RWANDA UPDATE OF WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR

UNCLAS KIGALI 001198 SIPDIS SIPDIS PLEASE PASS TO DOL/ILAB-TINA MCCARTER AND DRL/IL- TU DANG E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM ELAB EIND ETRD SOCI USAID RW SUBJECT: RWANDA UPDATE OF WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR INFORMATION REF: A. STATE 184972 ¶B. KIGALI 192 ¶1. Summary. There are few updates to post's August submission of Worst Forms of Child Labor information for mandatory reporting requirements as requested (ref A). GOR continues to take the issue seriously; however, progress is gradual due to the lack of capacity in the Ministries charged with execution of the government's five-year action plan. End summary. Incidence and Nature of Child Labor -------------- ¶2. The most recent relevant statistics from UNICEF (ref B) are: -- 352,550 children are engaged in child labor -- 83.1 percent in the commercial agricultural sector -- 11.9 percent in the domestic sector -- 1.2 percent in commerce -- 0.7 percent in manufacturing -- 7,000 street children -- 1.3 million orphans (defined by the GOR as children with no or one parent) -- 106,000 child headed households Child Labor Laws and Enforcement -------------- ¶3. The GOR's lead authority for implementation and enforcement of proscriptions against worst forms of child labor continues to be the Ministry of Public Service, Skills Development and Labor (MIFOTRA). In August a MIFOTRA training workshop for labor inspectors included a session on child labor issues. According to MIFOTRA Director of Labor Inspectors, Julie Kamukala, GOR labor inspectors will be integrating child labor issues into district performance contracts. The government has thirty labor inspectors that address child labor issues (Note. Rwanda is comprised of four provinces and thirty districts. End note). When inspectors find cases of child labor they generally educate the violator on Rwandan child labor laws and issue a warning. On 12 December, Kamukala said MIFORTA labor inspectors would begin keeping track of child labor law enforcement statistics in 2007 but there are no current statistics on how many labor inspections were conducted in 2006. Current Policies and Programs to Eliminate the WFCL -------------- -------------- ¶4. In addition to the work by the Labor Inspectors Department of MIFOTRA, the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion, with assistance from UNICEF and Save the Children, continues to develop the National Action Plan for Orphans and Vulnerable Children Plan of Action. There are child issues courts operating but they have not yet handled child labor cases. ¶5. Comment. It is country team's view that the GOR continues to make progress towards eliminating the worst forms of child labor. End comment. ARIETTI