Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

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

Articles 5, 6 and 7(2)(a) and (b) of the Convention. Monitoring mechanisms, programmes of action and time-bound measures. Preventing children from engaging in and removing them from the worst forms of child labour, and ensuring their rehabilitation and social integration. National Action Plan against Trafficking in Persons 2018–21. With regard to the Committee’s previous request to provide information on the National Action Plan against Trafficking in Persons (PNCP), the Government provides detailed information on the measures taken at three levels: (i) the training of judges, public prosecutors, agents from the national police and the Policia Judiciára (national crime agency) and other officers, on trafficking in persons, focusing on investigations and prosecutions; (ii) prevention of trafficking through public awareness through various means, including radio, television and social media; and (iii) assistance to victims through a training to strengthen the capacities of national stakeholders from the public sector and civil society to identify and assist victims of trafficking, and support provided to victims of trafficking (such as food, accommodation, communication) to ensure the victims’ safety and decent living conditions. The Committee further notes that, according to the concluding observations of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and members of their families (CMW) of 2 June 2022, the Observatory for Monitoring and Rapid Identification of Human Trafficking was established in 2019. According to the CMW, however, there is a lack of information concerning the existence of a formal mechanism for the referral of victims of trafficking and a low number of government-funded shelters for victims of trafficking (CMW/C/CPV/CO/1-3, para. 69). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the results achieved through the implementation of the PNCP, in particular in terms of: (1) the training of law enforcement agencies on combating the trafficking of children, and (2) the number of children withdrawn from trafficking and rehabilitated. It also requests the Government to provide information on the functioning of the Observatory for Monitoring and Rapid Identification of Human Trafficking, and on the number of child victims of trafficking identified through its work.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (a). Preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour. Access to free basic education. The Committee notes the Government’s detailed information provided in response to its request to provide statistics on school enrolment, attendance and completion rates. The Committee notes, in particular, that in the 2020–21 academic year, there was a net enrolment ratio of 90.5 per cent in compulsory basic education and a dropout rate of approximately 1 per cent (with a dropout rate from the seventh and eighth grades of around 3 per cent). In secondary school, the national net enrolment ratio was around 61.2 per cent and was higher among girls (68.3 per cent) than among boys (53.9 per cent). The Government indicates that the secondary school pass rate was 75.3 per cent and the dropout rate was 3 per cent. According to the Government, the greatest challenge is to ensure that children remain in the system and achieve academic success.

In this regard, the Committee takes note with interest of the detailed information provided by the Government regarding the wide range of measures taken to improve the functioning of the education system, including by increasing school enrolment, attendance and completion rates. In particular, it notes that Cabo Verde has extended its School Social Welfare programme to children from low-income households and those with special needs. Its main objective is to help to combat social exclusion and reduce the school dropout rate by promoting equality of opportunity in education. The normal operation of this programme is ensured through the strengthening of the school transport programme, nutrition support, health at school and school kits to minimize the effects of drought and COVID-19. The Committee takes due note of the detailed statistics provided by the Government regarding the number of children and adolescents who have benefited from these measures and from scholarship grants.

Furthermore, the Government indicates that it has expanded free, compulsory education up to the twelfth grade as a way to ensure access to education and enable young persons to prepare for life and entry into the labour market. Moreover, the administration of the school system continues to be expanded, reorganized and modernized, including by: (i) implementing the Integrated School Administration System (SIGE) in all basic and secondary schools; (ii) strengthening the WebLab project between 2018-20, through which different training modules were made available to students from the seventh to twelfth grade in various areas (robotics, computer programming, etc.); (iii) consolidating the new administrative model for school districts and covering administrative and teaching costs to increase the autonomy of schools and enable them to respond to education-related challenges; and (iv) developing and implementing a new curriculum and reviewing and teaching new learning materials, paying special attention to literacy. Finally, the Committee takes note also of the wide range of measures the Government is intending to take to implement its vision for the future, which seeks to strengthen the education system to ensure that it is grounded in knowledge, universalize and improve preschool education, enhance basic education, and continue to reform both general and technical secondary education. The Committee encourages the Government to continue taking measures to improve the functioning of the education system, including by increasing the school attendance and completion rates at both primary and lower secondary levels. It also requests the Government to continue providing information on the results achieved in this regard.

Clause (d). Identifying children at special risk. Street children. Following its previous request that the Government provide information on the number of children removed from the streets and given education and assistance pursuant to programmes implemented by the ICCA, the Committee notes the Government’s information that in 2019 and 2020, the ICCA, through the Nôs Kaza centres in the cities of Praia and Santa Maria (Sal), assisted 196 street children and developed initiatives to economically empower several families (particularly mothers) of children supported by these centres. In 2021, a project was launched to strengthen the ICCA’s capacity to provide a targeted response to street children on the islands of Boavista, Sal and São Vicente and in the city of Praia. The Government indicates that the joint work done by the ICCA and non-governmental organizations, such as Aldeia SOS on the island of São Vicente, has had a positive impact on street children and has helped to prevent the problem from spreading exponentially in urban centres and the islands that benefit from tourism. The Committee requests the Government to continue its efforts to remove children from the streets and provide assistance for their rehabilitation and social integration. It requests the Government to continue providing information on the number of children removed from the streets and given education and assistance by the Nôs Kaza centres and pursuant to any other programmes implemented by the ICCA.

Article 8. International cooperation and assistance. Poverty reduction programmes. Social protection. The Committee notes the Government’s information on the social protection programmes it is implementing to address the needs of low-income and vulnerable families. In particular, the Committee notes that the Government is implementing a social inclusion income programme (RSI, a direct cash transfer scheme), which enables families to obtain a basic level of subsistence and take advantage of economic opportunities and income-generating activities for a limited time. In addition, the Food Assistance Programme, established through Resolution No. 58/2020 of 30 March 2020, aims to help the most vulnerable families to cover their basic nutritional requirements, particularly among households with children who benefit from the School Canteen Programme. The programme has supported around 154,419 beneficiaries (32,495 households).

The Committee further takes note of the Childcare System, which provides universal access to preschool education to children aged four to six years from vulnerable and low-income families and children with special needs. Other measures that have made an impact in the fight against child labour include the provision of care services by the ICCA through day centres and social protection centres, which have helped children to avoid academic failure and remain in school, and have protected children from sexual exploitation and abuse, child labour and other risks that can harm the physical and psychological well-being of children and adolescents. Noting that poverty reduction programmes contribute to breaking the cycle of poverty, which is essential for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour, the Committee encourages the Government to pursue its efforts to continue to implement social protection programmes to address the needs of low-income and vulnerable families. It requests the Government to provide information on the results achieved, especially with regard to the effective reduction of poverty in vulnerable households and the impact observed on the elimination of the worst forms of child labour.