CHAD: 2006 CHILD LABOR UPDATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NDJAMENA 000002

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF, AF/C, INR, DRL/IL FOR TU DANG
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS
DOL/ILAB FOR TINA MCCARTER

E.O. 12958: N/A.
TAGS: EAID EIND ELAB ETRD PHUM SOCI CD
SUBJECT: CHAD: 2006 CHILD LABOR UPDATE

Ref: A. STATE 184972 B. 05 NDJAMENA 1367


1. Summary: To date, the Chadian GovernmentQs efforts to combat
the worst forms of child labor have been centered on laying the
legal foundation to meet its commitments to international labor
conventions aimed at protecting children. While progress has
been made at completing studies that identify the causes and
magnitude of child labor abuses, progress has been slow in
implementing legislation and dedicating the financial and
personnel resources needed to actively enforce that
legislation. End summary.

Legal Regime
--------------


2. A comprehensive executive decree harmonizing ChadQs legal code
with ILO 182 and 138 has been completed by the Ministry of
Justice, but has yet to be submitted to the Council of Ministers
for its concurrence and subsequent approval by President Deby.
In addition to outlining working conditions and limitations
on acceptable forms of child labor by age group, the decree
includes language addressing the worst forms of child labor
including prostitution and child soldiering. Because the
labor code does not currently include punitive provisions
to allow for prosecution of child labor violations, the decree
will be a watershed in providing the legal means for effective
enforcement. The decree specifies that the enforcement and
punitive provisions article of the labor code (article 190)
shall be applied to the violations identified in the decree.


Regulations for Implementation and Enforcement of the Legal Regime
-------------- --------------


3. The prosecution of child labor abuses has to date been rare in
Chad due to the lack of child labor-specific provisions in the
existing labor code, a weak and backlogged judicial system
and a shortage of labor inspectors.


4. Due in large measure to the absence of child-labor provisions
in the penal code, the judicial system remains a weak link in
efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. The Child
Protection Office of the Ministry of Justice reported that in
August, a 16-year-old child was rescued from human traffickers who
were attempting to take the child across the Chadian border to
Nigeria. The traffickers were detained and their case referred to
the Ministry of Justice. To date, the traffickers have yet to be
prosecuted because of the lack of child-specific provisions in the
penal code. The approval of the executive decree by the Council of
Ministers and the President regulating child labor will allow for
the penal code to be applied to the prosecution of child labor
cases.

Social Programs and Withdrawal of Children from the Worst Forms of
Child Labor
-------------- --------------


5. The UNICEF child protection office reports that to date some
300 child herders have been rescued through the intervention with
local authorities of non-governmental and church-based
organizations. In this highly visible form of child labor in which
non-nomad children are leased by their families/villages to nomad
herdsmen, local NGOs have formed a coordinative network to
identify child herders and to work with communities for their
return.


6. In early 2006, some 40 street children begging outside an
NQDjamena mosque were rescued by a local NGO (Bethesda),which
initially provided shelter and registered and enrolled the
children in school. Lacking resources for food, clothing and
continued shelter, the NGO later released the children who,
lacking support, returned to the streets.


7. UNICEF also reports that a Catholic-church supported NGO,
the Justice and Peace Commission, initiated in 2006 a model and,
to date unique, program for child domestic workers that combines
rescue, shelter, counseling, vocational training, placement and
follow up. No data have as yet been released on the number of
children affected by this program. In conjunction with refugee and
internally displaced persons (IDP) facilities in the East and
South, Qchild friendly centersQ have been established by UNICEF
that provide shelter, education and training opportunities not
only to refugee/IDP children, but to those children in need from
areas surrounding the camps.

Comprehensive Policy to Eliminate Child Labor
--------------


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8. The Government of Chad has yet to issue a comprehensive plan
to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. However, UN, NGO
and church-affiliated organizations continue to work with the
ministries of justice, labor, education and social action and
family to identify target groups and to raise public awareness.
An impact study that will expand on the list of the worst forms
of child labor is scheduled to be conducted by UNICEF in 2007.
The study is to focus particular attention on urban areas and
on the sexual exploitation of minors in ChadQs growing petroleum
sector.

Progress toward Elimination of Child Labor
--------------


9. Government ministries are inching forward in the effort to
combat the worst forms of child labor. Extreme poverty, a weak
educational system and lack of capacity and resources remain
significant obstacles.


10. The most visible progress was in prevention and in
awareness-raising. The rising involvement at the grass-roots level
of community-based NGOs to identify, rescue and register children
is of particular note, but resource constraints limit the capacity
of these organizations to provide the educational and training
opportunities needed to allow child victims to pursue acceptable
alternatives.


11. However, a positive development in 2006 was the elimination of
school fees and the provision of free textbooks and school supplies
at public primary schools. This represented a key step forward in
providing a means for rescued children to be educated as well as
being an alternative for children at risk of exploitation.


12. Comment: A major cabinet reshuffle that included the justice
and other ministers responsible for implementing measures to combat
the worst forms of child labor helps explain the slow progress in
this and other social areas of the Chadian government. However, the
sharp increase in 2006 of armed rebel opposition to the Government
has diverted both executive attention and financial resources from
child labor and other social problems. An urgent next step for the
Government is promulgation and application of the child labor
decree currently before the Council of Ministers. Absent effective
legal means to prosecute child labor abuses, government, UN and
NGO programs to raise public awareness and to provide abused and
vulnerable children with shelter, education and training can have
only limited effect.

Tamlyn