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The Committee notes that no report has been received from the Government. It must therefore repeat its previous observation on the following matters.

1. The Committee has noted the study undertaken by the ILO in 1999 on child labour in small-scale mining. The study covers the following mines:

-  Birnin N’Gaouré in the department of Gosso (natron mining);

-  Gaya in the department of Dosso (salt mining);

-  Torodi and Téra in the department of Tillabéry (gold mining);

-  Madaoua in the department of Tahoua (gypsum mining).

The Committee notes that under sections 9, 15, 32, 45 and 75 of Ordinance No. 93-16 of 2 March 1993, no operations can be carried out without an operation authorization and that the framework for working the minerals in small-scale mines is contained in this Ordinance and further clarified in Decree No. 93-44/PM/MMEI/A of 12 March 1993. The Committee notes however that there are no specific regulations on safety in mines.

The Committee notes that, according to the ILO study, child labour is extremely common in Niger, mainly in the informal sector. Moreover, small-scale artisanal mining is the country’s most dangerous informal sector activity; this branch alone employs several hundred thousand workers. According to ILO estimates, the numbers are as follows:

-  small mines: 147,380 workers, 70,000 of whom are children (47.5 per cent);

-  small mines and quarries: 442,000 workers, 250,000 of whom are children (57 per cent).

In all the abovementioned mines, according to the study, conditions of work for children are extremely difficult. As from the age of eight, they carry out physically exacting and dangerous tasks, more often than not seven days a week for approximately ten hours a day. The work involves serious risks of accidents and diseases which are damaging for children’s health. The Committee further notes the absence of modern mine safety techniques in the sites observed and the lack of sanitary infrastructures and any systematic health care in the neighbourhood.

The Committee also notes that the statutory minimum age for admission to work in Niger is 14 years in general and 18 years in the mining sector, in accordance with the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138), so neither the child nor the persons with parental authority may give valid consent to such employment. Moreover, being in economic straits, parents often force children to work, which means they are deprived of schooling.

The Committee observes that, even though not all work done by children amounts to forced labour, it is essential to examine the conditions in which such work is carried out and to measure them against the definition of forced labour, particularly as concerns the validity of consent given to performing such work and the possibility of leaving such employment, in order to determine whether the situation falls within the scope of the Convention.

The Committee asks the Government to examine the situation of children working in mines in the light of the Convention, to provide full information on their working conditions and on any measures taken or envisaged to protect them against forced labour.

2. The Committee refers to the report of the Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1994/33 of 13 June 1994), and notes that children are forced to beg in West Africa, including in Niger. According to paragraph 73 of the above report, many families entrust their children as soon as they are 5 or 6 years of age to the care of a religious leader (marabout) with whom they live until the age of 15 or 16. During these ten years the marabout has absolute control over their lives and forces them to perform various tasks, including begging, in return for which he undertakes to teach them.

The Committee considers that persons in a relationship resembling a slave-master relationship, lacking freedom to control their own lives, are, due to these very circumstances, carrying out work for which they have not offered themselves voluntarily.

The Committee notes section 4 of Ordinance No. 96-039 (Labour Code) which prohibits forced labour unconditionally, and section 333 establishing the corresponding penalty. The Committee notes however that, under sections 1 and 2, the Labour Code applies only to relations between employers and workers. The Committee asks the Government to take the measures to extend the prohibition of all forms of forced labour to employment relationships such as those between children and marabouts.

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the very near future.