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

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Suriname (Ratification: 2006)

Articles 3(a) of the Convention. Trafficking of children. The Committee notes that the Government indicates in its report that section 334 of the 2015 Criminal Code prescribes penalties of up to nine years of imprisonment for trafficking in persons when the victim is 16 years or older, and up to 12 years of imprisonment when the victim is younger than 16 years. With reference to the Committee’s previous request for information on investigations conducted on cases concerning trafficking of children, the Government indicates that the authorities prosecuted three police officers in 2021 for suspected complicity in child trafficking for sexual exploitation. One police officer was acquitted for the same crime in 2022. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the number and nature of investigations and prosecutions undertaken concerning trafficking of children for labour or sexual exploitation, as well as on the penalties imposed on the perpetrators under section 334 of the Criminal Code.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures.Clause (b). Direct assistance for the removal of children from the worst forms of child labour and for their rehabilitation and social integration. Child victims of trafficking. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that its National Action Plan on Child Labour 2019–24 provides for measures for the social and educational reintegration of children engaged in child labour, including its worst forms. A Draft Ministerial Decree has also been prepared to facilitate care, assistance, and guidance to households where such children belong to. The Government further states that child victims of trafficking who do not want to return to their homes can enter a childcare facility or stay with a foster family. The Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the specific measures taken to support the reintegration and rehabilitation of children victims of trafficking, including under the National Action Plan on Child Labour. It also requests the Government to provide information on the number of child victims of trafficking who have been identified, removed from this worst form of child labour and rehabilitated.