Selected Child Labor Measures Adopted by Governments
| Ratified Convention 138 2/7/2003 |
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| Ratified Convention 182 2/7/2003 |
X |
| ILO-IPEC Member |
X |
| National Plan for Children |
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| National Child Labor Action Plan |
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| Sector Action Plan |
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Incidence and Nature of Child Labor
UNICEF estimated that 40.3 percent of children ages 5 to 14 years were working in Côte d’Ivoire in 2000.[1187] The disparity between rural and urban areas is significant: 56.8 percent of rural children ages 5 to 14 were working, compared to only 22.5 percent of urban children in this age group.[1188] The majority of working children are found in the informal sector,[1189] including in agriculture, family-operated artisanal gold and diamond mines, fishing, and domestic work.[1190] Some children working as domestics are subject to mistreatment, including sexual abuse.[1191] Children also shine shoes, run errands, watch and wash cars, sell food in street restaurants, and work as vendors or in sweatshop conditions in small workshops.[1192] Children have been found working in small businesses, tailor and beauty shops, and manufacturing and repair shops.[1193] There are also large numbers of street children in the country, particularly in Abidjan.[1194]
Children are also found working in prostitution.[1195] National armed forces and rebel groups are reported to recruit or use children in situations of armed conflict, sometimes on a forced basis.[1196] Rebel forces are also reported to actively recruit child soldiers from refugee camps and other areas in the western part of the country.[1197]
Côte d’Ivoire is a source and destination country for trafficked children.[1198] Children are trafficked into the country from Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania and Togo to work as domestic servants, farm laborers, and indentured servants, and for sexual exploitation. There are also reports of Malian boys working on farms and plantations in Côte d’Ivoire under conditions of indentured servitude. Children have been trafficked out of Côte d’Ivoire to other countries in Africa as well as to Europe and the Middle East. Children are also trafficked from all parts of the country into Abidjan and other areas in the south for domestic service.[1199]
A study by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) on children working in the cocoa sector revealed that in Côte d’Ivoire most children work alongside their families.[1200] Children are involved in hazardous tasks that include spraying pesticides without protection, using machetes to clear undergrowth and carrying heavy loads.[1201] Approximately one-third of children ages 6 to 17 years who live in cocoa-producing households have never attended school.[1202] A minority of the children working in the cocoa sector in Côte d’Ivoire are engaged in full time work.[1203] Most of these children come from outside the country’s cocoa zone, either from other regions of Côte d’Ivoire or from countries such as Burkina Faso.[1204]
Primary education in Côte d’Ivoire is not compulsory.[1205] Primary education is tuition free, and primary and secondary school students no longer have to wear uniforms.[1206] However, some students must still pay for books, fees, and school supplies.[1207] Schools in rebel-held areas in northern Côte d’Ivoire that were closed after the civil war broke out reopened in September 2004. However, after the resumption of armed conflict in November 2004, the Minister of National Education recalled all the administrative staff and refused to certify the examinations.[1208] Schools in government-controlled areas do not have the capacity to absorb the large numbers of displaced children from conflict zones.[1209]
In 2001, the gross primary enrollment rate was 80.3 percent (92.3 percent for boys and 68.2 percent for girls), and the net primary enrollment rate was 62.6 percent (72.0 percent for boys and 53.1 percent for girls).[1210] Gross and net enrollment ratios are based on the number of students formally registered in primary school and therefore do not necessarily reflect actual school attendance. A UNICEF study in 2000 estimated that 56.9 percent of Ivorian children ages 6 to 11 attended school.[1211] There is a disparity in primary school attendance between children in urban areas (66.5 percent) and rural areas (48.5 percent), as well as between boys (61.4 percent) and girls (51.8 percent).[1212] As of 1998, 69.1 percent of children who started primary school were likely to reach grade 5.[1213]
Child Labor Laws and Enforcement
The Labor Code sets the minimum age for employment at 14 years, even for apprenticeships, and requires that children under 18 get at least 12 consecutive hours of rest between work shifts, and prohibits them from working at night.[1214] Decree No. 96-204 also prohibits night work by children ages 14 to 18 years, unless granted an exception by the Labor Inspectorate,[1215] and Decree No. 67-265 sets the minimum age for hazardous work at 18 years.[1216] The Minority Act requires parents or legal guardians to sign employment contracts on behalf of children under 16 years of age and to serve as witnesses to the signing for children between the ages of 16 and 18.[1217] The Labor Inspectorate can require children to take a medical exam to ensure that the work for which they are hired does not exceed their physical capacity.[1218] Decree No. 96-193 restricts children from working in certain places such as bars, hotels, pawnshops, and second-hand clothing stores.[1219]
The Labor Code prohibits forced or compulsory labor,[1220] and according to the Penal Code, persons convicted of procuring a prostitute under age 21 may be imprisoned for 2 to 10 years and fined 2,000,000 to 20,000,000 FCFA (USD 3,666 to 36,661).[1221] The U.S. Department of State reported that minimum age laws are effectively enforced by the Ministry of Employment and Civil Service only in the civil service and in large multinational companies.[1222] The child labor laws in Côte d’Ivoire apply to all sectors and industries in the country, although the lack of government resources makes them difficult to enforce in the informal sector.[1223]
There is no law specifically prohibiting trafficking in persons, but the government prosecutes traffickers using laws against child kidnapping and forced labor.[1224] However, enforcement of child labor prohibitions is hindered by the lack of a regulatory and judicial framework.[1225]
Current Government Policies and Programs to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor
The Government of Côte d’Ivoire is one of nine countries participating in a USDOL-funded ILO-IPEC project to combat the trafficking of children for exploitative labor in West and Central Africa; the project began in July 2001 and is scheduled for completion in June 2007.[1226] Côte d’Ivoire also participates in a 3-year ILO-IPEC program funded by USDOL and the Cocoa Global Issues Group that seeks to withdraw children from hazardous work in the cocoa sector and provide them with education and training alternatives, and in another USDOL-funded project aimed at addressing training and educational alternatives for children engaged in, or at risk of, harmful work.[1227]
A decree establishing the National Steering Committee on Child Labour was adopted in March 2004, and the committee was launched on September 29, 2004.[1228] In August 2004, the government signed an order creating a Focal Unit in the Ministry of Labor that will be responsible for child labor issues,[1229] and in October, a list of hazardous tasks in the cocoa sector was produced.[1230]
The Ministries of Employment and of Family, Women, and Children’s Affairs cooperate with Malian authorities to combat child trafficking and to repatriate Malian children found in Côte d’Ivoire.[1231] During the past year, security forces along with law enforcement and judiciary authorities have been trained on child trafficking and child labor,[1232] and the government has worked with a German aid organization to repatriate Malian children who had been trafficked into the country for agricultural work.[1233] In March 2004, Côte d’Ivoire participated in a sub-regional workshop in Mali on child trafficking in West Africa.[1234] A national committee, comprised of representatives from the government, national and international organizations, and NGOs, also works to combat child trafficking.[1235] Also in March 2004, the government and UNDP launched three projects to disarm and demobilize former soldiers, including child soldiers.[1236]
With support from the ILO and the Ivoirian Cocoa and Coffee Regulatory Authority, the government is implementing a pilot project whose objectives include ensuring that children in cocoa production regions are in school, and establishing a system that certifies that cocoa exports are free of child labor.[1237]
The government is implementing a National Development Plan for Education, which calls for universal primary school education by 2010.[1238] WFP works with the government to operate a system of school canteens throughout the country,[1239] and a permanent school-feeding program is being established using a 1.4 billion FCFA (USD 2.6 million) donation from Japan.[1240] The U.S. Department of Agriculture is also providing funds to support nutritious school meals for children.[1241] UNICEF provides teaching supplies, constructs temporary classrooms for displaced populations, and trains teachers to provide psycho-social support and peace education.[1242] UNICEF continues to collaborate with the Ministry of Education to design a curriculum that promotes a culture of peace and tolerance.[1243] In January 2004, the World Bank announced USD 57 million in emergency contributions to restore the country’s war-ravaged schools.
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