GABON: CHILD LABOR INFORMATION FOR TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT

UNCLAS LIBREVILLE 000039 E.O. 12958:N/A TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM PGOV SOCI GB SUBJECT: GABON: CHILD LABOR INFORMATION FOR TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT ACT (GSP) 2008 REPORT Ref: 08 STATE 127448 08 LIBREVILLE 0146 08 LIBREVILLE 0316 ¶1. In Gabon, the problem of child labor in Gabon is closely linked to trafficking in persons, and efforts to combat the worst forms of child labor are merged with efforts to combat child trafficking. This identification is supported by the limited data available. This includes a 1998/99 ILO/IPEC survey that revealed that only 17 out of 600 children found working in Gabon were Gabonese, as well as the fact that the majority of suspected victims of trafficking rescued between 2001 and 2007 and placed in the country's principal reception center were from other countries, including Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Mali, and Cameroon. There are also unconfirmed reports of child labor in the agricultural sector that does not necessarily result from trafficking. According to anecdotal evidence, children aged 12 and above help to clear fields and collect crops at harvest time. Agricultural trade union officials often claim that it is not easy to determine whether the children are being used as cheap labor or whether they are the children of some of hired workers of the plantation, assisting their parents/relatives. ¶2. Please see the following section for requested information. A) Laws and regulations proscribing the worst forms of child labor: The constitution and labor code protect children against exploitation. Specifically, Gabon's Labor Code, Law Number 3/94, provides the laws and regulations proscribing the worst forms of child labor. According to this law, the minimum age for employment is 16 years. Children below the age of 16 may legally work only with official permission from the ministries of Labor, Education, and Public Health. Children between 14 and 16 are allowed to work as apprentices with permission from the Ministry of Education. Article 6 of Law Number 3/94 further prohibits the employment of children in jobs that are unsuitable for them because of their age, state, or condition, or that interfere with their education. Article 167 stipulates that children under 18 years are prohibited from working at night in industrial establishments, except in family-run businesses. However, according to Article 168, children over 16 years are permitted to work in certain industries that, by their nature, must be continued at night, such as sugar refinement, glassmaking, and certain aspects of steel making. In Gabon, the government specifically links the worst forms of child labor with trafficking, and so considers its anti-trafficking laws sufficient to address problems of child labor within its borders. Law 09/04, enacted September 21, 2004, protects children against trafficking into Gabon and can carry prison sentences of 5-15 years and fines from $20,000 to $40,000. Gabon's minimum age for military recruitment is 18 years. Gabon has ratified, but has not yet fully complied with, ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor. However, one key component of Gabon's United Nations' Development Assistance Framework 2007-2011 is to ensure that national legislation is in full compliance with previously ratified international conventions, particularly Convention 182. B) Regulations for implementation and enforcement of proscriptions against the worst forms of child labor: Trafficking in children is a criminal offense which is punishable under Law 09/04, which can carry prison sentences of 5-15 years and fines from $20,000-$40,000. Apprehended traffickers can also be held liable for the repatriation costs for their victims. Gabon has a creditable record of investigation, arrest, incarceration and prosecution, and has successfully induced traffickers to pay the financial cost of repatriating victims. Due to the cumbersome nature of the Gabonese judicial system, however, and in some cases due to the absence of evidence from repatriated victims, Gabon has never successfully secured the conviction of a trafficking offender. Ministry of Justice officials have acknowledged this deficiency and are committed to working harder to achieve convictions. The government has devoted many resources to the fight against child trafficking, and subsequently, child labor. This includes the establishment of a governing regulatory body for Gabon's anti-trafficking effort, the Inter-ministerial Committee to Combat Trafficking in Children. The committee was established with the adoption of Law 09/04 to coordinate the government of Gabon's interagency response to trafficking. Charged with coordinating the identification and protection of victims, as well as the arrest and prosecution of trafficking suspects, the committee is chaired by a representative from the Ministry of Labor and includes members from the Ministries of Interior, Human Rights, Foreign Affairs, and Justice. After a slow beginning plagued by an inadequate budget, the committee is currently in the process of disseminating nationwide guidelines for the identification, extraction from exploitive situations, short-term care, and repatriation of victims to all of the relevant ministries and agencies. Given the nature of the government's interagency effort to combat child trafficking, it is impossible to provide exact statistics on the number inspectors, investigators, police and others involved in addressing the issue of child labor. Likewise, comprehensive official statistics on the number of investigations are also unavailable. Gabonese authorities acknowledge trafficking as a problem, and have taken steps to raise its awareness as such within the population. The government does not provide specialized training for officials, but encourages NGOs and other donor countries to provide training, and permits and encourages full participation in the training by security and ministry officials. Both UNICEF and the Italian NGO ALISEI have been active in providing assistance to victims and assisting the training of law enforcement and ministry officials. Currently, the government is working closely with a U.S. Department of Justice official on the planning of an upcoming International Criminal Investigative Training Assistance Program (ICITAP) project that will provide training, technical assistance, and limited material support to security forces and others involved in the government's anti-trafficking efforts. C) Social programs specifically designed to prevent and withdraw children from the worst forms of child labor. The government provides support to three reception centers in Gabon for trafficking victims, which provide education, medical, and psychological services. Two centers are located in Libreville and one in Port Gentil. Child victims reside in a center until their repatriation can be arranged. Reception centers are clean and adequately funded, and center staff members work with the embassies of countries of origin to repatriate victims. Comprehensive official figures on number of victims and funding sources are unavailable. The government also worked throughout the year with local and international organizations on prevention and protection of victims. There is a joint UNICEF-government call center for suspected instance of trafficking, which is staffed by employees of the Gabonese government, housed in a government-owned office building, with expenses covered by the government. The government also provides some material to support local and international non-governmental organizations working on the issue. In February 2008, the government, along with the Italian NGO ALISEI and local NGO partners, released a collection of all of the current laws and regulations concerning child trafficking to foster better understanding among all of the actors in the fight against this problem. The government ran information/educational campaigns throughout the year. Gabon's inter-ministerial committee ran campaigns to target cities, towns and villages outside of Libreville. Government media also provided coverage to trafficking issues, including ongoing regional initiatives to combat this problem. D) Policy or national program of action on child labor or specific forms of child labor. Gabon's national program of action to eliminate child trafficking targets child labor as well. Gabon produced a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper in 2006, one component of which aims to strengthen relevant judicial processes. Education is compulsory until age 16 and is generally available through sixth grade. E) Progress toward eliminating the worst forms of child labor: Gabon is primarily a destination country for children trafficked from other African countries (Benin, Nigeria, Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Cameroon) for the purpose of forced labor. Unfortunately, accurate information about child labor is difficult to obtain, and Post resources do not currently allow us to undertake a comprehensive study of the question. However, some general patterns are discernable. Girls are primarily trafficked for domestic servitude, forced market vending, forced restaurant labor, and sexual exploitation. Boys are trafficked for forced street hawking and forced labor in small workshops. There is anecdotal evidence that children work in the agricultural, animal husbandry, fishing, and mining sectors. More recently, young adults appear to have been trafficked to Gabon under false pretenses to work as forced domestic servants and prostitutes. Government authorities working on trafficking issues claim this trend towards older victims is in direct response to their awareness-raising efforts to combat child trafficking. REDDICK