Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

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

The Committee notes that the Government’s report contains no reply to its previous comments. It hopes that the next report will include full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

Article 3 of the Convention. Clause (c). Worst forms of child labour. Use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that, under section 78 of the Children and Young Persons Code of 2003, boys, girls and young persons have the right to be protected from participation in the production, marketing and advertising of the following substances and objects: alcoholic beverages, tobacco, narcotics and psychotropic substances, weapons, explosives and substances that endanger life and physical integrity. The Committee pointed out that section 78 of the Code lays down a right, not a prohibition. In reply, the Government indicated that this matter would be considered when drafting the regulations issued under the Children and Young Persons Code. The Committee noted the Government’s statement that these regulations were in the process of being approved. The Committee expresses the firm hope that the regulations issued under the Children and Young Persons Code will be adopted in the near future, that they will prohibit and penalize the use, procuring or offering of a child under 18 years of age for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs. It requests the Government to provide information on any new developments in this respect.

Article 6. Programmes of action. The Committee took due note of the various plans of action and public policies drawn up by the Government, including the ten-year plan for the comprehensive protection of children and young people (2004–14), the national development plan (2007–10), the social agenda for children and young people and the national action plan for the promotion of youth employment in Ecuador. Furthermore, the Committee noted that, according to the information contained in the final report of ILO–IPEC on the Time-bound Programme (TBP) for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour of June 2008, in addition to child labour in the banana and flower-growing sectors and the commercial sexual exploitation of children and trafficking for this purpose, other economic activities had become priority at the end of the TBP. Reference could, for instance, be made to children working in public refuse dumps and on the streets, and the sale and trafficking of children for begging. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the action programmes drawn up within the framework of these action plans and public policies to eliminate the worst forms of child labour, in particular concerning children working in public refuse dumps and on the street, as well as the sale and trafficking of children for begging.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clauses (a) and (b). Preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour, removing them from these forms of child labour and providing for their rehabilitation and social integration. Child labour in the banana industry and in flower cultivation. Referring to its previous comments, the Committee noted with interest the detailed information provided by the Government on the results obtained following the implementation of the TBP, which ended in June 2008. It particularly noted that, for both these branches of economic activity, a total of 6,232 children had benefited from the TBP, of which 3,143 were girls and 3,089 were boys. In the case of child labour in the banana industry, 2,384 children were prevented from being recruited and 1,474 children were withdrawn from work. As regards child labour in the flower-growing sector, 1,829 children were prevented from being recruited and 545 children were withdrawn from their work. The Committee also took note of the information provided by the Government on the services received by the children who benefited from the TBP, including their return to the formal or informal school system, integration into occupational training and psychological assistance. Given that the TBP is no longer operational in the country, the Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on effective and time-bound measures taken or envisaged to prevent children from being victims of these worst forms of child labour and to provide the necessary and appropriate direct assistance to remove them from these forms of labour and guarantee their rehabilitation and social integration.

Clause (d). Identifying children at particular risk and entering into contact with them. 1. Children of indigenous and Afro-descendent peoples. The Committee noted that, according to the Education for All Global Monitoring Report of 2008, published by UNESCO and entitled Education for all in 2015: Will we make it?, there are disparities in school enrolment and participation rates with respect to children of indigenous peoples. Furthermore, the Committee noted that the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, in its final observations on the 17th, 18th and 19th reports of Ecuador in 2008 (CERD(C/ECU/CO/19, paragraph 20), while noting the introduction of a system of bilingual education in Ecuador, providing instruction to indigenous children in Spanish and in their own language, was concerned with the poor application of the intercultural bilingual system in practice.

The Committee noted the information provided by the Government that it had implemented the WIÑARI project, which sets out to reintegrate the children of indigenous peoples removed from their work into the formal school system. It also noted that the ten-year plan for the comprehensive protection of children and young people (2004–14) provides that measures should be taken especially to help the children of indigenous peoples to be integrated into the educational system. Furthermore, the Committee noted that according to the findings of the second national survey on child labour carried out by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC) in 2006, 47,444 children out of the total of 213,752 children of between 15 and 17 years of age working in hazardous occupations are the children of indigenous of Afro-descendent peoples. The Committee noted that the children of indigenous or Afro-descendent peoples are often victims of exploitation, which takes many forms, and are a population at risk of being engaged in the worst form of child labour. It requests the Government to provide information on the effective and time-bound measures taken during the implementation of the WIÑARI project and the ten-year plan for the comprehensive protection of children and young people (2004–14), to ensure that the children of indigenous or Afro-descendent peoples should have easier access to the system of bilingual education and to reduce the disparities in the school enrolment and participation rates that exist in their case. It requests the Government to provide information on the results obtained.

2. Child domestic workers. The Committee noted that, according to the final ILO–IPEC report on the TBP of June 2008, it emerged, at the end of the TBP’s activities, that measures should be taken to prevent children working as domestic employees. It also noted that, according to the Government, a survey on children working as domestic employees was conducted in the City of Quito in 2008. The Committee observed that the children employed in domestic service, particularly small girls, are often victims of exploitation, which takes many varied forms, and that it is difficult to monitor their employment conditions because of the “clandestine nature” of this work. It therefore requests the Government to take effective and time-bound measures to protect children working as domestic employees against the worst forms of child labour. It asks the Government to communicate information on measures taken in this respect. Finally, the Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of the survey on children working as domestic employees carried out in the City of Quito in 2008.

Parts IV and V of the report form. Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee took note of the information provided by the Government in its report submitted under Convention No. 138 on the findings of the second national survey on child labour carried out by INEC in 2006. According to the statistics in this survey, 580,888 boys, girls and young people of between 5 and 17 years of age were involved in child labour that should be abolished according to the Convention. Out of this number, 213,752 children of between 15 and 17 years of age were working in hazardous occupations. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing statistics and information on the nature, extent and trends of the worst forms of child labour, the number of children covered by the measures giving effect to the Convention, the number and nature of violations, investigations, prosecutions, convictions and penalties applied. To the extent possible, the information provided should be disaggregated by sex.