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

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Iraq (Ratification: 2001)

The Committee notes the observations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), received on 1 September 2019. The Committee notes the detailed discussion which took place at the 108th Session of the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards in June 2019, concerning the application by Iraq of the Convention.

Follow-up to the conclusions of the Committee on the Application of Standards (International Labour Conference, 108th Session, June 2019)

Articles 3(a) and 7(1) of the Convention. All forms of slavery and practices similar to slavery. Compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict and penalties. In its previous comments, the Committee noted from the report of the United Nations Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict of 16 May 2018 that the recruitment of children for their use in armed conflict is still prevailing on the ground. The Committee also noted that the UN Secretary-General expressed his concern about the organization of military training for boys aged 15 and above by the pro-government Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and encouraged the Government to develop an action plan to end and prevent the alleged training, recruitment and use of children by the PMF (A/72/865–S/2018/465, paragraph 85). The Committee strongly urged the Government to take measures as a matter of urgency to ensure the full and immediate demobilization of all children and to put a stop to the forced recruitment of children under 18 years of age into armed forces and armed groups.

The Committee notes that the Conference Committee urged the Government to provide an immediate and effective response for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including to: (i) take measures as a matter of urgency to ensure the full and immediate demobilization of all children and to put a stop, in practice, to the forced recruitment of children into armed forces and armed groups; (ii) adopt legislative measures to prohibit the recruitment of children under 18 years of age for use in armed conflict; (iii) take immediate and effective measures to ensure that thorough investigations and prosecutions of all persons who forcibly recruit children for use in armed conflict are carried out and sufficiently effective and dissuasive penalties are imposed in practice; and (iv) collect and make available without delay information and statistics on investigations, prosecutions and penalties relating to the worst forms of child labour according to national enforcement mechanisms.

The Committee notes the observations of the ITUC that children are recruited and trained for suicide attacks, production of explosives and sexual exploitation. The eradication of these forms of child labour must be the highest of priorities for the Government of Iraq. It would also appear that military training is organized for boys aged 15 and over by pro-government forces. To combat these practices, it is essential for the legislation in Iraq to establish this prohibition explicitly together with effective and dissuasive penalties against those responsible for such recruitment.

The Committee notes the Government’s reference to Law No. 28 of 2012. The Committee observes however that Law No. 28 is related to trafficking in persons and is not linked to the recruitment of children for use in armed conflict. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the competent courts have taken all legal measures to investigate those accused of mobilizing and recruiting children. The Government adds that there have been unverified reports of cases of children being forcibly recruited and compelled to fight by armed and similar groupings unlawfully claiming to be affiliated with the PMF. The only information that has been corroborated relates to terrorist groupings associated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIL) and their forced recruitment of children into their organizations and use of them in suicide missions and as human shields.

The Committee observes that in its report “Children and armed conflict” of 2019, the UN Secretary-General (UN Report) indicates that 39 children were recruited and used by parties to the conflict including five boys between the ages of 12 and 15, used by the Iraqi Federal Police in Nineveh Governorate to fortify a checkpoint, and one 15-year-old boy used by ISIL in Anbar Governorate to drive a car bomb into Fallujah city. In addition, 33 Yazidi boys between the ages of 15 and 17 were rescued after being abducted in Iraq in 2014 by ISIL and trained and deployed to fight in the Syrian Arab Republic (A/73/907/S/2019/509, paragraph 71).

The Committee once again deeply deplores the current situation of children affected by armed conflict in Iraq, especially as it entails other violations of the rights of the child, such as abductions, murders and sexual violence. It recalls that, under Article 3(a) of the Convention, the forced or compulsory recruitment of children under 18 years of age for use in armed conflict is considered to be one of the worst forms of child labour and that, under Article 1 of the Convention, member States must take immediate and effective measures to secure the elimination of the worst forms of child labour as a matter of urgency. While acknowledging the complexity of the situation prevailing on the ground and the presence of armed groups and armed conflict in the country, the Committee once again strongly urges the Government to take measures as a matter of urgency to ensure the full and immediate demobilization of all children and to put a stop to the forced recruitment of children under 18 years of age into armed forces and armed groups. It also once again urges the Government to take immediate and effective measures to ensure that thorough investigations and prosecutions of all persons, including members in the regular armed forces, who recruit children under 18 years of age for use in armed conflict, are carried out and that sufficiently effective and dissuasive penalties are imposed in practice. Finally, the Committee once again urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure the adoption of the law prohibiting the recruitment of children under 18 years of age for use in armed conflict and expresses the firm hope that this new law will establish sufficiently effective and dissuasive penalties. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any progress made in this regard.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clauses (a) and (c). Prevent the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour. Access to free basic education. The Committee notes that the Conference Committee urged the Government to: (i) develop policies and programmes aimed at ensuring equal access to free public and compulsory education for all children by taking steps to give immediate effect to its previous commitment to introduce laws that prohibit the recruitment of children for armed conflict and dissuasively penalize those who breach this law; and (ii) supplement without delay the UNESCO “Teach a Child” project and other projects with such other measures as are necessary to afford access to basic education to all children of school age, particularly in rural areas and areas affected by war.

The Committee notes the Government’s reference to a number of projects and programmes aiming to provide access to basic education for all children including: (i) the UNESCO “Teach a child” project has been implemented in the General Directorates of Education in the following governorates (Baghdad/Al-Rusafa Third/Al-Karkh Third) during the 2018–19 school year; (ii) the “Stabilization and Peace” programmes have been implemented in Nineveh Governorate during the 2018–19 school year, with support from the Mercy Corps international organization, to bring school dropouts in the 12–18 age group back into the classrooms; and (iii) programmes have been implemented to foster educational opportunities for young people from the governorates affected by the crises in Iraq (i.e. Baghdad/Al-Karkh First and Second/Al-Rusafa First and Second/Diyala/Kirkuk/Al-Anbar/Saladin) by opening “Haqak Fi Altaalim” centres for the 10–18 age group during the 2018–19 school year with the support of the Mercy Corps international organization. The Government also states that schools have been opened and have accelerated learning offered to bring in children in the 10–18 age group in the different governorates with appropriate monitoring and follow-up. While acknowledging the difficult situation prevailing in the country, the Committee encourages the Government to continue to take the necessary measures to improve access to free basic education of all children, particularly girls, children in rural areas and in areas affected by the conflict. It also requests the Government to continue to provide information on the results achieved through the implementation of projects, particularly with respect to increasing the school enrolment and completion rates and reducing school drop-out rates so as to prevent the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour.

Clause (b). Providing the necessary and appropriate assistance for the removal of children from the worst forms of child labour and for their rehabilitation and social integration. 1. Children in armed conflict. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that a High-Level Supreme National Committee was established to follow up on abuses to which children are subjected to or the deprivation of their rights as a result of the armed conflict. This Committee is chaired by the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs and the Head of the Childcare Agency, with the membership of the board of the High Commission for Human Rights, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Education, the NGO Directorate, along with a representative from the PMF and another from the Foreign Ministry.

The Committee notes that according to the UN Report, as of December 2018, at least 902 children (850 boys and 52 girls) between the ages of 15 and 18 remained in detention on national security-related charges, including for their actual and alleged association with armed groups, primarily ISIL (paragraph 72). The Committee deplores the practice of the detention and conviction of children for their alleged association with armed groups. In this regard, the Committee must emphasize that children under the age of 18 years associated with armed groups should be treated as victims rather than offenders (see 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 502). The Committee, therefore, once again urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that children removed from armed groups are treated as victims rather than offenders. It also, once again, urges the Government to take effective and time-bound measures to remove children from armed groups and ensure their rehabilitation and social integration. It requests the Government to provide information on the activities of the High-Level Supreme National Committee and the results achieved, in terms of the number of children removed from armed groups and socially reintegrated.

2. Sexual slavery. The Committee notes that the Conference Committee urged the Government to take effective measures to identify and support children, without delay, who have been sexually exploited and abused through such means of sexual enslavement.

The Committee notes the Government’s reference to article 29(iii) of the Constitution (prohibition of economic exploitation of children) as well as to section 6(iii) of the Labour Law of 2015 (elimination of child labour). The Committee notes however the absence of information on the practical measures envisaged or taken to identify and remove children from sexual slavery. The Committee therefore once again urges the Government to take effective and time-bound measures to remove children under 18 years of age from sexual slavery and ensure their rehabilitation and social integration. It once again requests the Government to provide information on specific measures taken in this regard as well as the number of children removed from sexual slavery and rehabilitated.

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