Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Ethiopia (Ratification: 2003)

Article 7(2)(d) of the Convention. Effective and time-bound measures. Identifying and reaching out to children at special risk. Street children. The Committee previously noted that there are between 150,000 and 200,000 street children nationally, with a further 1 million children vulnerable or at risk of being on the street. It also noted that the Government and UNICEF launched a programme addressing the needs and concerns of street children which provides services in education, health, counselling and legal services.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that it is adopting multi-faceted development policies to sustainably prevent and protect children from being on the street. The Government states that street children, together with other disadvantaged children, are provided with various services by different governmental and non-governmental organizations. In this respect, the Committee notes the Government’s information concerning its collaboration with a local non-governmental organization to launch a training programme for street children to develop different skills with the aim of being reintegrated into society. The Government indicates that this programme has benefitted approximately 3,500 street children. The Committee also notes the Government’s information provided in its fourth and fifth periodic report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (CRC/C/ETH/4-5, paragraph 284) in 2013, which describes its rehabilitation, reintegration and protection measures in this respect, including the provision of micro-finance and training opportunities for youth; the establishment of social services in rural areas to reduce the displacement of children from rural to urban areas; and programmes to increase access to education. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the effective and time-bound measures taken to provide for the removal of street children, in addition to their rehabilitation and social integration.

Clause (e). Special situation of girls. The Committee previously noted that there were approximately 6,500 to 7,500 child domestic workers in Addis Ababa, who were the objects of extreme exploitation, working long hours for minimal pay or modest food and shelter, and that they are vulnerable to physical and sexual abuse. The Committee notes that the Government’s report provides very limited information in this respect, as it only references the broader implementation of the NPA, which the Committee recalls is due to expire in 2015. The Committee again requests the Government to take the necessary measures to protect children under the age of 18, and girls in particular, from engaging in exploitative domestic work. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the effective and time-bound measures taken in this regard, and on the results achieved.