Selected Child Labor Measures Adopted by Governments
| Ratified Convention 138 1/06/2000 |
X |
| Ratified Convention 182 1/26/2001 |
X |
| ILO-IPEC Member |
X |
| National Plan for Children |
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| National Child Labor Action Plan |
X |
| Sector Action Plan (agriculture and herding, industry [carpets and stitching], metal and auto work, construction, the hospitality industry, food production, and the informal sector) |
X |
Incidence and Nature of Child Labor
The Moroccan Statistics Directorate estimated that 11.1 percent of children ages 7 to 14 years in Morocco were working in 2000.[2731] The majority of working children can be found in rural areas in the agricultural sector.[2732] Children in rural areas are reportedly six times more likely to be working than those in urban areas.[2733] Children also work in informal textile, carpet, and other manufacturing.[2734] An estimated 36,000 children work as junior artisans in the handicraft industry, many of them working as apprentices before they reach 12 years of age and under substandard health and safety conditions.[2735]
A 2001 study found that street children in Morocco engage in diverse forms of work including selling cigarettes, begging, shining shoes, and other miscellaneous occupations.[2736] In urban areas, girls can be found working as domestic servants, often in situations of unregulated “adoptive servitude.”[2737] In these situations, girls from rural areas are trafficked, “sold” by their parents, and “adopted” by wealthy urban families to work in their homes.[2738] Girls and boys working as domestic servants and street vendors are increasingly targets of child sex tourism, particularly in the cities of Marrakech and Casablanca.[2739] Use of minors as prostitutes for sex tourists from Europe and the Gulf region has occurred in the village of El Hajeb near Meknes.[2740] Children are also “rented” out by their parents to other adults to beg.[2741]
As a result of a school attendance act adopted in January 2000, education is free and compulsory for children ages 6 to 15 years.[2742] In 2001, the gross primary enrollment rate was 107.0 percent, and the net primary enrollment rate was 88.4 percent.[2743] 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. Recent primary school attendance statistics are not available for Morocco. A recent government study indicated, however, that 800,000 children under the age of 14 did not attend school.[2744] Morocco has high dropout rates, particularly for rural girls who often do not complete primary school.[2745] In 2004, the government began to take steps to enforce the 2000 school attendance law.[2746]
Child Labor Laws and Enforcement
Morocco has recently updated legislation relating to child labor. A new labor code was published in the Official Bulletin on December 8, 2003 and went into effect on June 7, 2004.[2747] The new Labor Code raises the minimum age for employment from 12 to 15 years.[2748] The minimum age restriction applies to the industrial, commercial, and agricultural sectors and also extends to children working in apprenticeships and family enterprises.[2749] According to the Labor Code, children under the age of 16 are prohibited from working more than 10 hours per day, including at least a 1 hour break.[2750] Children under the age of 18 are not permitted to work in hazardous occupations or at night between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. in non-agricultural work.[2751] The Labor Code also prohibits children under 18 from working in stone quarries and mines[2752] and from performing activities that pose an extreme danger to them, exceed their capacities, or result in the breach of public morals.[2753]
The Labor Code prohibits forced or compulsory labor including by children, but these provisions have been difficult to enforce in the informal sector and private homes where most of this labor occurs.[2754] A 1993 law provides protection for abandoned children in Morocco. According to this law, persons younger than 18 and unable to support themselves economically are identified as abandoned if their parents are unknown, unable to be located, or incompetent of assuming a parental role.[2755] These children are then considered eligible for adoption, and adoptive parents are entitled to a stipend from the government. There has been some concern that girls are being fostered at higher rates than boys, and that some girls are being adopted into circumstances equivalent to forced domestic servitude.[2756] The new Family Code, which was published and took effect in February 2004, will protect and give rights to illegitimate and abandoned children who have often found themselves in desperate situations leading to child labor.[2757]
The prostitution of children, corruption of minors, and involvement of children in pornography are prohibited under the Criminal Code.[2758] Soliciting for the purposes of prostitution, as well as aiding, protecting, or profiting from the prostitution of others, are also banned by the Criminal Code.[2759] In December 2003, Parliament changed the Code to make child sexual abuse a crime and to increase penalties against those who hire children under age 18 for purposes of sexual exploitation.[2760]
In 2003, the Immigration and Emigration Act came into effect, prohibiting trafficking of persons through the levying of strict fines and prison sentences against individuals involved in or failing to prevent trafficking in persons, including government officials.[2761] There are several statutes under which traffickers can be prosecuted, including laws on kidnapping, forced prostitution, and coercion.[2762] Law enforcement agencies actively investigate, prosecute, and convict traffickers.[2763] In November 2003, King Mohammed VI instructed the Ministry of Interior to form a new anti-smuggling/human trafficking agency to prevent trafficking in persons.[2764] In December 2003, Morocco signed an agreement with Spain for the repatriation of Moroccan minors living on Spanish soil.[2765]
The Ministry of Employment, Social Affairs, and Solidarity is responsible for implementing and enforcing child labor laws and regulations.[2766] The Labor Code provides for legal sanctions against employers who recruit children under the age of 15.[2767] Legal remedies to enforce child labor laws include criminal penalties, civil fines, and withdrawal or suspension of one or more civil, national, or family rights, including denial of residence for a period of 5 to 10 years.[2768] The new labor Code and amendments allow inspectors and the police to bring charges against employers of children under age 15.[2769] To carry out these new responsibilities, the Ministry of Employment announced in June 2004 that it would hire and train an additional 100 inspectors by January 1, 2005.[2770] Labor inspectors can now take action against abusive employers of child maids under 15, and courts can take action once two witnesses file a complaint, but few employers of child maids have been prosecuted.[2771]
Current Government Policies and Programs to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor
The Government of Morocco has established national and sectoral action plans to combat child labor, especially its worst forms.[2772] The focus of the national plan includes improving implementation and raising awareness of child labor laws, and improving basic education.[2773] Sectoral plans target children in agriculture and herding, the industrial sector (carpets and stitching), metal and auto work, construction, the hospitality industry, and food production, as well as children working in the informal sector.
In 2004, with the adoption of the new Labor Code, the Ministry of Handicrafts and Social Economy announced its intention to enforce prohibitions against hiring apprentices under the age of 15, and to work with the Ministry of National Education, ILO-IPEC and UNICEF to provide work-study programs for older working adolescents interested in returning to school.[2774] In regard to human trafficking, the government’s policy involves investigating and dismantling human smuggling rings, funneling economic development assistance to regions of Morocco where persons are recruited, and raising alerts to the dangers of illegal migration.[2775] In 2004, with the sponsorship of Princess Lalla Meryem, the National Observatory of Children’s Rights began a national awareness raising campaign regarding the sexual exploitation of children.[2776] The government also provides in-kind support to NGOs offering services to victims of trafficking.[2777]
The Government of Morocco is participating in two USDOL-funded projects to eliminate child labor and provide educational opportunities for working children. The first USDOL-funded project includes a USD 3 million ADROS project executed by Management Systems International that aims to eliminate the practice of selling and hiring child domestic workers and to create educational opportunities for child laborers and those vulnerable to child labor.[2778] The second USDOL-funded project in the amount of USD 2 million is an ILO-IPEC child labor project in Morocco, which aims to strengthen national efforts against the worst forms of child labor in Morocco and to remove and prevent children from work in rural areas of the country.[2779]
The government has taken steps to improve the quality of primary education by reforming the curriculum, training and hiring more teachers, and assigning teachers to their hometowns to reduce absenteeism.[2780] The Ministry of National Education and Youth (MNEY) also implements programs for out-of-school children under its Non-Formal Education Program.[2781] In February 2004, the Directorate of Non-Formal Education launched its new strategy that aims to progressively increase access to education programs for children who have either dropped out or never attended school.[2782] The MNEY’s Non-formal Education Program is working in close collaboration with USDOL’s ADROS Child Labor Education Initiative Project to combat the illegal employment of girls under age 15 as domestics, to provide them with remedial educational and vocational training, and to reinsert girls ages 7 to 11 into regular school.[2783]
In June 2003, MNEY announced that the government was increasing the number of schools and classrooms.[2784] In September 2003, the government initiated coursework in the Berber language in 317 primary schools serving primarily a Berber population, with plans to expand the program throughout the country by 2008 should it result in reduced drop-out rates among such children.[2785] The Government of Morocco continues to work with international organizations and local partners to increase school attendance. MNEY is implementing a World Bank-funded program to strengthen institutional capacity, improve teaching quality, and build or rehabilitate rural schools.[2786] In March 2004, the Directorate of Literacy of the State Secretariat in Charge of Literacy and Non-Formal Education held a forum on literacy with UNESCO to review actions and discuss future strategy to eradicate illiteracy by 2015.[2787]
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