CMNT_TITLE

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Senegal (RATIFICATION: 2000)

Other comments on C182

Observation

Direct Request

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Article 7(2) of the Convention. Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (a). Preventing children from being engaged in the worst forms of child labour. Access to free basic education. In previous comments the Committee noted the increase in the net enrolment rate under the Ten Year Education and Training Programme (PDEF). It observed, however, that 25 per cent of children of primary school age (6–12 years) were still not at school. It further noted that, according to a joint ILO–IPEC, UNICEF and World Bank report of February 2010 entitled Understanding Children’s Work and Youth Employment in Senegal, more than one child in four in the 7–14 age group drops out of school owing to premature entry into the labour market. The Government indicated that the net school enrolment rate nationwide rose to 93 per cent in 2011 and that the primary school completion rate rose from 59 per cent in 2010 to 65.7 per cent in 2011.

The Committee notes the information sent by the Government to the effect that the various direct action programmes to combat child labour focus on access to education and school re-enrolment as the primary means of combating the worst forms of child labour. The Committee further observes that the National Framework Plan for the Prevention and Elimination of Child Labour (PCNPETE), whose strategic lines of action include preventing child labour by broadening opportunities for education and training, provides for actions to support the free provision of school supplies to children at risk; the organization of remedial classes for children struggling at school; and the implementation of a cash transfer pilot programme by 2016. The Committee notes, however, that according to the results of Senegal’s 2012–13 continuing demographic and health survey, the proportion of primary and secondary school enrolments is still far higher in the urban sector than in the rural sector. Furthermore, the figures for primary education show a slight positive discrimination for girls (parity index: 1.03), whereas in secondary education boys are slightly ahead (parity index: 0.99). Considering that education contributes to preventing children from being engaged in the worst forms of child labour, the Committee encourages the Government to pursue its efforts to improve the functioning of the education system through measures to increase the school attendance rate, broaden access to education and reduce the school drop-out rate, giving priority to rural areas. It requests the Government to provide information on the results obtained in this area in the context of the PCNPETE.

Clause (b). Direct assistance for the removal of children from the worst forms of child labour. Children working on traditional gold-washing sites. The Committee noted previously that according to a study of children involved in traditional gold washing, conducted in 2011 under the ILO–IPEC project for the prevention and elimination of child labour in West African countries, children take part in traditional gold and iron mining in the regions of Dakar, Thiès, Matam and, markedly so, in the Kédougou region. The nature of the tasks performed by children involved in this type of activity clearly exposes them to dangers that place such work in the category of worst forms of child labour; 1,576 children were found to be working on gold-washing sites in 16 villages visited out of the 38 villages identified in the Kédougou region. Based on an extrapolation from the results of the survey, it is estimated that the number of children engaged in gold washing in the Kédougou region is likely to be around 4,000.

The Committee notes the information sent by the Government and the information from ILO–IPEC indicating that an action programme focusing on the prevention, removal and reintegration of children engaged in worst forms of child labour in gold-washing areas, executed by the non-governmental organization La Lumière, in collaboration with ILO–IPEC, was launched in the rural communities of Missirah Sirimana, Kedougou and Khossanto in November 2012. According to the Government, through this programme 166 children have so far been removed and 943 children prevented from being engaged in worst forms of child labour through education and vocational training measures. The Committee encourages the Government to pursue its efforts to prevent children from being engaged in hazardous work in artisanal gold mining and to make provision for the necessary assistance to remove them from these worst forms of child labour and ensure their social reintegration. It requests the Government to continue to provide information on the impact of the project implemented in the gold-washing zones in collaboration with ILO–IPEC.

Clause (d). Children particularly at risk. Child victims/orphans of HIV/AIDS. The Committee took note in its previous comments of information sent by the Government in its national report of March 2010 supplied as follow up to the declaration of commitment on HIV/AIDS, to the effect that substantial support has been given for schooling and vocational training for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) under the Strategic Plan to Combat AIDS, 2007–11. The Committee, nonetheless, noted that according to the report of September 2008 on Senegal by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the number of HIV/AIDS orphans aged between 0 and 17 years was estimated at 8,400 in 2007, which is more than double the number estimated in 2001. The Committee also took note of a new Multisectoral Strategic Plan to Combat HIV/AIDS, 2011–15.

The Committee notes that, according to the Government, among the infected and affected population, OVCs are among the priority groups targeted by the Multisectoral Strategic Plan 2011–15. The plan is to increase the percentage of OVCs receiving psychosocial care to 80 per cent of the abovementioned population by 2015, and to ensure that half of them receive support for schooling and training. The Committee observes in this connection that in its 2012 national report provided as a follow up to the declaration of commitment on HIV/AIDS, the Government noted that programmes for psychosocial care have hitherto focused more on adults. The Committee encourages the Government to pursue its efforts to ensure that HIV/AIDS victims or orphans are not engaged in the worst forms of child labour. It requests the Government to continue to supply information on the measures taken and the results obtained under the Multisectoral Strategic Plan 2011–15.