Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

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

Article 6 of the Convention. Programmes of action. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes the following initiatives: (i) the adoption and implementation of the National Action Plan against Trafficking in Persons 2022–2024 mentioned in the Government’s report on the application of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), which has three strategic pillars on prevention, prosecution and protection; (ii) the activation of the National Plan for the Elimination of Child Labour and its Worst Forms developed by the National Council for Children and Young Persons (CONANI) in coordination with the Ministry of Labour, the ILO and the Supérate programme, which aims at examining the root causes of this problem and empowering the affected communities; (iii) the adoption of the DAR-CE (Describe, Analyse, Reflect, Commit and Evaluate) method, a training programme to prevent and eliminate child labour through cascade educational training methods for institutional stakeholders, advisers of trainers and other facilitators; and (iv) the Supérate programme which in 2023 conducted 21 child labour prevention and awareness-raising workshops through the DAR-CE method, training a total of 581 trainers who replicated the workshops in their communities. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures adopted and results achieved in the context of the above-mentioned action programmes to eliminate the worst forms of child labour. It also requests the Government to clarify whether the newNational Plan for the Elimination of Child Labour and its Worst Forms is currently in force and to provide a copy of this plan.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (d). Children at special risk. HIV/AIDS orphans. The Committee notes that the Government has not provided information in this respect. It notes the statistics of UNAIDS, which show a decrease in the number of HIV/AIDS orphans in the Dominican Republic, from 44,000 in 2022 to 31,000 in 2023. The Committee therefore once again requests the Government to provide information on the effective and time-bound measures taken to protect HIV/AIDS orphans from being engaged in the worst forms of child labour, and on the results achieved in this respect.

Haitian migrant children. The Committee notes that the Government reports on actions within the framework of the design of the Public Policy for assistance for children and young persons in street situations and/or situations of mobility, in public spaces and the worst forms of child labour, including: (i) the implementation of the Intervention Model for the Protection of Children on the Streets and in Worst Forms of Child Labour, under the Operational Technical Unit, which identifies children engaged in street work; and (ii) days dedicated to protection, and temporary shelters (Hogares de Paso) organized by CONANI, aimed at safeguarding and restoring the rights of children at risk.

The Committee notes the Statistics Bulletin of 2023, published by CONANI, which shows that: (i) from January to December 2023, 286 children were assisted during the days dedicated to protection under the Operational Technical Unit, 148 of whom were young persons of Haitian origin, representing 52 per cent of cases; and (ii) in the same period, 912 young persons were received in temporary shelters, 302 of whom were of Haitian origin (216 boys and 86 girls), which is 33 per cent of all young persons who were helped in this period.

The Committee notes, however, the concerns expressed by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child in its concluding observations about: (i) the increasing deterioration in the situation, and the vulnerability of the large number of unaccompanied migrant children from Haiti; (ii) the persistence of trafficking involving children in vulnerable situations, such as those of Haitian origin (iii) the thousands of Dominican-born children of Haitian descent who continue to have irregular status and no State-issued documentation proving their legal identity and/or nationality; and (iv) the impact the lack of legal documentation has on the risk of becoming a victim of violence, as it poses a barrier to access to basic rights, such as social protection, and access to certification of completion of secondary education (CRC/C/DOM/CO/6, paragraphs 21, 38 and 42). The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on: (i) the measures taken to protect migrant children of Haitian origin, particularly those who are in an irregular situation and without official documentation, against the worst forms of child labour; and (ii) the number of Haitian children who were registered in reception centres and the types of services they received. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken, and their outcomes, to ensure that these children have access to free basic education.

Article 8. International cooperation. The Committee notes the Government’s continued participation in meetings organized in the context of the Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Initiative on Child Labour.