2250 of 14 March 2005 and is prohibited for children under 18 years of age. It noted that, under section 19 of Act No. 2010-272 of 30 September 2010, persons who supervise or are in charge of a child and who cause the child to, or knowingly allow, the child to perform hazardous work may be liable to a penalty of up to five years of imprisonment. However, it noted that the exploitation of child labour had been reported on mining sites under concession to private persons.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that measures are being taken to crack down on persons who exploit children in mines and who escape from the supervision of the police authorities. The Committee urges the Government to take immediate and effective measures to put an end to the practice of child labour in mines, including in private concessions, in accordance with the prohibition set out in law. It also requests the Government to take effective and time-bound measures to prevent children under 18 years of age from working in gold mines and to ensure that they are withdrawn from these mines and socially rehabilitated. It requests the Government to provide information on the progress achieved in this respect and on the results obtained.

Article 6. Programmes of action and application of the Convention in practice. National Plan of Action (2012–14) to combat the trafficking and exploitation of children and child labour. The Committee previously noted the ENV 2008 had been conducted but its findings had not yet been validated.

The Committee notes that the latest statistics on child labour, as contained in the ENV 2008, reveal that 1,202,404 children are involved in hazardous labour and 3,364 are victims of trafficking. Furthermore, it notes that according to the report of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to the General Council of the World Trade Organization (WTO) concerning the trade policies of Côte d’Ivoire (Geneva, 2 and 4 July 2012), children in agriculture and forestry, in particular in cocoa and coffee plantations, work for long hours, in dangerous pesticides and chemicals, machinery, heavy loads and other hazardous conditions. Street children face conditions that endanger their physical and moral development, and child domestic servants are also vulnerable to sexual exploitation and other physical and psychological abuses.

In this respect, the Committee notes that the new National Plan of Action (2012–14) to combat the trafficking and exploitation of children and child labour (PAN) was adopted in March 2012. This Plan of Action has four strategic objectives: prevention, by enforcing the legal framework, raising the awareness of communities, mobilizing the partners and knowledge sharing; protection, by improving access to education, providing care for the victims, introducing structures to provide guidance and strengthening regional and international cooperation; enforcement, by identifying and punishing those responsible for trafficking and the worst forms of child labour; and monitoring and evaluation, particularly through the implementation of the national monitoring system of child labour and the system of monitoring and follow-up of child labour in Côte d’Ivoire (SOSTECI). In this respect, the Committee notes that the SOSTECI is a system that makes it possible to identify and help children involved in hazardous work. It also constitutes a tool for collecting data and sharing information on child labour and its worst forms.

The Committee takes due note of the information contained in the Government’s report submitted under the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138), concerning the results achieved since the implementation of the PAN. These include awareness-raising activities in communities; the strengthening of the capacity of persons involved in combating trafficking, exploitation and child labour; improvements in children’s access to education; and the introduction of a helpline for children in distress (3,577 calls were registered between November 2013 and February 2014).

Taking due note of the measures taken by the Government, the Committee feels bound to express its concern at the large number of children working in dangerous conditions in Côte d’Ivoire. The Committee urges the Government to step up its efforts to ensure the protection in practice of children against the worst forms of labour, including the renewal of the PAN, which is due to come to an end in 2014. The Committee requests the Government to provide recent statistics, such as those collected by the SOCTECI, on the nature, extent and development of the worst forms of child labour; on the number of children protected by measures giving effect to the Convention; on the number and nature of offences reported; and on the surveys carried out, the prosecutions initiated, the sentences handed down and the penalties imposed. To the extent possible, all this information should be disaggregated by sex and age.

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