BENIN: WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 COTONOU 000915 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR DRL/IL: TU DANG AND AF/W DANA BANKS DOL FOR ILAB/MCCARTER PARIS FOR POL - D'ELIA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI EAID BN SUBJECT: BENIN: WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR REF: STATE 00158223 ¶1. This cable responds to the Department's request for information for the Worst Forms of Child Labor report (Reftel). -------------- Laws and Regulations -------------- ¶2. Benin uses laws and ministerial decrees to set the minimum age for employment, to prohibit child trafficking, and to forbid children's work in certain sectors. Benin's Labor Code sets the minimum age for employment at 14 years of age. Children aged 12 to 14 may perform domestic work and light work of a temporary or seasonal nature, provided that it does not interfere with their compulsory schooling. Benin's minimum age for military recruitment is 18. ¶3. In April 2006, President Yayi promulgated Act No 2006-04 relating to the Displacement of Minors and the Suppression of Child Trafficking. The new law provides for increased penalties for the trafficking of minors, including imprisonment from six months to life, depending on the severity of the crime, and fines from $100 (50,000 CFA francs) to $10,000 (five million CFA francs). The GOB has increased its fight against child trafficking by creating a National Child Protection Coordination and Monitoring Working Group, by increasing public campaign awareness along its borders, and by coordinating the repatriation of Beninese children exploited in Nigeria's stone quarries. ¶4. The inter-ministerial decree No 132 of November 2, 2000 provides a comprehensive list of the worst forms of child labor. It sets the categories of work that are prohibited for under-aged children. Examples of forbidden work for children under the age of 18 include the operation of motorized vehicles, the operation of crushing machinery or use of sharp instruments, and work in slaughterhouses. ¶5. Beninese law does not at present contain a definition of the worst forms of child labor; however the GOB ratified both International Labor Organization Conventions 138 (setting the minimum work age) and 182 (defining the worst forms of child labor) in 2001. While Benin did set out several categories of work children cannot perform in Decree No 132 (noted above),Benin has not yet prepared a list of the worst forms of child labor using the 6-step procedure required by Convention 182. According to the Labor Office at the Ministry of Labor and Civil Service, a consultant has been hired to finalize such a list of hazardous forms of child labor which the Office of Labor is expecting to release by the end of ¶2007. -------------- -------------- Regulations for Implementation and Enforcement of Proscriptions Against the Worst Forms of Child Labor -------------- -------------- ¶6. The legal remedies that are available to government agencies that enforce child labor laws cover different statutes in Benin including the Penal Code, the Labor Code, the General Collective Convention on Labor, the Social Code, case law, and a wide range of other legislation and government decrees. The penalties for violating the Labor Code articles relating to child labor include a penalty of imprisonment for 2 months to 1 year and/or a fine. Act No. 2006-04 relating to the Displacement of Minors and the Suppression of Child Trafficking also provides a penalty of imprisonment and heavy fines for child traffickers. These penalties are adequate to punish and deter violations; however their enforcement is often lax. ¶7. The Government of Benin designated the Ministry of Interior's Brigade for the Protection of Minors (BPM) as the lead agency for all law enforcement activities related to children, including child labor and child trafficking. During the year the BPM arrested child traffickers and rescued and reintegrated trafficked children. Though in most cases child trafficking is associated with child labor, the BPM was not able to provide statistics related to the worst forms of labor. However, the BPM is compiling statistics detailing its work during 2007 which will be available for the 2008 TIP report. ¶8. There are approximately 126 government labor agents (inspectors, controllers and administrators),who are located at the departmental level throughout the 12 departments of Benin. These officials only regulate the formal sector (not the informal one, where the majority of child labor occurs) and none are dedicated solely to investigating child labor cases. When a complaint arises regarding child labor, a government labor inspector will visit the work site and investigate. If the law is being violated, the labor inspector may try to negotiate with the employer to remedy the situation COTONOU 00000915 002 OF 003 immediately. If the labor inspector finds serious violations have occurred, the inspector has the authority to sanction the employer and order the employer to pay compensation to the victim(s). ¶9. The Ministry of Labor was unable to provide Post with any information detailing the number of complaints investigated and violations addressed regarding the worst forms of child labor. ¶10. The GOB undertook several awareness raising and training activities during 2007 to raise awareness of risks of child labor. On April 27, 2007 the Government of Benin organized a training session sponsored by the ILO on the risks to children from work in the construction sector. Throughout the year the GOB, with the support of UNICEF, conducted public awareness campaigns to heighten the public's knowledge of the laws governing children's work. The Office of Labor worked with minors who are apprentices in handicraft workshops to make them aware of their rights. The Office of Labor has set up several counseling centers to provide these apprentices with advice and guidance. ¶11. The Office of Labor has also acted to strengthen its institutional capacity to respond to child labor violations. In July 2007 it created a unit, led by two Office of Labor administrators, dedicated to fighting child labor violations. Additionally, the French Ministry of Labor, through an assistance program, supports the Beninese Ministry of Labor in training labor inspectors on inspection techniques and on labor risk analysis. During the year labor inspectors also received training funded by UNICEF and ILO on specific techniques enabling them to investigate efficiently labor violations in the informal sector. -------------- -------------- Social Programs Specifically Designed to Prevent and Withdraw Children from the Worst Forms of Child Labor -------------- -------------- ¶12. While Benin does not have social programs specifically designed to prevent the worst forms of child labor President Yayi has introduced a new micro-credit program to give poor women the resources to start businesses. As this program contributes to a family's economic success it should work to decrease the "push" effect of poverty which often results in child labor. -------------- -------------- Comprehensive Policy Aimed at the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor -------------- -------------- ¶13. Benin recently completed drafting and editing of the UNICEF sponsored National Policy and Strategy for Child Protection and the ILO sponsored National Plan to Combat Child Trafficking and Labor. Those two policy documents incorporate the issue of child labor and are expected to provide coherence, focus and direction to all child protection related activities undertaken by the GOB. As each policy is new it is too early to measure the GOB's success in implementation. Benin incorporated an overall child protection policy into its National Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (DCSRP). ¶14. Benin's Constitution makes primary education compulsory and free. Prior to the 2007 - 2008 school year the GOB was not meeting its constitutional requirement to provide a free primary school education. President Yayi ended the school fees that parents previously paid for the 2007 - 2008 school year. While this has reduced parents' outlays for their children's education, parents continue to pay additional "fees" for school materials and uniforms. As a result of President Yayi's elimination of school fees 240,000 additional children have enrolled for primary education this year. The GOB will devote 64 billion FCFA (approximately 14.5 million USD) for the education sector in its 2008 budget. -------------- -------------- Benin's Progress toward Eliminating the Worst Forms of Child Labor -------------- -------------- ¶15. According to statistics (from Benin's 2002 census) published in a 2006 ILO publication entitled "The End of Child Labor: An Objective within our Reach" "La fin du travail des enfants: un objectif ` notre porte," there are 480,023 children, 14 and under, working in either the formal or informal sectors in Benin in the following activities: agriculture, hunting and fishing (275,648); industry (22,476); construction and public works (4,189); trade/vending and food & beverage (78,823); transportation and communication (909); and other services including employment as household staff (97,978). COTONOU 00000915 003 OF 003 ¶16. According to Post's and NGO observations children working in Benin often work in the agricultural sector performing planting, cultivating and harvesting work, in the commercial sector as street and market vendors, and selling smuggled gasoline. Children also work in the construction sector and as domestic servants. ¶17. Benin is a source, transit point and destination for trafficked children. According to NGOs and local authorities children are trafficked internally in Benin to perform domestic work in its cities and to harvest cotton in the cotton fields of Northern Benin. Traffickers also take children to Ghana, Nigeria, Gabon, Cote d'Ivoire, Republic of Congo, Guinea Bissau and the Central African Republic for indentured or domestic servitude, farm labor, labor in stone quarries and commercial sex. BROWN