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

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

Articles 3(a) and (b) and 7(1) of the Convention. Sale and trafficking of children for commercial sexual exploitation, and penalties. The Committee notes the Government’s response, in reply to its previous comments, that in 2020 the Special Prosecutor’s Office against the Illicit Trafficking of Migrants and Human Trafficking reported 41 cases of commercial sexual exploitation of young persons under 18 years of age; and that between 2016 and 2020 a total of 239 cases of illicit human trafficking involving minors were recorded. Moreover, according to information on the official website of the Attorney-General’s Office, between May 2017 and March 2019 legal proceedings were opened in 139 cases relating to commercial sexual exploitation, illicit trafficking of migrants, child pornography and human trafficking. These cases involved 88 victims under 18 years of age, and convictions were handed down in 33 cases.

The Committee also notes that the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material, observes in the 2018 report on her visit to the Dominican Republic that a significant proportion of foreign tourists come to the country for the purpose of sexual exploitation, including of girls, and that child sexual exploitation is especially concentrated in beach areas such as Bávaro, Boca Chica, Sosúa, Cabarete and Las Terrenas. The UN Special Rapporteur also highlights the fact that intermediaries who facilitate child sexual exploitation form part of a chain that includes pimps, taxi drivers, and owners of motels, night clubs and car-wash facilities, and that these criminal structures often operate with the complicity of the local authorities (A/HRC/37/60/Add.1, paragraphs 18 and 19). Taking account of the fact that the trafficking of children for commercial sexual exploitation has been an extensive problem in the country, particularly in the tourism sector, and that there has been a high degree of impunity in this sphere, the Committee notes with deep concern this information and also the low number of convictions in relation to the number of cases involving the trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of minors.

Lastly, with regard to the revision of the Penal Code for the purpose of reinforcing the penalties for perpetrators of the sale and trafficking of children for commercial sexual exploitation, the Committee notes that the new draft Code has already been approved by the Chamber of Deputies and is being reviewed by a special committee of the Senate of the Republic.The Committee once again firmly urges the Government to take all necessary steps without delay to ensure that circumstances which constitute the sale and trafficking of children for exploitation are investigated and that the perpetrators are duly prosecuted and penalized. The Committee requests the Government to continue sending information on the application in practice of section 3 of Act No. 137-03 on the illicit trafficking of migrants and other persons which criminalizes the trafficking of children for commercial sexual exploitation, and sections 408–410 of the Code for the protection of the rights of children and young persons, which establish penalties for the commercial sexual exploitation of minors. Lastly, the Committee requests the Government to continue sending information on progress made with regard to the adoption of a new Penal Code.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (a). Preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour. Commercial sexual exploitation in the tourism industry. The Committee notes the Government’s indication, in reply to its previous comments, that the Central Tourism Police Department (POLITUR) has a “Programme for the protection of children and young persons” aimed at protecting children and young persons against all forms of violence, abuse, exploitation and trafficking, especially those that occur as a result of tourism-related activities. In order to achieve this objective, POLITUR coordinates its actions with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the hotel sector and tourism clusters. The Committee also notes that the Ministry of Labour has established a committee to work on aspects of commercial sexual exploitation and other worst forms of child labour in coordination with the Attorney-General’s Office, the National Council for Children (CONANI), and other institutions that are part of the National Steering Committee to Combat Child Labour and the Inter-institutional Commission against the Abuse and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children. Within the above-mentioned committee, awareness-raising workshops have been held for members of tourism clusters throughout the country. In addition, the Ministry of Labour has established local, provincial and municipal steering committees in all provinces of the country, including in tourist areas, and also watchdog committees or units in municipalities and districts where there are no labour offices. The Committee notes that the UN Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children, including child prostitution, child pornography and other child sexual abuse material, observed in her 2018 report that the province of Puerto Plata is one of the main centres of child sexual exploitation in tourism and that the local authorities are overwhelmed by the problem without the support of the central authorities to prevent and combat it. The Special Rapporteur also expressed regret at the lack of real and effective involvement on the part of the Ministry of Tourism in combating child sexual exploitation in tourism (A/HRC/37/60/Add.1, paragraphs 20 and 61). The Committee requests the Government to intensify its efforts and continue to adopt effective time-bound measures to prevent the commercial sexual exploitation of children in the tourism industry, in coordination with central and local authorities and in collaboration with the various actors in the aforementioned industry (Ministry of Tourism, hotel sector and other tourism enterprises). The Committee also requests the Government to send information on this matter and also on the watchdog activities of POLITUR to protect children and young persons against commercial sexual exploitation in tourism-related activities.

Clause (b). Direct assistance for the removal of children from the worst forms of child labour and for their rehabilitation and social integration. Commercial sexual exploitation. Further to its previous comments on the number of child victims of commercial sexual exploitation who have received assistance and been removed from such exploitation, the Committee notes with regret that the Government has once again not provided information on this matter. Furthermore, the Committee observes that the UN Special Rapporteur on the sale and sexual exploitation of children noted with regret in her 2018 report the absence of accessible complaint mechanisms for child victims of violence, abuse and sexual exploitation (A/HRC/37/60/Add.1, paragraph 54). The Committee therefore requests the Government to take measures to ensure that child victims of commercial sexual exploitation, or their parents or tutors, can access complaint mechanisms rapidly, easily and free of charge, and can also access programmes for their rehabilitation and social reintegration. In this regard, it requests the Government to send up-to-date statistical information on the number of child victims of commercial sexual exploitation who have been identified, rescued and rehabilitated.

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