THE GAMBIA: UPDATE OF WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR

UNCLAS BANJUL 000592

SIPDIS

DOL/ILAB FOR TINA MCCARTER AND DRL/IL FOR TU DANG

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI USAID GA
SUBJECT: THE GAMBIA: UPDATE OF WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR
INFORMATION FOR MANDATORY REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

REFTEL(S): A: SECSTATE 158223
B: 06 BANJUL 0755


1. Embassy Banjul hereby submits its update for reporting
requirements on the worst forms of child labor.

A) Laws and regulations proscribing the worst forms of child
labor:

The government of The Gambia ratified ILO Convention 128 in
September 2000 and ILO Convention 182 in July 2001. The government
in June 2005 passed the Children's Act, which took effect in July

2005. The Act embodies the key tenets of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child and contains detailed
provisions specifically dealing with the worst forms of child labor,
and mandates stiff penalties for offenders, including life
imprisonment. The 2007 revised Labor Act incorporates those
provisions of the Children's Act pertaining to child labor, though
it exempts work that is in a vocational or technical school or other
training institution if the work is either approved and supervised
by a public authority or is part of the school or institution's
educational or vocational training program.

The Children's Act defines a child as someone under the age of
eighteen. As such, it is prohibited to recruit a child into any
branch of the armed forces or security agencies.

Though The Gambia is a party to the ILO Minimum Age Convention which
sets the minimum age for employment at 14, the Children's Act does
not set a statutory minimum age covering all types of work. It
does, however, contain provisions that, inter alia, set the minimum
age for "light work" at 16, prohibit night work, prohibit hazardous
work (defined as that which "poses a danger to the health, safety or
morals of a child," and includes: going to sea, mining and
quarrying, carrying of heavy loads, work in manufacturing industries
where chemicals are produced or used, work in places where machines
are used, and work in places such as bars, hotels and places of
entertainment where a child may be exposed to immoral behavior),and
outlaw any exploitative work (defined as that which "deprives the
child of his or her health, education or development").

Guidelines for apprenticeships in the informal sector are also laid
out in the Children's Act, which sets the minimum age for an
apprentice at 12, or upon completion of basic education.
Furthermore, the act requires any employed child to be registered
with the Labor Department, and mandates that employers in industrial
undertakings must keep a register of employed children, including
their dates of birth or apparent age.

The 2005 Children's Act also entails the establishment of a
Children's Court in each of the five divisions of The Gambia. The
first Children's Court was set up in the most urban area, the
Western Division, in February 2006. The court has jurisdiction to
hear all criminal cases affecting children, apart from the offense
of treason where the child is jointly charged with adults. The
Children's Act also provides for a special police force that will be
specially trained to protect the interests of children.

In addition to the detailed provisions of the Children's Act
prohibiting child prostitution, trafficking and pornography, the
Tourism Offences Act of 2003 also prohibits these actions. The
Criminal Code prohibits procuring a girl under 21 years of age for
the purposes of prostitution, either in The Gambia or outside of the
country.

B) Regulations for implementation and enforcement of
proscriptions against the worst forms of child labor:

The Department of Labor is mandated to handle all labor matters
including child labor. Their inspectors are empowered to enter all
workplaces to investigate any suspicions or allegations of child
labor or other violations of the Labor Act. The government has also
set up two Industrial Tribunals in Banjul and Kanifing to hear all
labor-related cases, including incidents of child labor. The
Children's Court established under the Children's Act is given broad
authority to deal with all issues concerning the care and treatment
of children, including exploitative child labor. The special
children's security forces mandated by the Children's Act are also
available to deal with any suspected cases of sexual exploitation of
children, pornography or trafficking, though further training is
necessary.

The Department of Labor, through its Inspectorate Unit, attempts to
ensure compliance with child labor standards, though it faces
serious resource constraints. Employee labor cards list employee
ages with the Labor Commissioner, but enforcement inspections rarely
take place. Gambian authorities are also taking steps to deal with
sex tourism involving both boys and girls in the country after the
publication in 2003 of a joint study conducted by the Child

Protection Alliance (CPA) of The Gambia and a Dutch NGO, Terre des
Hommes, revealed disturbing evidence of child sex tourism in The
Gambia practiced by tourists from a variety of European countries,
including the Netherlands. A joint UNICEF/Gambian government study
published in December 2003, noted universal agreement that children
engaged in prostitution in the main tourist resort areas are
predominantly underage, with some as young as 12. The report also
revealed that The Gambia has become an attraction for suspected or
convicted European pedophiles that enter the country as tourists and
"commit their crimes against children silently and with impunity."
The study found no overt coercion of children into prostitution.
These findings led to the increased monitoring of tourist areas and
awareness-raising campaigns targeted at tourists.

While the government has taken actions to combat such crimes, and
offenders have been convicted in court, the problem has not been
eliminated. Pedophiles sometimes exploit the weakness of
poverty-stricken families by offering to adopt their children.
However, with the enactment of the Children's Act, adoption of
Gambian children by non-Gambians is now subject to serious scrutiny
by the Department of Social Welfare and the Children's Court, which
has heard several cases regarding adoption since its inception in
February 2006. Under the Act, there is also a supervision period of
thirty-six months by a Social Welfare officer before an adoption
will be granted. Furthermore, no order will be made in favor of a
sole male applicant with respect to a female or vice versa.
Additionally, applicants are now required to submit a criminal
record check from their home country as well as a home-study
conducted by the foster licensing agency in their country of
residence, before an adoption order can be granted.

In addition to adoption cases, the Children's Court has also heard
cases involving custody, maintenance, parentage, and criminal and
"special" matters. The court meets in camera on a weekly basis.

The Tourism Security Unit (TSU),which was set up by the government
in 2003 to provide security in the tourist resort areas, has been
very effective in dealing with cases related to child labor and
sexual exploitation of children who roam the hotel areas.

In early 2005, the tourism authorities announced a ban on unattended
children under 18 visiting the tourism resort areas and ordered
hotel managers not to allow any minors on the premises. Those
children found in the resort area unaccompanied are remitted to the
custody of the Department of Social Welfare.

The tourism authorities, the Child Protection Alliance and other
NGOs regularly organize workshops to sensitize workers in the
tourism industry to problems of child sex tourism.

In the greater Banjul area there are a significant number of child
street traders who sell a variety of household goods and food items.
This practice makes them vulnerable to exploitation. The Department
of Social Welfare collaborates with UNICEF and the Christian
Children's Fund (CCF) to conduct an ongoing in-depth assessment of
child street traders and orphan street children, in an effort to
provide them better support. They monitor over 350 street children
and conduct sensitizations with the police, market vendors, and
others who come into contact with street vendors. A January 2006
report found that most of the children in the study sample were not
from the Greater Banjul Area, and 38 percent were from other
countries in the sub-region, particularly neighboring Senegal. This
indicates the need for a regional approach for the combating the
problem of child labor.

C) Whether there are social programs specifically deigned to
prevent and withdraw children from the worst forms of child labor:

The Gambia's Constitution mandates free and compulsory primary
education for 9 years, but a lack of resources and educational
infrastructure has made implementation difficult.

Government statistics show that for the 2006-07 academic year for
grades 1-6 (lower basic education),the gross enrollment rate was 92
percent and the net enrollment rate was 75 percent. For grades 7-9
(upper basic education, the gross enrollment rate was 61 percent
while the net enrollment rate was 38 percent. The combined basic
education gross primary enrollment rate was 82 percent for grades
1-9, and the net primary enrollment rate was 63 percent. Enrollment
of girls is low in rural areas where cultural factors and poverty
dissuade parents from sending girls to school.

Accurate primary school attendance rates are unavailable for The
Gambia. While enrollment rates indicate a level of commitment to
education, they do not always reflect children's participation in
school. In 1998, 69.2 percent of children enrolled in primary
school reached grade 5. The primary education completion rate was
53.7 percent, based on 1999 country data. Approximately 15 percent
of school-age children attend Qu'ranic schools called "madrasas,"

which usually have a restricted curriculum.

Through its education program, the government has a definite policy
to develop young people and empower them with knowledge and skills
that will reduce their risk of becoming victims of exploitation.
The new Children's Act, the 2007 revised Labor Law, and other
existing legislation provide the legal framework to combat the worst
forms of child labor.

The government began implementing an education initiative in 1998,
with USD 20 million in loan support from the World Bank. The
project lasted until April 2005 and was intended to increase the
gross enrollment rate to 90 percent, improve educational
opportunities for girls, strengthen basic education curricula, and
improve teacher training. The authorities report that they
surpassed their target, achieving a 91 percent enrollment rate a
year ahead of the project's completion.

The government's education efforts are also supported through a
continuing joint project with UNICEF, which began in 2002.

In 2002 the government initiated a program that paid the school fees
for girls enrolled in grades 7 through 12 in public schools. The
program now covers girls around the country, including those in
private schools.

The government also implements the President's Empowerment of Girls
Education project in the Banjul, Western and North Bank regions of
the country. In June 2002, the Government of The Gambia became
eligible to receive funding from the World Bank and other donors
under the Education for All Fast Track Initiative, which aims to
provide all children with a primary school education by the year

2015. The Angels Trust Fund, which is sponsored by friends of The
Gambia in Switzerland, was launched in 2003 to assist needy students
from lower basic to senior secondary schools. Initially intended
exclusively for girls, the Trust Fund has been extended to include
boys. A number of university students have also benefited.

The U.S. Embassy in Banjul contributes funds to girl's education
through the Education for Development and Democracy Initiative and
the Ambassador's Girls Scholarship Fund.

In March 2006, the Department of Social Welfare with support from
UNICEF and the NGO SOS Kinderdorf launched a certificate and diploma
program in social work at the University of The Gambia, the first of
its kind in the country. This will allow social workers with local
cultural and linguistic knowledge to operate in The Gambia.

In July 2006 the Department of Social Welfare opened a shelter for
orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) in an effort to protect them
from being trafficked, though its resources are constrained and a
limited number of OVCs can be housed at a given time. In 2007, for
example, the shelter took in 15 children who were found attempting
to migrate to Spain in a boat. After the department investigated
whether they were trafficking victims, the children were returned to
their families for reintegration, and Social Welfare continued to
monitor them. Nine children currently are using the shelter's
facilities, though it can accommodate approximately 100 at a time.
A hotline for children's issues is also being used to report cases
of suspected abuse.

The continuing collaboration on the street children project among
the Department of Social Welfare, UNICEF, and CCF also uses the
child protection center to provide a range of services to OVCs, such
as non-formal and formal education, medical care, counseling
services, recreational activities, health education, reunification
and reintegration, and outreach services. The program has also
established a data system to monitor and track sexual exploitation,
and UNICEF has funded the training of data collectors, who will
begin their work in November or December 2007. The next phase of
the project is to train data collectors in data entry to develop a
cohesive database.

UNICEF reports that child abuse, neglect, sexual exploitation, and
instances of juvenile delinquency--children in conflict with the
law--are increasing areas of concern. In an effort to combat these
ills, it has included a Rights Promotion and Protection component in
its current program of cooperation with the Government of The
Gambia.

D) Does the country have a comprehensive policy aimed at the
elimination of the worst forms of child labor?

The Gambia's 2007-2009 Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper includes
provisions for children's health and basic education, but does not
address child labor specifically.

The Department of Social Welfare is working to target and assist
OVCs, the primary source of child labor. Through a partnership with

the CPA, the department has established two child protection
committees to take a community monitoring and policing approach to
combating child labor and trafficking. Using a local execution
plan, the committees will target children in vulnerable situations
and raise awareness of the dangers of child exploitation.

In April 2007, the GOTG, led by the Department of Social Welfare,
launched The Gambia National Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC)
Plan of Action 2007-2015, which will involve collaboration between
government departments and agencies, civil society, and
international donors such as UNICEF. This comprehensive plan
includes several goals with milestones to be reached by December
2008, including: the development of a policy and legislative
framework for the Gambian OVC program; the improvement of the
nutritional status of OVCs; the improvement of the health status of
OVCs; ensuring access to birth registration and certification for
all OVCs; the provision of access to free basic education for all
OVCs by 2015; and the provision of psycho-social support services to
all OVCs. Implementation of the plan is underway.

The government of The Gambia, international donors and agencies, and
civil society and youth groups are involved in sensitization
programs to alert the public to the dangers of the worst forms of
child labor. Child trafficking has been the primary focus of these
efforts. For example, the National Trafficking in Persons Taskforce
made up of representatives from several government departments and
civil society groups, is a government-established group committed to
combating human trafficking; however, its effectiveness to date has
been hampered by limited resources.

In July 2005 the government, in collaboration with foreign donors,
organized a Conference on Best Practices to Combat the Trafficking
of Children in The Gambia. The one-day conference brought together
representatives of international organizations, policy makers, and
civil society to analyze the extent of child trafficking in the
country and to develop measures to eradicate the violation of
children's rights.

From August 2006 to June 2007, the Child Protection Alliance, an
NGO, broadcast public awareness messages about child trafficking on
radio and television as part of an outreach campaign. In November
2006 a UNICEF-funded conference and workshop on trafficking was
organized by the Child Rights Unit of the Department of State for
Justice.

It appears that the amount of attention paid to child trafficking
has often exceeded that given to child labor issues in general.

E) Is the country making continual progress toward eliminating the
worst forms of child labor?

No recent child labor data sets are available from the Gambian
statistics bureau.

The Gambia is making progress toward eliminating the worst forms of
child labor, and the government recognizes that further efforts are
needed. At the ceremony for the "official launch" of the 2005
Children's Act in December 2006 (though the Act was effective as of
July 2005),co-sponsored by UNICEF and the Department of State for
Justice, high-level speakers discussed the need for publicizing and
popularizing the provisions of the Act.

In 2005, UNICEF estimated that 22 percent of children in The Gambia
between the ages of 5 and 14 years were working. Children in rural
areas primarily work on family farms and assist with housework while
many children in urban areas work as street vendors or taxi and bus
assistants. Other sectors where children between the ages of 14 and
17 are known to work include: carpentry, sewing, masonry, plumbing,
tailoring, and auto mechanics. Many girls in rural areas leave
school to work, with some migrating to urban areas seeking domestic
or other employment. For cultural and socio-economic reasons, these
forms of child labor will be very difficult to eliminate. Any
effort at elimination will require sustained government efforts to
tackle the root causes of these problems which include, inter alia,
poverty, unsustainably large family compositions, lack of easily
accessible competitive education facilities and the devaluation of
girls' education.

The government of The Gambia passed a new Labor Act in October 2007
that was critically examined at validation workshops attended by
various stakeholders before being presented to the National Assembly
for passage.

In 2007, the Department of Social Welfare conducted a comprehensive
review of all child-related laws in The Gambia to be used to promote
child rights. The department plans to launch a vigorous campaign to
reinforce these laws and discuss sexual exploitation and child labor
throughout the country.
BACHMAN