Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2004, publiée 93ème session CIT (2005)

The Committee notes the Government’s first and second reports. With reference to its comments under the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), and Article 3(a) of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), which provides that the term "the worst forms of child labour" comprises all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, the Committee considers that the problem of the sale and trafficking of children for the purposes of sexual and economic exploitation may be examined more specifically in the context of Convention No. 182. It requests the Government to provide information on the following points.

Article 3 of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour. Clause (a). All forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery. Sale and trafficking of children. In its previous comments, the Committee noted concordant information from various sources that the cases of the trafficking of persons for the exploitation of their labour concern a significant number of children in Burkina Faso with the objective of utilizing child labour, particularly in agriculture. It noted that, according to the information contained in the ILO’s Global Report "Stop forced labour" of 2001 (paragraph 57), children from Burkina Faso are obliged to work in plantations in Côte d’Ivoire and that Burkina Faso is, at the same time, a provider, a receiving country and a transit country. It noted that intermediaries, who operate from Côte d’Ivoire, have children delivered to them by other intermediaries operating in Burkina Faso (summary report of the subregional project of the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO/IPEC, 2001) "Combating child trafficking for labour exploitation in West and Central Africa", page 9).

The Committee notes that Act No. 038-2003/AN, defining and repressing the trafficking of children, was adopted on 27 May 2003. It notes that section 1 of the Act provides that a child is any human being aged under 18 years. Section 3 provides that the trafficking of children shall be deemed to be any act through which a child is procured, transported, removed, lodged or received within or outside the territory of Burkina Faso by one or more traffickers through threats and intimidation, force or other forms of constraint, deception, subterfuge or deceit, abuse of power, or exploitation of the situation of vulnerability of a child or, through offering or receiving of remuneration to obtain the consent of a person exercising control over the child for the purposes of economic or sexual exploitation, unlawful adoption, premature or forced matrimony or any other purpose prejudicial to the health, physical and mental development and well-being of the child. The Committee notes that the same penalties are applicable to any person who, having knowledge of a case of the trafficking of a child or children or having discovered a person under 18 years of age under the above conditions, has not immediately notified the administrative or judiciary authorities or any person capable of preventing it from occurring. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application of the above provisions in practice.

Article 5. Mechanisms to monitor the implementation of the provisions giving effect to the Convention. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that vigilance and supervision committees have been established by the Ministry of Social Action and National Solidarity. It further notes that these committees also include state officials, namely the police, the gendarmerie, customs, social workers, labour inspectors and representatives of civil society. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the activities of these vigilance and supervision committees, particularly by providing extracts of reports or documents and indicating the results achieved by these committees in terms of preventing the trafficking of young persons under 18 years of age for economic exploitation.

Article 6. Programmes of action to eliminate the worst forms of child labour. The Committee notes that Burkina Faso is participating in the ILO/IPEC LUTRENA (Combating the trafficking in children for labour exploitation in West and Central Africa) programme, which covers nine countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and Togo. It notes, according to the information available, that the Government, with other actors who are essential to combat the trafficking of children, has prepared a draft National Plan of Action against the Trafficking of Children. It appears that this Plan is due to be approved in the coming months. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the adoption and implementation of this National Plan of Action.

The Committee also notes that the ILO/IPEC Red Card Programme for the promotion of information and awareness-raising action at the national level at the various matches of the championship has been introduced in Burkina Faso. The Committee further notes that ILO/IPEC has launched a new initiative based on education and social mobilization, namely "SCREAM (Supporting Children’s Rights through Education, the Arts and the Media) Stop Child Labour!" with a view to helping educators worldwide promote understanding and awareness among child labour among young people. This initiative is also intended to raise awareness of school children and strengthen their capacity to educate and inform their peers and families so as to have an impact on their own communities. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on the implementation of these programmes of action.

Article 7, paragraph 1. Measures to ensure the effective implementation and enforcement of the provisions giving effect to the Convention. The Committee notes that section 398 of the Penal Code establishes a penalty of between five and ten years of imprisonment for any person who, through violence, threats or fraud, abducts or causes to be abducted a young person, or removes, misleads or transfers, or causes said person to be removed, misled or transferred from wherever she or he had been placed by the authority or directorate to which she or he had been submitted or entrusted. It also notes that section 4 of the Act of 31 July 2003 defining and repressing the trafficking of children, establishes a penalty of imprisonment of from one to five years and a fine of from 300,000 to 1,500,000 CFA francs, or one of these two penalties, for any person who is engaged in the trafficking of children, wherever the crime is committed. Section 4(2) provides that the same penalties shall be applicable to any person who, having knowledge of a case of the trafficking of children or discovered a young person under 18 years of age under the above conditions, has not immediately notified the administrative or judicial authorities, or any person capable of preventing it from occurring. The Committee also notes with interest that section 5 of the same Act imposes a penalty of imprisonment of from five to ten years on any individual found guilty of the trafficking of children involving circumstances in which the victim is exposed to hazardous or arduous forms of work or the worst forms of child labour. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application of these penalties in practice.

Article 7, paragraph 2. Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (b). Removing of children from the worst forms of child labour and securing their rehabilitation and social integration. The Committee notes from the information contained in the ILO/IPEC synthesis report of 2000 for the LUTRENA programme against trafficking (page 22), that studies have shown that children from Burkina Faso are transferred to Benin through Togo. The Committee notes that, according to the same report (page 9), the police intercepted five children leaving for Côte d’Ivoire in 1996; the same services discovered eight children from Burkina Faso in Divo in Côte d’Ivoire in 1999, 12 in Germany who were leaving for Italy and two children sent to Ghana. It also notes that 27 abductions of children have been reported, ten of whom were found in Nigeria and 17 in Côte d’Ivoire. It further observes that in March 2000 a convoy was intercepted leaving for Côte d’Ivoire with 22 young persons aged between 14 and 20 years. The Committee notes that, according to the same summary report, 116 children working in the informal economy were interviewed and that they work as itinerant traders, domestic workers and in agriculture and prostitution. Many of them are girls, aged between 12 and 17 years; 45 per cent of these young persons are illiterate, 49 per cent of them had reached the level of primary school and only 6 per cent had entered secondary school. It notes that in July 2004, five children from Burkina Faso, victims of trafficking for economic exploitation in cotton plantations, were repatriated to their families by the vigilance and supervision committee. The Committee notes that 250 children have been withdrawn from trafficking and rehabilitated in Burkina Faso since the beginning of the LUTRENA programme. It further notes that the LUTRENA programme has coordinated the organization of training modules for the security forces (particularly the police) on measures to combat the trafficking of children. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the impact of the LUTRENA programme in removing children from trafficking and providing for their rehabilitation and social integration.

Article 8. Enhanced international cooperation and/or assistance. l.  International cooperation. The Committee notes that Burkina Faso is a member of Interpol, the organization which assists in cooperation between countries in the various regions, particularly to combat the trafficking of children. It also notes that Burkina Faso ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in August 1990 and that it signed the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography in November 2001. It further notes the Government’s indication in the report submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2002 (CRC/C/65/Add.18, paragraph 482) that the principle of extraterritoriality is the subject of judicial agreements between Burkina Faso and France, and between Burkina Faso and 11 African countries.

2. Regional cooperation. The Committee notes that a cooperation agreement was signed on 25 June 2004 between the Republic of Mali and Burkina Faso concerning the transboundary trafficking of children. This agreement was made possible through the assistance of the LUTRENA programme, UNICEF and Save the Children Canada. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the implementation of this agreement and on the results achieved in relation to the trafficking of children between Burkina Faso and Mali.

3. Poverty elimination. The Committee notes that a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper was formulated in June 2000 and that, according to this Paper, Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world. The plan of action envisaged in the Paper is focussed on three areas: health, education and rural development. Noting that poverty reduction programmes contribute to breaking the poverty cycle, which is essential for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the impact of this development aid on the elimination of the worst forms of child labour, with particular reference to the trafficking of children.

The Committee encourages the Government to cooperate with other countries and requests it to provide detailed information on enhanced international cooperation and assistance, including support for social and economic development, poverty eradication programmes and universal education.

Part III of the report form. Court decisions. The Committee notes three decisions by the High Court in Fada N’Gourma (Nos. 152, 153 and 165), dated 13 June 2001 and 29 May 2002. It notes that in these cases individuals were intercepted when they were transporting young persons and planned to make them work in their plantation in Benin, without the agreement of their parents. In these three cases, the Committee notes that the Court reclassified the charges to the abduction of minors, which constitutes an offence under section 402 of the Penal Code and is punishable by a sentence of imprisonment of from one to five years and a fine of from 300,000 to 1,500,000 CFA francs. However, the Committee notes that the existence of attenuating circumstances allowed the Court to apply the provisions of section 81(2) of the Penal Code in the three cases in its ruling of June 2001 and only to convict the defendants in one case to one month of imprisonment and the two other defendants to suspended sentences of six months of imprisonment and a fine of 50,000 CFA francs in May 2002. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the nature of the attenuating circumstances accepted by the Court, to indicate whether these sentences have been served by those who committed the offence and whether court decisions have since been made under the new Act of 27 May 2003 on the trafficking of children. If so, the Committee requests the Government to provide copies of these decisions.

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