Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2019, published 109th ILC session (2021)

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

The Committee notes the observations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), received on 1 September 2019, and the Government’s reply to these observations.

Article 3(a) of the Convention. Sale and trafficking of children for economic exploitation and forced labour. Begging. Legislation. In its previous comments, the Committee noted with concern that, although section 3 of Act No. 2005-06 of 29 April 2005 to combat trafficking in persons and similar practices and to protect victims prohibits the organization for economic gain of begging by others, or the employment, procuring or deception of any person with a view to causing that person to engage in begging, or the exertion of pressure so that the person engages in begging or continues to beg, section 245 of the Penal Code provides that “the act of seeking alms on days, in places and under conditions established by religious traditions does not constitute the act of begging”. The Committee observed that a joint reading of these two provisions made it appear that the act of organizing begging by talibé children cannot be criminalized, as it does not constitute an act of begging under section 245 of the Penal Code. It therefore urged the Government to intensify its efforts to ensure the adoption of the various draft legal texts intended to prohibit and eliminate begging by talibé children, to protect them against sale, trafficking and forced or compulsory labour and to ensure their rehabilitation and social integration. The Committee also took due note of the draft Children’s Code and draft regulations of daaras (Koranic schools), but observed that they had been under preparation and consultation for several years. It therefore requested the Government to intensify its efforts to ensure the adoption of the various draft legal texts intended to prohibit and eliminate begging by talibé children.

The Committee notes with deep concern the Government’s indication that the legislative reform that has been announced is still under way. While reaffirming its commitment to combat any form of forced labour and trafficking in persons, particularly involving children, the Government indicates that the Bill establishing the status of daaras was adopted by the Council of Ministers on 6 June 2018 and is waiting to be passed by the National Assembly. Moreover, the Unit to Combat Trafficking in Persons (CNLTP), following its evaluation of Act No. 2005-06 of 10 May 2005 to combat trafficking in persons and protect victims, has prepared a draft reform which has been submitted for adoption and takes into account technical conformity and effective enforcement. In light of the above, the Committee expects that the Government will be able to report without delay on the adoption of the various draft texts intended to prohibit and eliminate begging by talibé children and to protect them against sale and trafficking or forced or compulsory labour. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the progress achieved in this regard.

Article 7(1). Penalties and application in practice. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that the number of talibé children compelled to engage in begging, most of whom are boys aged between 4 and 12 years, was estimated at 50,000. It expressed its deep concern at the persistence of the phenomenon of the economic exploitation of talibé children and the low number of prosecutions under section 3 of Act No. 2005-06 and urged the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure the enforcement of this provision in practice. Furthermore, it noted with regret the absence of data on the number of prosecutions, convictions and penalties imposed under the terms of Act No. 2005-06 and requested the Government to provide such data.

The Committee notes the indication by the ITUC that in 2019 it is estimated that in Senegal over 100,000 talibé children are compelled to engage in begging. In Dakar alone, almost 30,000 children are compelled to engage in begging. A study undertaken in 2017 identified over 14,800 child victims of forced begging in Saint-Louis and revealed that 187 of the 197 daaras in the city send children to beg for at least part of the day. A total of 1,547 children, of whom 1,089 were talibé, were removed from the streets of Dakar between June 2016 and March 2017 during the first phase of the “removal” programme. However, of the children reported to have been “removed”, 1,006 were returned to the supervision of their Koranic masters, who had themselves subjected them to forced begging, and who in turn sent them back to the daaras. The number of children engaged in begging in Dakar only decreased during the first month of the programme, as the Koranic masters feared possible sanctions. After a few months, faced with the failure of the investigation and the prosecution of the offending masters, the situation returned to the status quo. Although the second phase of the programme is not repeating certain of the errors of the first phase and guarantees the return of the children to their parents, the programme is not managing to ensure that justice is applied against the Koranic masters who forced the children to beg. The ITUC indicates that, despite the generalized and visible nature of the abuses, investigations and prosecutions are extremely rare. No Koranic master has been subjected to the investigation by the police of his daara, had his case referred to the judicial system, been arrested or prosecuted for having forced talibé children to engage in begging during the first year of the “removal” programme. The police still frequently fail to investigate cases of forced begging. Another persistent practice is to prosecute Koranic masters for less serious offences envisaged by other laws, instead of prosecuting them for the exploitation of talibé children under the terms of Act No. 2005-06 or the Penal Code. According to the ITUC’s observations, in 2018 and 2019, three Koranic masters were convicted of forcing children to beg under Act No. 2005-06. The three masters were convicted, respectively, to a suspended sentence of two years of imprisonment, two years of imprisonment and three years of imprisonment. When the authorities have identified a potential case of forced begging, they have often issued administrative sanctions for those presumed responsible, instead of conducting an investigation and taking criminal action.

In its reply to the ITUC’s comments, the Government states that, to face the challenge of law enforcement, the ministry in charge of child protection has incorporated advocacy activities for judicial chain actors into its communication activities for the repression of perpetrators of crimes against children.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that an operation entitled “Epervier”, in which national actors participated, was organized from 6 to 10 November 2017 by Interpol in several countries in the subregion, including Senegal. According to the Government, several prosecutions and convictions were noted in the annual report of the Unit to Combat Trafficking in Persons (CNLTP) and in the study evaluating the implementation of the Act. Two judicial investigations against four persons, opened in March 2017, and a procedure against another person are currently ongoing. Nevertheless, the Committee notes that, according to the report submitted by the Government to the Human Rights Committee in August 2018, during the period 2009–16, only one case resulted in 2011 in a conviction for incitement to begging, violence and assault, as envisaged and penalized by section 3 of Act No. 2005-06 (CCPR/C/SEN/5, paragraphs 110–113). It also notes that, in its concluding observations of 30 January 2019, the United Nations Committee Against Torture expressed concern that, despite the efforts announced by the Government to remove from the streets talibé children who attend Koranic schools (daaras), there are still reports that the exploitation of children by Koranic teachers for forced begging is a phenomenon that, far from declining, actually increased over the reporting period and that these children continue to be subjected to trafficking, forced begging and extreme forms of abuse and neglect by the persons responsible for their care (marabouts). The Committee Against Torture also expressed concern at reports of the connivance of the authorities in relation to this phenomenon and their failure to prosecute abusive marabouts, except in cases of deaths or extreme abuse of children. It encouraged the State to enhance the application of national laws and conduct impartial and thorough investigations into acts of trafficking, ill-treatment and sexual abuse of children in Koranic schools and other schools, and ensure that those responsible, including state agents who do not investigate such allegations, are prosecuted and, if convicted, punished with appropriate sanctions (CAT/C/SEN/CO/4, paragraphs 31–32). The Committee deeply deplores the persistence of the phenomenon of the economic exploitation of talibé children and the low number of prosecutions under section 3 of Act No. 2005-06. It recalls once again that, under the terms of Article 7(1) of the Convention, the Government shall take all necessary measures to ensure the effective implementation and enforcement of the provisions giving effect to the Convention, including the application of sufficiently effective and dissuasive penal sanctions. The Committee therefore urges the Government to take the necessary measures without delay to ensure the enforcement in practice of section 3 of Act No. 2005-06 to persons who make use of begging by talibé children under 18 years of age for the purposes of economic exploitation. Noting the weak impact of the measures adopted, the Committee once again requests the Government to intensify its efforts for the effective reinforcement of the capacities of the officials responsible for the enforcement of the legislation and to ensure that those responsible for these acts, as well as complicit state officials who fail to investigate such allegations, are prosecuted and that sufficiently dissuasive penalties are imposed in practice on those convicted. Noting with deep regret the absence of data on this subject, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide statistics on the number of prosecutions initiated, convictions handed down and penalties imposed under Act No. 2005-06.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clauses (a) and (b). Preventing children from being engaged in the worst forms of child labour and the provision of assistance to remove them from these forms of child labour. Talibé children. The Committee previously noted the various programmes for the modernization of daaras and the training of teachers, as well as the various framework plans for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour. It requested the Government to take measures to protect talibé children against sale and trafficking and forced or compulsory labour; to ensure their rehabilitation and social integration; to provide information on the measures taken for this purpose within the framework of the support project to modernize daaras (PAMOD), and to provide statistics on the number of talibé children who have been removed from the worst forms of child labour and who have benefited from rehabilitation and social integration measures in the Care, Information and Counselling Centre for Children in Difficulties (the GINDDI Centre).

The Committee notes the ITUC’s observation that the implementation of the PAMOD has been extremely slow. The national system for the regulation of daaras cannot be established until the Act regulating daaras has been adopted. In the meantime, the Inspectorate of daaras appears to be without clear directives and instructions concerning its role and does not appear to be preparing plans to combat begging and ill-treatment of children in daaras. It is also difficult to know whether the Inspectorate intends to inspect all daaras, or only those registered as “modern” daaras, thereby creating a risk that unregistered daaras may continue to operate without any controls. The Committee notes that, according to the ITUC, the number of talibé children who are victims of forced begging and other serious forms of abuse by their Koranic masters in 2017 and 2018 continued to be alarming. The reported forms of abuse include murder, beatings, sexual abuse, the children being chained up and imprisoned, as well as many forms of negligence and dangerous situations, which occurred in at least eight of the 14 administrative regions of Senegal. One report documents the death of 16 talibé children who were victims of abuse, negligence and dangerous situations in which they were placed by Koranic teachers and their assistants in the regions of Saint-Louis, Diourbel and Thiès between 2017 and 2018. Moreover, there were 61 cases of the beating or physical ill-treatment of talibé children by Koranic masters or their assistants and 14 cases of children who were imprisoned, bound up or chained in daaras in 2017 and 2018. Many daaras enclose between tens and hundreds of talibé children under conditions of dirt and extreme poverty, often in incomplete buildings without walls, floors or windows. The air and ground are full of rubbish, sewage and flies and the children sleep in a single room in their dozens, or outside, often without mosquito nets. Up to now, the programme for the modernization of daaras appears to have focused more on the construction of new “modern” daaras than on the improvement of the infrastructure and practices in existing daaras.

In this connection, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that several initiatives have been undertaken with development partners for the construction and equipment of 64 modern daaras, of which 32 are not public, and the provision of subsidies to 100 owners of daaras. An amount of 3,750 billion CFA francs had been mobilized for the financing of a pilot initiative for the modernization of daaras, including training in administrative management and education of 32 directors of non-public daaras under the PAMOD in March 2016, as well as the training of 224 Koranic masters, 160 Arab language teachers and 160 French language teachers for non-public daaras, starting on 14 July 2016. Furthermore, in response to the ITUC’s observations, the Government indicates that the implementation of the PAMOD, which is due in December 2019, led to the construction of 15 modern daaras and the recruitment of their directors. Steps are also being taken to enrol talibé in the Universal Health Coverage Programme (CMU/Talibés). In addition, with a view to ending the exploitation of child begging, the Ministry for the Protection of Children has initiated consultations with all stakeholders to strengthen the partnership framework for the implementation of a national action plan for the eradication of child begging.

However, the Committee notes that, in its concluding observations of 13 November 2019, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights expresses deep concern at the persistence of the current practice in certain Koranic schools directed by marabouts of using children for economic purposes, which also prevents them from having access to health, education and good living conditions (E/C.12/SEN/CO/3, paragraph 26). The Committee notes with deep concern the situation of talibé children who are victims of forced begging and other serious forms of abuse by their Koranic masters. In this context, the Committee urges the Government to intensify its efforts and to take the necessary measures without delay to protect talibé children against sale and trafficking and forced or compulsory labour and to ensure their rehabilitation and social integration. Please provide information on the measures adopted, including within the context of the Programme to Improve Quality, Equity and Transparency in Education and Training (PAQUET) and the PAMOD with a view to the modernization to the system of daaras. The Committee expresses the firm hope that the Government will be in a position to provide statistics in its next report on the number of talibé children who have been removed from the worst forms of child labour and who have benefited from rehabilitation and social integration measures.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.

[The Government is asked to reply in full to the present comments in 2020.]