Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

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

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Articles 3(a) and 7(1) of the Convention. All forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery. Sale and trafficking of children. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes the information provided by the Government, in its report, relating to the activities implemented as part of the ILO Bridge Project, From Protocol to Practice: A Bridge to Global Action on Forced Labour, in place since 2015. This project has, inter alia, supported the development of training modules and the organization of training workshops for various officials of the judicial system (justice system officials, police and gendarmerie). The Committee notes, in this regard, that according to a 2022 outlook report of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the IOM and the National Agency to Combat Trafficking in Persons (ANLTP) – a key organization at the national level working against trafficking in persons – worked together to ensure that three decentralized ANLTP offices in the cities of Zinder, Koni and Diffa were operationalized. IOM’s support of these offices enabled the ANLTP to advance with its national strategy of operational presence in these three cities, with a view to establishing its operational presence in Niger’s eight regions, which facilitates its interventions to prevent and combat trafficking in persons throughout the country, while prosecuting perpetrators.

The Committee notes that the Government included with its report the 2020 edition of the yearbook of statistics for 2015–19 of the Ministry of Justice, which covers statistics on the number of victims of trafficking and of perpetrators prosecuted, which were gathered during the years mentioned. According to the statistics, 54 perpetrators of child trafficking were brought before the courts and tried in 2017 but a ruling was handed down for only one of these perpetrators. The Committee notes, however, that 147 child victims of trafficking were registered in 2017, as well as 57 in 2015, 30 in 2016 and 31 in 2018. In this regard, the Committee notes that, in its concluding observations of 16 May 2019, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) expressed its concern at the low rate of application of the legal provisions relating to the sale and trafficking of persons (CCPR/C/NER/CO/2, para. 34), in particular Ordinance No. 2010-086 of 16 December 2010 on combating trafficking in persons in Niger, which prohibits all forms of sale and trafficking and establishes prison sentences of from ten to 30 years in cases where the victim is a child.

The Committee is therefore bound to note with deep concern the low number of persons prosecuted given the extent of the trafficking phenomenon in the country. Recalling that the penalties provided for are only effective if they are enforced, the Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures, as soon as possible, to ensure that in-depth investigations and thorough prosecutions are conducted against perpetrators of violations relating to the sale and trafficking of children. It requests the Government to continue to provide information on the progress made to this end, and to provide updated statistics on the number and nature of the violations reported, investigations, prosecutions, convictions and penal sanctions imposed in cases of child victims of trafficking.

Articles 3 and 7(1). Sanctions. Clause (a). All forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery. Forced or compulsory labour. Begging. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes that, according to the 2020 edition of the yearbook of statistics for 2015–19 of the Ministry of Justice, nine perpetrators of the exploitation of begging were brought before the courts and tried, and rulings were handed down to 15 such perpetrators in 2018. The Committee notes, however, that the HRC, in its concluding observations of 16 May 2019, said that it was concerned about the specific situation of talibé children handed over to marabouts in Qur’anic schools and forced to beg (CCPR/C/NER/CO/2, para. 44). The Committee also notes that, according to the 2022 IOM report, of the 565 victims of trafficking identified between January 2017 and July 2021, 23 per cent were cases of the exploitation of begging, all of which involved children. The Committee is therefore bound to note that the exploitation of children remains a problem in practice. The Committee therefore urges the Government to strengthen its efforts to ensure that thorough investigations are followed through, prosecutions are carried out and that sufficiently effective and dissuasive sanctions are imposed upon marabouts who use children under 18 years of age for purely economic purposes. It requests the Government to provide information on the progress made in this respect and the results achieved.

Clause (d) and Article 4(1). Hazardous work and the determination of hazardous types of work. Children working in mines and quarries. The Committee, having previously noted Decree No. 2017-682-PRN/MET/PS of 2017, which contains a revised list of dangerous types of work prohibited for children under 18 years of age, including a prohibition on employing children under 18 years of age in gold panning and other artisanal mining, notes the Government’s indication that Order No. 070/MME/DM of 2004 defining the code of conduct on artisanal mining exploitation sites also prohibits children under 18 years of age from being engaged in the worst forms of labour in the artisanal mining exploitation sites. However, the Committee notes that, in its concluding observations of 4 June 2018, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights said that it was concerned about the number of children who are economically exploited in mines, in particular in hazardous conditions (E/C.12/NER/CO/1, para. 46). Additionally, in its concluding observations of 21 November 2018, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) also said that it was seriously concerned that child labour continues to be widespread, including in quarries and gold mines (CRC/C/NER/CO/3-5, para. 43). The Committee once again urges the Government to take immediate measures to ensure the effective implementation of the national legislation protecting children against underground work in mines and against work in gold panning and other artisanal mining, and to provide information on the progress made in this regard, and the results achieved.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clauses (a) and (e). Preventing children from being engaged in the worst forms of child labour and taking account of the special situation of girls. Access to free and universal basic education. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s information relating to the measures taken to increase school enrolment rates, particularly for girls, such as the adoption in 2019 of several orders aimed at improving school conditions for girls and their protection. Other measures reported by the Government include a remedial programme at both primary and secondary level, which should benefit 250,000 pupils, and an accelerated catch-up programme for young people not in school and refugees (at least 45 per cent girls) through bridging classes and alternative education centres.

The Committee also notes that Niger has also adopted the sectoral plan for education and training for 2014–24, within the framework of which it reaffirms its commitment to prioritize education and training. The plan sets out a series of priorities, including improving basic quality education, recruitment of teachers and the development of incentive programmes to encourage girls to go to and remain in school.

The Government has also adopted the national strategy for the acceleration of education and training for girls and women in Niger 2020–30, the aim of which is to address the challenge of girls’ education in rural areas, where the proportion of girls in school is small. To that end, there are plans to promote girls’ attendance in school and completion of schooling, combat gender-based violence in schools, and take in the children who are not in school. According to a literature review of the national sectoral programmes and policies that help to tackle the root causes of child labour of 2023, conducted by a consultant as part of the ILO’s MAP16 project, it is expected that the percentage of girls enrolled in primary school will rise from 45.9 per cent in 2018 to 50 per cent in 2030, that the rate of girls who complete primary school will rise from 62.2 per cent in 2018 to 74.2 per cent in 2030, and that girls’ dropout rate in the first year of secondary school will decrease from 28.7 per cent in 2018 to 5 per cent in 2030. The Government also indicates that the strategy provides for the building of boarding schools in rural areas and that, in this regard, the President of the Republic has committed to building 100 boarding schools by 2026.

While noting the measures taken by the Government, the Committee notes with concern that the school enrolment rates remain low and the dropout rates high. The Committee also notes that the CRC, in its concluding observations of 21 November 2018, expressed concern about the disparities between girls and boys in terms of rates of enrolment in and completion of primary school, despite the recent progress; the high percentage of out-of-school children; and urban and rural disparities in access to school (CRC/C/NER/CO/3-5, para. 38). Furthermore, according to the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner’s quarterly public note on trends in the human rights situation in Niger, 1 September–31 December 2022, a lack of safety has jeopardized the right to education and pushed thousands of children in Niger outside the school system (para. 12). For example, as of 12 September 2022, according to the departmental authorities, 240 schools accommodating at least 21,637 pupils in the Tillabéry region had already been closed in the department of Téra. Considering that education is key in preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour, the Committee once again urges the Government to intensify its efforts to improve the functioning of the education system in the country, taking into account the special situation of girls. In this regard, it also once again requests the Government to ensure the increase in school enrolment rates and the reduction of school dropout rates, and to adopt further measures to re-enrol in school the thousands of children pushed outside the school system due to a lack of safety. The Committee requests the Government to provide updated information on the measures taken and the results achieved.

Article 7(2). Clause (d). Identifying and reaching out to children at special risk. Children in street situations. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that the protection of children in street situations is provided through the Framework Document on Child Protection (DCPE) and that these children are among those who have received protection services. The Committee notes, however, that children in street situations cannot be clearly identified in the categories of children having received protection services, according to the statistics provided by the Government for 2021.

In this regard, the Committee notes that the CRC, in view of the reports of large numbers of children in street situations, recommended that Niger undertake a systematic assessment of the situation of children in street situations and take measures to ensure their protection, including a comprehensive policy to address the root causes of the phenomenon, define preventive and protective measures that establish annual targets to reduce the number of children in street situations (CRC/C/NER/CO/3-5, para. 45). The Committee once again recalls that children in street situations are particularly vulnerable to the worst forms of child labour, and requests the Government to take measures to protect them and to ensure their rehabilitation and reintegration in a targeted manner. It requests the Government to provide specific information on the results achieved in this regard.

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