REPUBLIC OF CONGO: INFORMATION ON CHILD LABOR AND FORCED

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BRAZZAVILLE 000048 SIPDIS DOL/ILAB FOR STROTKAMP, RIGBY, MCCARTER DRL/ILCSR FOR MORGAN, DANG G/TIP FOR CDEBACA, YOUSEY AF/C FOR KORTE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI CF SUBJECT: REPUBLIC OF CONGO: INFORMATION ON CHILD LABOR AND FORCED LABOR REF: STATE 131995 ¶1. Summary: According to Congo's most recent census of 2005, 71 percent of children between the ages of 5 to 17 work, 97 percent of which work in the home. Exploitative child labor in the Republic of Congo is estimated by the government at 1339 children, of which 10 percent are girls. Children primarily work in the informal sector, either with their families or in forced service activities, including street vending, prostitution, and domestic labor. Current legislation does not protect children who are exploited in the informal sectors in the Congo. The Ministry of Labor uncovered nine cases of child trafficking and labor in Point Noire, but these cases have been pending for up to two years. There have been no prosecutions from these cases. Congo's laws with regard to child labor are not adequate at the moment but the Parliament passed in August 2009 the Child Protection Code, which awaits the President's signature. End summary. FORCED LABOR AND EXPLOITATIVE CHILD LABOR IN THE PRODUCTION OF GOODS ¶2. In Congo, child labor is primarily limited to the informal sector in the service areas of vending, domestic work, and prostitution. The Republic of Congo does not have a highly developed production industry. There are few factories in Congo and very few goods, with the exception of oil and lumber, which are refined and/or processed for export. Children are rarely found working in these industries due to the demanding nature of the work and the high competition from adult laborers who are better suited to the tasks. The Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Justice have not produced any reports on exploitative child labor in any production industry. PREVALENCE AND SECTORAL DISTRIBUTION OF EXPLOITATIVE CHILD LABOR ¶3. Child exploitative labor occurs primarily in the informal sector, including the services of market vending, domestic work, and child prostitution. ¶4. Domestic work: Children may be exploited as domestic servants, exchanging long hours and hard labor for room and board. Children from villages may be trafficked to the cities of Pointe Noire and Brazzaville in order to serve as domestic staff for relatives, often with the support of their parents under the belief that the children will be properly educated and cared for. There is no reliable data on the instance of child domestic labor in the Congo. ¶5. Prostitution: The government of Congo does not have information on rates of child prostitution. UNICEF estimated in 2007 that of the trafficked population in the Congo, 23 percent of children are forced into prostitution with an average age of nine years. There is no data available on the general child population. ¶6. Market vending: This trend is prominent in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire, where there is a high presence of child vendors in traditional local markets. According to UNICEF, the majority of trafficked children are exploited in this manner. Children may be forced to work long hours for no or little pay in order to earn as little as 1,000 CFA (approximately 2 USD) per day. ¶7. The Congolese government did not collect or publish data on child labor. LAWS AND REGULATIONS ¶8. The Labor Code sets the minimum age for employment, including BRAZZAVILL 00000048 002 OF 004 apprenticeships, at 16 years. Exceptions may be permitted by the Ministry of Labor after an inspection of the place of employment. The code prohibits forced or compulsory labor. The minimum age of enlistment for service in the armed forces in the Republic of Congo is 18. ¶9. Although there is currently no law specifically prohibiting the worst forms of child labor in the Republic of Congo, there are statutes under which the worst forms can be prosecuted. Since 1999, the Government of the Republic of Congo has submitted to the ILO a document identifying hazardous forms of work prohibited to minors under Convention 182 or Convention ¶138. Congo's Parliament passed in August 2009 the Child Protection Code, which awaits the President's signature. ¶10. The Penal Code criminalizes procuring a person for the purpose of prostitution and establishes penalties of ten years of imprisonment and a fine of 10,000,000 CFA (USD 17,847.60) if such an act is committed with respect to a minor. While the law does not specifically prohibit trafficking in persons, under existing laws, traffickers could be prosecuted for slavery, rape, prostitution, forced labor, and illegal immigration. INSTITUTIONS AND MECHANISMS FOR ENFORCEMENT ¶11. The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing child labor laws and monitors businesses in the formal sector, but most child labor occurs in the informal sector or in rural areas that lack effective government oversight. ¶12. The Congo does not have a formal mechanism in place for making complaints about hazardous or forced child labor, although complaints on child labor can be brought to the Ministry of Labor officials. ¶13. The Ministry of Labor employs 17 full-time inspectors and 11 part-time inspectors, none of which are specifically tasked with monitoring child labor. According to the Ministry of Labor, they conduct two inspections of each company per year. The Ministry discovered nine cases of child labor from 2006-2009, all of which were in Pointe Noire. No prosecutions or fines have resulted from these cases. INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS FOR EFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT ¶14. The Ministry of Social Affairs has approximately ten inspectors located in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire that are responsible for identifying victims of child trafficking. The numbers of investigators are adequate, but training and resources for these individuals is extremely limited. Investigators lack proper offices, transportation, and wages in order to carry out their duties. ¶15. The Government provided $60,500 in partnership with UNICEF, who provided $140,000 for the purpose of investigating victims of child trafficking. ¶16. The Ministry of Labor does not conduct investigations specifically for child labor issues. If in the event of labor investigations child labor is discovered, the issue will be BRAZZAVILL 00000048 003 OF 004 addressed. Investigations can last from three to seven months. ¶17. Currently, there are eight children that are in the process of repatriation after being discovered as victims of trafficking and child labor. These children are currently being held in foster homes in Pointe Noire until the processes are completed at the Ministry of Social Affairs in order to return the children to their native countries. ¶18. There are no current convictions on child labor. There are only pending cases up to two years old without convictions. ¶19. Government officials as well as courts officials were unable to provide detailed statistics of cases brought in front of court of law that dealt with child labor primarily. However, they reported that about one third of people sentenced for child trafficking were also sentenced for illegal child labor. GOVERNMENT POLICIES ON CHILD LABOR ¶20. The Government of the Republic of Congo participated in a three-year inter-regional ILO-IPEC project, funded by USDOL in 2003 and 2006, to reintegrate children involved in armed conflicts into communities and prevent children from becoming involved in armed conflicts. USDOL is providing USD 7 million to the seven-country project. ¶21. The government has also established the High Commission for Reintegration of Ex-Combatants, which has worked to demobilize child soldiers and offers them financial support and technical training. With funding from UNICEF, the Department of Social Affairs established the Traumatized Children Project, which provides counseling for former child soldiers. ¶22. The government is implementing a National Plan of Action for Education for All that, among other goals, aims to improve quality of and access to preschool, primary, non-formal, and vocational technical education by the year 2015. The plan also includes specific goals for increasing girls' school attendance. ¶23. The U.S. Department of Agriculture provided over $14 million in-kind resources over fiscal years 2006 to 2008 to support school feeding and other programs operated by an American NGO, International Partnership for Human Development (IPHD). These programs support school feeding, malaria prevention in schools, distribution of school supplies, scholarships for girls, construction of water cisterns for schools, development of parent-teacher associations (PTAs),and school rehabilitation. SOCIAL PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE OR PREVENT CHILD LABOR ¶24. The government did not implement any social programs specifically designed to address the worst forms of child labor. CONTINUAL PROGRESS BRAZZAVILL 00000048 004 OF 004 ¶25. The government made some progress in combating child labor during the reporting period. This is indicated by the increased number of investigations into child trafficking, in which children are often the victims of exploitative child labor. There is also increased funding and government involvement in anti-trafficking efforts, including the August 2009 passage of a Child Protection Code. This law, however, is still pending presidential signature in order to be put into effect. EASTHAM