CAMEROON: INFORMATION ON CHILD LABOR AND FORCED LABOR

UNCLAS YAOUNDE 000150 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DOL/ILAB FOR LEYLA STROTKAMP, RACHEL RIGBY AND TINA MCCARTER DRL/ILCSR FOR SARAH MORGAN G/TIP FOR LUIS CDEBACA DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USAID E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD KTIP PHUM SOCI CM SUBJECT: CAMEROON: INFORMATION ON CHILD LABOR AND FORCED LABOR REF: STATE 131994; 08 YAOUNDE 609; 09 YAOUNDE 49 ¶1. Summary: Child Labor in Cameroon is found primarily in the production of agricultural goods, including palm oil, rubber, coffee, banana, cocoa and tea in four regions of Cameroon. Statistics on child labor (as with most other issues) are limited or non-existent. The most reliable sources of information are the International Labor Organization (ILO),Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and its partner NGOs and trade unions. On February 3, 2010, the government released the results of its long-awaited 2007 study on child labor. Cameroon also has a record of child trafficking, which is prohibited under Cameroonian law. Trafficking occurs to, from, and within the country, with the majority occurring within the country's borders. End summary. ¶2. The responses below are keyed to questions in reftel A for taskings 1 and 2. As requested, this message repeats information in different sub-headings. -------------- TASKING 1 -------------- ¶3. There is very limited information about the use of child labor in producing specific goods. Post has no new information to add to our 2008 and 2009 reporting (ref B and C respectively). We confirm the persistence of child labor in the cocoa, tea, rubber, banana and palm oil sectors. According to trade unions, this was mostly perceptible in large plantations in the Littoral and Southwest Regions. In 2009 the ILO expressed concern that the GRC's lack of significant efforts to keep children away from plantations could result in a massive return of children to forced/hazardous labor. -------------- TASKING 2 -------------- 2A). PREVALENCE AND SECTORAL DISTRIBUTION OF EXPLOITIVE CHILD LABOR -------------- -------------- ¶4. On February 3, the Government published a long-awaited study with data collected by the National Institute of Statistics on exploitive child labor. This filled the ten year gap during which the government rejected as inaccurate the results of a 2000 study conducted by an ILO-sponsored local consultant. According to the 
Government's 2007 study which was conducted in all ten regions of Cameroon, 2.4 million children ranging in age from 5-17 years work in Cameroon. Among these, 40.6 percent are girls and 41.4 percent are boys. An estimated 262,000 among those children are exposed to hazardous labor. They were used primarily for domestic service, street vending, and child prostitution and were internally trafficked from the Adamaoua, North, Far North, and Northwest regions to Douala and Yaounde to work as domestic servants, street vendors, or prostitutes. 2B). LAWS AND REGULATIONS -------------- ¶5. The country's legal and regulatory framework should be adequate for addressing exploitive child labor, with strong penalties envisioned for violations. The law provides that any person who engages in crimes associated with trafficking in persons shall be punished by prison terms between six months and 20 years. The law against child trafficking and child slavery carries prison terms between 15 and 20 years. It also provides that corporate bodies may be declared criminally liable and punished with fines between 100,000 francs CFA ($200) and 10,000,000 francs CFA ($20,000), where the offences were committed by managers, in the discharge of their duties. ¶6. The Penal Code prohibits a person from imposing work obligations on another person for which that person has not freely applied. Violations are punishable by imprisonment of 5 to 10 years and/or a fine. The Penal Code prohibits slavery and engaging in the trafficking of human beings and punishes these acts with prison terms of 10 to 20 years. The Code also prohibits making or sharing in the profits from another person's prostitution. The penalty includes fines and prison sentences of up to 5 years, which double if the crime involves a person less than 21 years of age. However, the legal prohibitions do not include family chores, which, in many instances are beyond a child's capacity. The penalties are adequate to punish and deter violations in theory; however, it is difficult to assess their effectiveness in practice because there are no statistics on labor investigations or prosecutions. There were no new laws passed on child labor in ¶2009. ¶7. While the 2005 law against child trafficking is generally considered to be very good, its implementation has been almost inexistent. Various actors, including magistrates, law enforcement officers and parents, lack awareness of the problem and there is little cooperation between the various agencies involved. According to officials from the Ministry of Justice, judges do not enforce the child trafficking legislation because they are unfamiliar with it. The government has no established system to provide magistrates with the new laws. Occasionally, the ministry organizes seminars for representatives from the ten courts of appeals, with the intent that participants train their colleagues once they return to their regions. Instead, participants often keep the information to themselves and do not share it with their colleagues. The same lack of awareness is seen among the victims and their families. Few know about the law and few file complaints against traffickers. Families often don't know they are entering into trafficking arrangements. ¶8. The Government's National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms (NCHRF) and local and international NGOs are currently running awareness-building programs which should help address the issue in the future. For instance, in July, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) started implementing a U.S. State Department-funded anti-child trafficking program which provides for the training of trainers of law enforcement officers, judges, social workers, shelter staff, and community leaders at the local level. The significant increase in the number of trainers may boost the level of awareness, as an increasing number of colleagues, communities and parents are informed of the issue. CRS had previously worked with the Northwest Region branch of the Justice and Peace Committee of the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon to survey the extent of trafficking in the region and build awareness among law enforcement officers and magistrates. 2C). INSTITUTIONS AND MECHANISMS FOR ENFORCEMENT - Hazardous Child Labor and Forced Child Labor ¶9. The government continues to fight hazardous child labor through the use of an interagency committee, the Consultative Committee to Implement the IPEC/WACAP Project, established to improve coordination and communication between the various agencies. However, the effectiveness of that mechanism is limited because the interagency committee has almost never met. During a meeting in the past year, officials from the Ministry of Justice complained about the poor level of inter-agency cooperation. ¶10. Government agencies working within this group include: the Ministries of Labor and Social Insurance (MTSS, French acronym); Social Affairs (MINAS, French acronym); Justice (MINJUSTICE); External Relations (MINREX, French acronym); Women and Family Promotion (MINPROF, French acronym); Territorial Administration and Decentralization (MINATD, French acronym); and Tourism (MINTOUR, French acronym). Also included in the inter-agency group is the Secretariat of State for Defense, in charge of National Gendarmerie (SED, French acronym); General Delegation for National Security (DGSN, French acronym),which includes border police; Bureau Central National-Interpol (BCN-Interpol); and the Customs Services for both seaports and airports. The Ministry of Labor is primarily responsible for fighting hazardous child labor. ¶11. Complaints about hazardous child labor may be initiated by the victim, through a third party (parents, associations, etc.),or by officials from the Ministry of Labor. Incidences of a child exposed to hazardous child labor may be reported to a competent authority, such as the local representative of the ministries of labor or social affairs, or a law enforcement office including the police and gendarmerie. The report can be done by the child (which rarely happens because children do not always realize that they are exposed to hazardous labor) or, more often, by a third party. ¶12. Once the situation is reported or the complaint filed, an investigation is conducted by the labor or social affairs offices, which can call in the police or gendarmerie if needed. For minor offenses, the matter is usually settled at the level of the social affairs or labor offices. For more serious offences, the file is forwarded to the prosecutor's office for judicial investigation, which eventually takes the case to trial and sentencing. ¶13. During routine or targeted inspections, Labor Inspectors write reports on labor violations and forward their reports to the regional officer. Upon completion of the investigation, the solution to the issue is determined at the administrative level, or forwarded to the prosecutor's office for judicial action. ¶15. There are no statistics available on the number of complaints received by the various agencies. Officials told post that there were complaints during the reporting period, but that it takes a while before statistics are gathered. ¶16. The various anti-child labor agencies use their general budgets to address child labor issues since there is no separate line item specifically reserved for combating child labor. Such funds are inadequate, seriously limiting the ability to implement anti-child labor policies and programs. During site visits, it is common to hear investigators complain that they have not been able to implement field work for several weeks simply because they lack a vehicle or fuel to travel. The government, nonetheless, made some budgetary efforts to assist partner NGOs. In 2008, for instance, the government provided those organizations 40 million francs CFA ($80,000) to carry out anti-trafficking activities. ¶17. There are 58 general labor inspectors responsible for investigating child labor cases in Cameroon. While they had office facilities, transportation and the availability of fuel to allow them to conduct field investigations remained a critical issue. Labor inspections do not seem to be a budget priority. One labor inspector told post that, while they are aware of child labor cases, they simply do not have the means to intervene. ¶18. According to officials from the Ministry of Labor, several inspections involving child labor took place during the year. However, there are no overall statistics available on the number of children impacted nor on the number of prosecutions because the government does not collect and maintain the information systematically. Depending on the type of solution chosen to address a case, the average length of time it took to resolve child labor cases varied from a few days to over one year. Penalties, mostly fines, were applied in cases in which violations were found. Fines ranged from 50,000 francs CFA ($100) to 200,000 francs CFA ($400). ¶19. Because the Cameroonian government has a poor record of collecting and keeping statistics in all domains, it is hard to determine whether the lack of statistics reflects a lack of commitment to combat exploitive child labor. However, the release of the national report on child labor provides some data and indicates that the government is attempting to track the issue. Catholic Relief Services, in collaboration with national NGOs, developed data collection tools that will be implemented by officials of the various agencies involved in anti-trafficking actions in the Center, Southwest and Northwest regions. ¶20. The government has not directly offered training in combating child labor and trafficking, but has instead relied on the assistance of the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms and national and international NGOs to train law enforcement officers and magistrates. In April, the Northwest Region branch of the Committee Justice and Peace (sic) of the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon finalized a several-month-long anti-trafficking program, which included the training of law enforcement officers and magistrates. In July, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) launched a U.S. State Department-funded anti-trafficking program, which trained 33 law enforcement officers and magistrates by the end of the year. ¶21. The trainings have had a positive impact, especially at the local level. For instance in April, during the closing session of an anti-trafficking seminar organized by the Committee Justice and Peace of the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon in Bamenda, Northwest Region, the Chief of Staff of the gendarmerie legion explained how he and his collaborators used their knowledge of the law to track down and address trafficking cases. This was echoed by a magistrate, who encouraged interagency collaboration to better disseminate and implement the 2005 law against child trafficking. This may explain why more child trafficking cases were reported during the year. 2D). INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS FOR EFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT- Child Trafficking, Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC),Use of Children in Illicit Activities ¶22. The inter-agency Consultative Committee is the primary coordinating mechanism to bring together the various governmental actors to address the issue of child trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation, and the use of the children in illicit activities. The inter-agency group includes: the Ministries of Labor and Social Insurance (MTSS, French acronym); Social Affairs (MINAS, French acronym); Justice (MINJUSTICE); External Relations (MINREX, French acronym); Women and Family Promotion (MINPROF, French acronym); Territorial Administration and Decentralization (MINATD, French acronym); and Tourism (MINTOUR, French acronym). Also included among the inter-agency group is the Secretariat of State for Defense, in charge of National Gendarmerie (SED, French acronym); General Delegation for National Security (DGSN, French acronym), which includes border police; Bureau Central National-Interpol (BCN-Interpol) office in the country; and the Customs Services for both seaports and airports. The Ministry of Labor is primarily responsible for fighting child trafficking. ¶23. Police officers from the National Police and gendarmes from the National Gendarmerie address the worst forms of child labor issues nationwide, although there is no case data available. Interpol's National Branch Office and border police, which has dozens of officers, also play a key role in addressing the worst forms of child labor. A special "vice squad" that the General Delegate for National Security (DGSN) created in 2005 to track down and fight trafficking in children also uses dozens of police officers. ¶24. The government also cooperates with NGOs Such as the Cameroon Coalition of NGOs for Children's Rights (COCADE) which is a coalition of 65 NGOs that cooperate with the Government. ¶25. The various anti-child trafficking agencies use their general budgets to address child labor issues since there is no separate line item in their budget reserved for anti-child labor action. These funds are insufficient. During Embassy site visits, investigators frequently complained that they had not been able to implement field work for several weeks, simply because they did not have a vehicle or fuel to travel. ¶26. The government, however, made some efforts to financially assist partner NGOs. In 2008, for instance, the government provided 40 million francs CFA ($80,000) to NGOs for anti-trafficking activities. In addition, the police, the national gendarmerie and the Ministry of Social Affairs have hotlines on both landlines and cell phone networks that are made available to the public for the denunciation of crimes or to request rapid intervention. ¶27. At year's end, 26 child labor cases, mostly in the Northwest Region, were identified and addressed. Investigations on 18 other cases are currently ongoing. Twenty two children were rescued as a result. Eight arrests were made in the Northwest Region, and the cases are still pending with judicial investigations still ongoing. In comparison, in 2008, according to the government's human rights report, seven arrests were made. All cases from 2009 and 2008 were still pending in courts. The average length of time to resolve these cases varies from several days (where no judicial action is implemented) to one year or more, for cases requiring court action. ¶28. While the government did not offer training directly, it used the assistance of the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms and national and international NGOs to train law enforcement officers and magistrates. In April, the Northwest Region branch of the Committee for Justice and Peace of the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon finalized a several-month anti-trafficking program, which included the training of law enforcement officers and magistrates. In July, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) launched an anti-trafficking program, which included the training of law enforcement officers and magistrates. Thirty three officials were trained at the end of the year. ¶29. The training is having some impact, particularly at the local level. In addition to the examples provided in section 2c, during a recent trip to the Northwest, post talked to one senior government official and one magistrate who were looking for nannies to take care of their newborns. The officials said they were carefully scrutinizing the ages of the candidates recommended to avoid inadvertently supporting child trafficking. They acknowledged that in the past they probably were involved in what had always been seen as "normal business" in the region, without knowing that it actually was child trafficking. This may explain why more child trafficking cases were reported during the year. ¶30. There were no statistics available on the number of investigations conducted to track the commercial sexual exploitation of children, the number of children rescued or, the number of arrests made. ¶31. The average length of time it takes to resolve cases of child trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation of children, and the use of children in illicit activities may vary from several days (where no judicial action is implemented) to one year or more, for cases requiring court action. 2E) GOVERNMENT POLICIES ON CHILD LABOR ¶32. The Government continues to work on a national plan of action, entitled the "National Strategic Plan against Child Trafficking." The recent release of the National Report on Child Labor in Cameroon may spur the inter-agency working group to finalize and implement the plan in a timely manner. ¶33. During the year, the GRC through the Ministries of Economy and Planning, Basic Education, Women Empowerment and Family, Public Health, and UNICEF finalized the "National Policy Framework Document for the Full Development of the Young Child." This Policy Framework is designed to provide a holistic solution to the plight of children in the country. The government also implemented the annual action plan of the first phase of a Special Protection Plan that it elaborated in cooperation with UNICEF. The program runs from 2008-2012. ¶34. The government continued to build awareness among local government and security officials in the areas where trafficking was an issue. Anti-trafficking information or education campaigns and anti-trafficking spots were broadcast on government radio and television. Frontier police at airports, borders, and ports monitored immigration and emigration patterns for evidence of child trafficking. ¶35. The government incorporates the issue of exploitive child labor directly into some of its programs, including activities focused on poverty reduction, education, and social policies. The "National Policy Framework Document for the Full Development of the Young Child" and the "Special Protection Plan" that the government elaborated in cooperation with UNICEF are among those programs. Education, however, remains the key instrument of the government's anti-child labor approach. In 2008, and in the framework of the "Explorons le Droit Humanitaire" (EDH) program, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Ministry of Secondary Education organized a training seminar for 60 pedagogy inspectors from the ten regions of Cameroon. Those inspectors became trainers who taught teachers how to teach humanitarian law in schools. ¶36. Education programs are key to Cameroon's efforts against child labor. In 2006, the government released information on education funding levels. They indicated that the government disbursed about 7 billion CFA francs ($14 million) to construct 422 classrooms and 10 nursery schools, rehabilitate 53 primary and secondary schools and nine nursery schools, and provide some schools with electricity and water. Also, the government disbursed about 47 billion CFA francs ($95 million) as a result of the HIPC (High Indebted Poor Countries) program, to pay the salaries of 4,836 teachers, furnish textbooks to schools in priority zones, distribute scholarships in the form of school materials to deserving pupils, provide essential medicines to primary schools, construct 2,830 classrooms, provide 84,900 benches, and construct 403 latrines and 52 water points between 2001 and 2006. The government continued to include such efforts in its 2010 budget. ¶37. In December, the National Assembly approved the 2010 budget. The budget of the Ministry of Secondary Education increased from 204,507 million francs CFA ($409 million) to 208,624 million francs CFA ($417 million),making it the leading budget item. The budget of the Ministry of Basic Education increased from 153,102 million francs CFA ($306 million) to 167,728 million francs CFA ($335 million). This increase signals the government's plans to hire more teachers, build additional classrooms, nurseries and water facilities, and sponsor and run more vocational schools for older children that can serve as an alternative to work. In those schools, which are named SARs (Section Artisanale Rurale),students learn carpentry, masonry, electricity, etc. ¶38. The Government does not have a separate line item in its budget to specifically fund anti-child labor efforts, except for those designed in cooperation with agencies of the UN system or International NGOs. The lack of funding seriously limits officials' ability to implement the policies assigned to them. ¶39. The government also continued to work with local and international NGOs to provide temporary shelter and assistance to victims of trafficking. In July, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) launched a project to fight child trafficking in the Northwest Region. CRS had previously worked with the Northwest Region branch of the Justice and Peace Committee of the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon to survey the extent of trafficking in the region. CRS also worked to combat corruption in local schools that led to child prostitution. UNICEF was also actively engaged in combating girls' prostitution throughout the year. ¶40. The government continued to fight trafficking through the use of an interagency committee and a program to find and return trafficked children. In addition, the government cooperated with the governments of Chad, Gabon, Nigeria, Togo, and Benin to fight trafficking through the exchange of information and preparation of common legislation on trafficking. The GRC and the Government of Chad held two security meetings during the year. The Interpol office in the country also played a significant role in the government's anti-trafficking actions. Perhaps because of better international cooperation, post learned of only one trafficking case at one of Cameroon's borders. ¶41. The government did not sign any bilateral, regional or international agreement to combat trafficking during the reporting period. 2F) SOCIAL PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE OR PREVENT CHILD LABOR ¶42. The government continued to work with local and international NGOs to provide temporary shelter and assistance to victims of trafficking. In July, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) launched a project to fight child trafficking in the Northwest Region. CRS had previously worked with the Northwest Region branch of the Justice and Peace Committee of the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon to survey the extent of trafficking in the region. CRS also worked to combat corruption in local schools that led to child prostitution. In addition, UNICEF worked on combating girls' prostitution throughout the year. 2G) CONTINUAL PROGRESS ¶43. While the Government of Cameroon's other competing priorities and limited resources have resulted in a delegation of its leadership role to NGOs, the release of the National Report on Child Labor was a concrete step in the right direction. On February 3, during the release ceremony, participants prepared a list of 12 recommendations, which included a sustained system for data collection, sustained education development programs, better recuperation and protection of children, and increased specific enquiries. Post will continue to follow up on the implementation of these recommendations and provide assistance where possible. GARVEY