Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (Ratification: 2001)

Articles 3(a) and 7(2)(a) and (b). Worst forms of child labour and effective and time-bound measures. Sale and trafficking of children, preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour and providing the necessary direct assistance for the removal of children from the worst forms of child labour and for their rehabilitation and social integration. The Committee previously noted the Government’s information regarding the establishment of (i) a National Task Force against Trafficking in Persons at the ministerial level chaired by the Prime Minister; (ii) an Anti-Trafficking in Persons Unit (ATIPU) to educate the general public and to investigate possible cases of human trafficking; and (iii) a crisis centre for providing appropriate accommodation and assistance to victims of trafficking. It requested the Government to provide information on the number of child victims of trafficking under the age of 18 years who had been rehabilitated in the crisis centre as well as on the impact of the measures taken by the national task force and the ATIPU in terms of the number of children who were prevented or withdrawn from trafficking and then rehabilitated.

The Committee notes an absence of information in the Government’s report. It, however, notes from the Government’s Replies to the List of Issues presented by the Human Rights Committee of March 2019 that the ATIPU, since its establishment in 2012, has investigated over 15 suspected cases of trafficking in persons, and over 20,000 students and 3,000 teachers have been sensitized about trafficking in persons. This report also indicates that a National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking (NAP) 2016-2020 and a Memorandum of Understanding to Combat Human Trafficking between the ATIPU and various ministries and government departments are in force (CCPR/C/VCT/Q/2/Add.1, paragraphs 89, 91, 93 and 97). Furthermore, according to the information from the official website of the Police Force of the Royal St. Vincent and the Grenadines in July 2021, the Criminal Justice Reform project funded by the Governments of the United States of America and the United Kingdom, handed over to the ATIPU, 30 e-learning programmes to combat human trafficking which include modules covering awareness issues around human trafficking, insight into what human trafficking entails, general indicators for human trafficking and resources available to support professionals and victims. The Committee, however, notes that the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), in its concluding observations of March 2017 expressed concern that (i) the State party remains a country of origin, transit and destination for trafficking in persons, including children, for the purpose of sexual exploitation and forced labour, primarily in agriculture; (ii) at the weak implementation of the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act, 2011 resulting in very few victims of trafficking being identified and very few perpetrators of trafficking being investigated, prosecuted and convicted; and that (iii) the protection and specialized services for child victims of trafficking anticipated in the Act have not yet been provided (CRC/C/VCT/CO/2-3, para 62). The Committee therefore requests the Government to strengthen its efforts to ensure that cases of trafficking in children, both for labour and sexual exploitation, are identified, proper investigations and prosecutions are carried out and to provide information on the penalties applied. It also requests the Government to provide information on the activities undertaken by the ATIPU as well as the measures taken within the framework of the NAP 2016-2020 to combat trafficking in children and on the measures taken to provide protection, rehabilitation and social integration assistance to children withdrawn from trafficking.

Clause (d). Identifying and reaching out to children at special risk. Street children. The Committee previously noted the Government’s information that as a result of the expanded national education system, the incidence of street children had been significantly reduced.

The Committee notes that the CRC, in its concluding observations of March 2017, recommended the Government to update and collect disintegrated data on children in street situations and based on its outcome to develop a national strategy for recovering and reintegrating children in such situations and to provide support to their families and communities in order to prevent children from living and working in the street (CRC/C/VCT/CO/2-3, para 61). Recalling that children who live and work on the street are particularly at risk of being engaged in the worst forms of child labour, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to protect these children and to provide for their rehabilitation and social integration. It requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken and the results achieved in this regard.

Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee notes that the CRC, in its concluding observations of March 2017, expressed concern that some children reportedly engage in hazardous work, including in the agricultural sector, the commercial sex industry and the illicit trade in drugs (CRC/C/VCT/CO/2-3, para. 59). The Committee therefore once again requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that sufficient data on the situation of children involved in the worst forms of child labour are made available. It requests the Government to provide 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 infringements reported, investigations, prosecutions, convictions and the penal sanctions applied. To the extent possible, all information provided should be disaggregated by age and gender.