Solicitud directa (CEACR) - Adopción: 2024, Publicación: 113ª reunión CIT (2025)

Convenio sobre las peores formas de trabajo infantil, 1999 (núm. 182) - Côte d'Ivoire (Ratificación : 2003)

Article 5. Monitoring mechanisms. Further to its previous comments, the Committee takes due note of the information provided by the Government, according to which the National Committee to Combat Trafficking in Persons (CNLTP), as well as several ONGs participated in a workshop with a view to establishing an official referral mechanism for the effective protection of victims. Likewise, the Inter-Ministerial Committee against the Trafficking and Exploitation of Children and Child Labour (CIM) and the National Monitoring Committee of Action to Combat Child Trafficking, Exploitation and Labour (CNS) held a training workshop for regional coordinators and persons responsible for regional units to combat child labour on the tools and operating mechanism of the observation and monitoring system for child labour in Côte d’Ivoire (SOSTECI) in June 2023. The implementation of this mechanism made possible the establishment of 111 departmental committees, 42 sub-prefectural committees and 304 village committees for monitoring child labour.

The Committee also notes the information provided on the Alliance 8.7 internet page for Côte d’Ivoire which, in the framework of activities connected to the project, indicates that 214 actors in the criminal justice system, including 63 judicial police officers and assistants and 32 magistrates have received training on human trafficking. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide updated information on the results obtained in the context of CNLTP activities, in particular on the manner in which it contributes to ensuring implementation of the provisions of the Convention with regard to the sale or trafficking of children for commercial or sexual exploitation. It also requests the Government to provide information on the results obtained in the framework of the activities of the CIM and CNS, in particular through the SOSTECI.

Article 6. Programmes of action and application of the Convention in practice. National Plan of Action to Combat the Worst Forms of Child Labour (PAN-PFTE). Following its previous comments, the Committee notes the information provided by the Government, according to which awareness-raising action reached a total of 33,718 persons and a total of 1,303 stakeholders were trained on trafficking under the PAN-PFTE. Moreover, a total of 2,292 victims of trafficking were given direct assistance. In this regard, the Committee notes that 60 children aged between 14 to 16 years were given vocational training in mechanics, hairdressing, sewing and carpentry, with the support of the ILO and the Chamber of Trade of Côte d’Ivoire, to help lift them out of situations of exploitation.

The Committee also notes the information provided by the Government, according to which the first National Action Plan on human rights, integrating several of the recommendations made in the Universal Periodic Review on trafficking in persons, was adopted in February 2022. The plan aims to eliminate economic exploitation of children before 2025, especially the worst forms of child labour, and including the exploitation of girls in domestic work, talibé children, those working in the mining and agricultural sectors, as well as child beggars.

The Committee also notes that the Government indicates that 10 operations were conducted to dismantle human trafficking networks.

The Committee notes the detailed information provided by the Government in its report submitted under the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138), according to which the PAN-PFTE 2019–21 was prolonged to December 2023, and that a new plan will be drawn up based on the evaluation of the current PAN-PFTE 2019–21.

The Committee further notes from Côte d’Ivoire’s Alliance 8.7 Pathfinder Progress report that many activities were undertaken in the framework of the project roadmap for 2022. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures adopted in the framework of the new PNA-PFTE as soon as it is adopted. It also requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken and the results obtained in the framework of the National Action Plan on human rights which aims to eliminate economic exploitation of children before 2025, in particular the worst forms of child labour, including the exploitation of girls in domestic work. It also requests the Government to provide detailed information on action taken and results obtained, including in the framework of the Alliance 8.7 project.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (a). Preventing children from being engaged in the worst forms of child labour. Access to free basic education. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to provide detailed information on the results obtained through both the implementation of the Sectoral Education/Training Plan 2015–25 and also the new cooperation cycle with UNICEF and the PAN-PFTE 2019–21, particularly with regard to the rates of enrolment and completion, disaggregated by age and gender. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government according to which a general review of the national education and literacy system was organized in 2022, in the framework of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) 2023 for Côte d’Ivoire. These inclusive national consultations allowed the principal challenges facing the education sector to be identified and resulted in the formulation of 42 reforms to be implemented over the next ten years, including giving priority to improving core learning so that, before 2030, all school children who complete the first cycle know how to read, write and count. In this regard, the GPE supports other projects, such as the Ivoirian Network for the promotion of education for all for the 2024–26 period, and the Girls not Brides project for the 2024–26 period.

However, the Committee notes that the Government’s report lacks information on the Sectoral Education/Training Plan 2015–25, the cooperation cycle with UNICEF and the PAN–PFTE 2019–21.

Moreover, the Committee notes the estimates indicated in the UNESCO report on the Analysis of the education sector in Côte d’Ivoire for 2024, according to which around 1,406,983 children, of which 51 per cent are girls, were outside the education system between 2020 and 2021. The Committee again requests the Government to provide detailed information on the results obtained through implementation of the Sectoral Education/Training Plan 2015-25, but also the new cooperation cycle with UNICEF and the PAN-PFTE 2019-2021, particularly concerning enrolment and completion rates, disaggregated by age and gender.

Child HIV/AIDS orphans. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that the 2016 estimates published by UNAIDS gave the figure of 340,000 orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) due to HIV/AIDS in Côte d’Ivoire. It requested the Government to step up its efforts to protect them against the worst forms of labour, in the framework of the national policy on care and support for OVC, as well as other measures adopted by the Government.

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government according to which a national mechanism and a minimum package of care activities were put in place in 2021, aimed especially at OVC, in the framework of the new national HIV/AIDS strategy for 2021-2026. This mechanism includes various measures that aim to ensure child orphans benefit from maximum protection against all forms of injustice.

The Committee also notes the information on the web page of the Ministry for Women, the Family and the Child (MFFE), that a total of 171,000 OVC and their families benefitted from assistance and support towards autonomy from the National Programme to provide care to orphans and children vulnerable due to HIV/AIDS (PNOEV). In this regard, the MFFE indicates that the 2023 objective is to provide assistance to 400,000 identified OVC with a view to supporting families of OVC to attain autonomy. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures adopted within the framework of the new strategy for 2021-2026, and on the results obtained in this regard. It also requests the Government to provide information on the results obtain under the PNOEV.