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Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Syrian Arab Republic (RATIFICATION: 2003)

The Committee notes with deep concern that the Government’s report has not been received. It expects that the next report will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous comments. The Committee informs the Government that, if it has not supplied replies to the points raised by 1 September 2023, then it may proceed with the examination of the application of the Convention on the basis of the information at its disposal at its next session.

Repetition

Articles 3(a) and 5 of the Convention. Sale and trafficking of children and monitoring mechanisms. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the Government’s information that the Department of Combating Trafficking in Persons established pursuant to Law No. 3 of 2010 had carried out several inspection campaigns to monitor trafficking in persons, in particular trafficking in children. According to the statistical data provided by the Government, only 21 cases relating to trafficking in children were reported from 2010 to 2014. The Committee noted, however, that the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), in its concluding observations of July 2014, expressed concern that trafficking in women and girls has increased during the conflict and that they are at high risk of trafficking for purposes of sexual exploitation (CEDAW/C/SYR/CO/2, paragraph 33).

The Committee notes with regret that the Government does not provide information on this issue in its report. It notes that, according to the 2016 report of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development entitled “Targeting Vulnerabilities; The Impact of the Syrian War and Refugee Situation on Trafficking in Persons: A Study of Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq”, while official statistics on trafficking cases identified by the authorities would suggest a minor or negligible impact of the Syrian war on trafficking in all five countries, the desk and field research conducted in the context of the study paints an entirely different picture. According to the report, while the potential trafficking cases identified through research, other than the official statistical data, have not been determined by law enforcement or state social services to be actual trafficking cases, indicators and elements of adult and child trafficking crimes have been analysed in order to shed light on the significant proportion of trafficking cases that have never come to the attention of the responsible authorities. The study reveals that worst forms of child labour, child trafficking for labour exploitation, exploitation through begging and trafficking for sexual exploitation affected children in the five countries before the war, but have now particularly increased among Syrians. The incidence of trafficking in persons and the nature and magnitude of vulnerabilities to trafficking (such as impoverishment, lack of income, lack of access to services and more) are particularly related to the sheer magnitude of the displacement of people (6.6 million people are reported to be internally displaced with the Syrian Arab Republic) and partly to the legal, policy, infrastructural, security and socio-economic contexts of the countries under study, including the Syrian Arab Republic.While acknowledging the difficult situation prevailing in the country, the Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures to prevent the sale and trafficking of children under 18 years of age for sexual and labour exploitation, and to provide information on the measures taken in this regard. The Committee also requests the Government to provide updated information on the number of cases concerning the sale of children and child trafficking that have been reported by the Department of Combating Trafficking in Persons, as well as on the investigations, prosecutions, convictions and sanctions applied relating to this worst form of child labour.