NIGER: COMMENTS ON DOL DRAFT LIST FOR TVPRA

UNCLAS NIAMEY 000092

DEPT FOR DRL/ILCSR M MITTELHAUSER AND G/TIP FOR S STEINER
DOL FOR DOL/ILAB/RACHEL RIGBY

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB PHUM EAGR EMIN EIND ETRD NG
SUBJECT: NIGER: COMMENTS ON DOL DRAFT LIST FOR TVPRA

REF: A) STATE 43120, B) NIAMEY 00030


1. This is Embassy Niamey's response to Ref A requesting comment on
the Department of Labor's (DOL) draft list of goods that the Bureau
of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) believes are produced with
child labor in Niger.


2. The list for Niger includes: gold, gypsum, salt, and trona.
The Niger list appears to have been generated from an ILO report
titled, "Child Labor in Small-Scale Mining: Examples from Niger,
Peru & Philippines". The report was based on site visits in Niger
and provided details about the involvement of children in various
activities at each site, but was last updated in September 2000.
There have been significant changes since then, which have been
reported regularly in annual reports on "Worst Forms of Child
Labor", most recently as Ref B, submitted by Embassy Niamey in
January 2009.


3. Niger is an extremely poor country, with very little industrial
production. Despite resource constraints, the Government of Niger
(GON) has enacted a number of new laws to protect children.
Children continue to work under abysmal conditions in the artisanal
mining operations, but there have been significant efforts,
including several DOL-funded projects, to improve conditions in this
sector. (For more detailed information on those projects, please
see Ref B, section C.) Inauguration of the first commercial gold
mine in Niger in 2004 established modern production systems with
high-paying jobs for skilled adult workers. To facilitate the
transition to commercial mining operations, the GON has issued
additional exploration permits, but artisanal mining continues in
areas where the deposits are insufficient to support commercial
operations.


4. It is not possible for us to review conditions or confirm whether
children continue to labor in artisanal production of gypsum, salt,
and trona. These are very small-scale and localized artisanal
operations that sell their production informally on local markets.
The original ILO report makes it clear that production was a family
effort and, in most cases, these were seasonal activities undertaken
to supplement family income. The involvement of children in
collecting, processing, and selling gypsum, salt, and trona does not
appear to be substantially different from the involvement of
children in other subsistence activities in Niger, such as firewood
collection, collection and sale of forage, etc. It would be far
better for these children to be in school, but there is no evidence
that these subsistence activities meet the standard of exploitative
child labor.

ALLEN