Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07FREETOWN12
2007-01-05 12:43:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Freetown
Cable title:  

SIERRA LEONE: WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR

Tags:  ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI EAID SL 
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VZCZCXRO0481
PP RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHFN #0012/01 0051243
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 051243Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY FREETOWN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0660
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC PRIORITY
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0218
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 FREETOWN 000012 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DOL FOR ILAB (TINA MCCARTER),DEPT FOR DRL/IL (TU DANG)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI EAID SL
SUBJECT: SIERRA LEONE: WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR

REF: STATE 184972

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 FREETOWN 000012

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DOL FOR ILAB (TINA MCCARTER),DEPT FOR DRL/IL (TU DANG)

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI EAID SL
SUBJECT: SIERRA LEONE: WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR

REF: STATE 184972


1. Per reftel instructions, Post submits the following
update to its 2005 Worst Forms of Child Labor report.


2. Background: Child labor is prevalent in Sierra Leone.
Many children are employed in family businesses, subsistence
farming, street trading, and domestic work. Within the
country, trafficking occurs when impoverished parents or
relatives in rural areas send children to urban areas where
many find work as domestic laborers or commercial sex
workers. Children also are sent to diamond mining areas
where they are often sexually exploited or forced to work in
mines. Sierra Leone's legislative and policy environment is
supportive of children's rights in many ways, but the
Government lacks the resources to effectively enforce and
implement key laws and policies.


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

-- The GoSL has yet to ratify ILO 138 and 182. However,
there is a bill before Parliament to ratify ILO 182.
Additionally, the Parliament is presently debating a bill
entitled, The Child Rights Act, 2006. When passed, the bill
will set the minimum age for general employment at 15 years,
which is also the maximum required age for compulsory primary
education. Thirteen years will be the minimum age for light
work, and only those 18 years and older can engage in
hazardous work. Hazardous work includes working on sea-going
vessels, mining and quarrying, porterage of heavy loads,
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 person may be exposed to immoral behavior. The bill
will not allow children to work at night between the hours of
2000 and 0600. One section of the bill provides protection
for children from exploitative labor, which is defined as
anything that deprives a child of his/her health, education
or development.

-- Sierra Leone passed the Education Act of 2004, which

provides basic education for all children beginning at age
six and makes it a criminal offense for a parent to neglect
to send his/her child to school for basic education. However,
enforcement for all child labor and compulsory education
provisions is limited.


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

-- The Ministry of Labor, Social Security and Industrial
Relations is responsible for enforcing child labor laws.
Inadequate staff capacity and funding woes continue to hinder
the Government's ability to effectively monitor child labor
issues, especially in the informal sector where a majority of
children work.


5. C) Social programs to prevent and withdraw children from
the worst forms of labor:

-- The Department of Labor will fund seven projects totaling
$275,000 from 2005 to 2007 under the Winrock International
Community-Base Innovations to reduce Child Labor through
Education (CIRCLE) program. These projects promote child
protection issues and provide vocational skills and basic
education training that seek to remove children from
hazardous working conditions into an environment free from at
risk conditions. The projects also will establish monitoring
committees and centers for victims, as well as create group
micro enterprises. NGOs have or will receive grants ranging
from $25,000 to $71,000 for the projects, and in sum will
target over 2,000 at risk children and nearly 200 parents and
teachers.

-- The Countering Youth and Child Labor Through Education
(CYCLE) initiative, a four-year $6 million project funded by
the Department of Labor and implemented by the International
Rescue Committee in Sierra Leone and Liberia, focuses on the
prevention of the worst forms of child labor. From September
2005 to March 2009, CYCLE will promote the reduction of
exploitative child labor by improving accessibility to
education for children engaged in exploitative or vulnerable
child labor, by strengthening economic alternatives to child
labor for families and communities, and by increasing
awareness of the risks and loss of human potential for
children engaged in child labor. The CYCLE project plans to
move nearly 30,000 children in targeted communities in Sierra
Leone and Liberia who are employed in worst forms of child

FREETOWN 00000012 002 OF 002


labor or who are at risk of being employed in the worst forms
of child labor into educational programs.

-- The Ambassadors' Girls' Scholarship Program for Sierra
Leone is an annual fund of $200,000 that focuses on girls'
retention and completion of primary education. It is part of
President Bush's five-year African Education Initiative that
seeks to increase access to quality basic educational
opportunities in Africa. The program is in its second year,
and will provide scholarships over five years for 3,000
primary school students in regions of Sierra Leone
registering the poorest girls' enrollment record.

-- The law mandates primary school attendance for children
age six to 12 and the government promotes a policy of free
primary education. Despite government policy on free
education, there are many informal fees that many families
cannot afford to pay.


6. D) Comprehensive policy aimed at the elimination of the
worst forms of child labor:

-- The Government, with technical assistance from the
UK-funded Justice Sector Development Program, has established
a National Child Justice Strategy for Sierra Leone. The
Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender, and Children's Affairs
will have responsibility for implementation of policies
geared to assist children in conflict with the law, children
who are victims of abuse and children who might be at risk of
abuse and delinquency. The strategy will also concentrate on
bridging gaps between law and practice on children issues.
One of the main considerations will be the establishment of
safe homes or foster families for temporary placement of
victims and channels and outlets for reporting child abuse.

-- Officials from the Ministries of Labor (MOL),Education,
Science and Technology (MEST),Social Welfare, Gender and
Children's Affairs (MSWGCA) have been actively involved in
sensitizing activities to increase awareness of child labor
issues. The Minister of Labor gave a keynote speech at the
first ever celebration of World Day against Child Labor on
June 12, 2006. UN and national radio voluntarily broadcasted
a program multiple times in the local language of a panel
discussion with participants from numerous ministries on the
worst forms of child labor. Numerous community sensitizing
training sessions were held throughout the country in July
and had over 600 participants.


7. E) Progress toward eliminating the worst forms of child
labor:

-- A needs and resource assessment conducted by the
International Rescue Committee for the CYCLE project in six
targeted towns/villages and surrounding areas in early 2006
found that 71.3 percent of 353 working children surveyed were
engaged in exploitative child labor, which was likely to harm
their health, safety and morals. Of the 353 children, 30.2
percent were engaged in dangerous or inappropriate work, 21
percent worked without adult supervision, 29.8 percent
engaged in work that resulted in serious work injuries, and
17 percent used dangerous tools.

Among surveyed children involved in the unconditional worst
forms of child labor, the largest proportion were found to
have been involved in mining (12.1 percent) and to a lesser
extent in prostitution (1.9) percent. However, this
information likely significantly under-represented such
cases.

Children not living with a parent are twice as likely in
surveyed communities to be in exploitative child labor or out
of school.
HULL