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The Committee notes the Government’s brief report, in which it indicates that the information sent in reply to its previous comments will be forwarded as soon as it is available. It hopes that this information will be supplied as soon as possible so that it may be examined at the Committee’s next session and that additional information will be included on the following points.

1. Equipment and working environment of the inspection services. The Department of Labour’s annual report attached to the Government’s report describes the main operational difficulties that the various bodies of the labour administration come up against: the inadequacy of means of transport and the problems in maintaining existing means, the lack of computers and the poor working environment of the offices. It emphasizes the importance, for the credibility of the inspection services, of their ability to portray the best possible image to the social partners. The Department of Labour was able to acquire equipment thanks to the technical cooperation project Strengthening Labour Relations in East Africa (ILO/SLAREA). The Committee would be grateful if the Government would state how much of this equipment was allocated to the labour inspection services, indicating its nature and any resulting improvements in the operation of the inspection services.

2. Labour inspection and child labour. The Government also sent the final draft of the Ministry of Labour’s report: "National Child Labour Policy towards a Child Labour Free Society" which recommends, among other strategies that the inspection services should be reinforced so as to ensure, at the very least and until the objectives sought have been met, that the working conditions of children who are still obliged to work are improved, and that a database on child labour should be established and maintained. It also recommends that the issue of child labour should be incorporated into development plans and that it should be allocated resources in the national budget. The Committee hopes that the Government will provide information on the impact these recommendations have had in practice and on the role that labour inspectors play in the endeavours undertaken by the public authorities to combat child labour in the framework of the IPEC programme, in collaboration with the social partners and non-governmental organizations concerned.

3. Labour inspection and supervision of working conditions in workplaces located in export processing zones. Noting that employment has increased significantly in the past three years, particularly in export processing zones, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide an indication of the scope of the labour inspectors’ powers in the above workplaces and of the means at their disposal.