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

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

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Articles 3(a) and (d) and 7(1) of the Convention. Forced or compulsory labour, hazardous work and penalties. Child domestic labour and penalties. Begging. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes that the Government’s report does not contain information on the number and nature of violations detected, the number of prosecutions and the penalties imposed on persons who engage children under 18 years of age in domestic work in hazardous or abusive conditions. The Committee requests the Government to take appropriate measures to combat child domestic labour, including through the effective implementation of section 6 of Act No. 19-12, which establishes 18 years as the minimum age for employment as a domestic worker, and that sufficiently effective and dissuasive penalties are imposed in practice against persons who subject children under 18 years of age to domestic labour in hazardous or abusive conditions. It once again requests the Government to provide information on the number and nature of violations detected, the number of prosecutions and the penalties imposed.

Article 3(a). Trafficking of children. Further to its previous comments, the Committee takes due note of the information provided by the Government with regard to the adoption of Decree No. 2-17-40 of 6 July 2018, establishing the composition and operating procedures of the National Commission for the Coordination of Measures to Combat and Prevent Trafficking in Human Beings.

The Committee also notes the Government’s information that between 2017 and 2020, a total of 723 individuals were prosecuted for trafficking in persons, of whom 523 were men and 200 women, and among whom 626 were Moroccan and 97 foreigners. In 2019, a total of 68 persons were sentenced to imprisonment, including: 7 persons for more than 10 years; 17 persons for 6–10 years; 19 persons for 3–5 years; 8 persons for 1–2 years; and 17 persons for less than 1 year.

The Committee notes, from the 2022 report of the National Commission for the Coordination of Measures to Combat and Prevent Trafficking in Human Beings, that between 2017 and 2020, a total of 719 victims of trafficking in persons were recorded, of whom 414 were men and 305 women. Among these victims, 536 were Moroccans and 183 foreigners. A total of 367 persons were victims of sexual exploitation, 44 of forced labour and 63 of begging, among other forms of exploitation. However, the Committee notes the absence of specific data on the age of the victims of trafficking in persons. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the implementation in practice of Act No. 27-14 concerning action against trafficking in persons, including information on the number of child victims of trafficking, disaggregated by gender and by age, as well as the number and nature of convictions and criminal penalties imposed.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (d). Children at special risk. Child domestic labour. The Committee notes the Government’s indications that in 2021, the Ministry for Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment and Skills (MIEPEEC) concluded eight agreements with associations with a view to combating the worst forms of child labour. In this regard, a total of 180 children of 16 to 18 years of age were removed from hazardous work, of whom 45 (38 girls and 7 boys) were removed from domestic labour. The Government also indicates that MIEPEEC has stepped up its actions to promote decent work in Morocco through the “MAP16 Maroc” project, which focuses on child labour in domestic and hazardous work at the national level, as well as in the regions of Rabat/Salé, Marrakesh/Safi and Kenitra/Gharb. These actions include awareness-raising and advocacy campaigns, the dissemination of tools summarizing rights and obligations under Act No. 19-12 establishing the conditions of work and employment of domestic workers, as well as training for MIEPEEC partner associations in the area of action against child labour between 2018 and 2020, to improve their methods of working with target groups. Furthermore, in 2021, the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises, with the ILO, created an online platform, “Iltesam”, as part of the Moroccan Private Sector Initiative to Combat Child Labour. The Committee encourages the Government to continue its efforts with regard to the identification, removal and reintegration of children under 18 years of age working as domestic servants who are victims of economic or sexual exploitation. It requests the Government to continue to provide information on the number of children removed, rehabilitated and socially integrated.

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