VZCZCXRO7712
RR RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHNJ #0002/01 0030930
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 030930Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY NDJAMENA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4740
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUEHYD/AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE 1435

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NDJAMENA 000002 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF, AF/C, INR, DRL/IL FOR TU DANG 
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
DOL/ILAB FOR TINA MCCARTER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A. 
TAGS: EAID EIND ELAB ETRD PHUM SOCI CD
SUBJECT: CHAD: 2006 CHILD LABOR UPDATE 
 
Ref: A. STATE 184972 B. 05 NDJAMENA 1367 
 
¶1. Summary: To date, the Chadian GovernmentQs efforts to combat 
the worst forms of child labor have been centered on laying the 
legal foundation to meet its commitments to international labor 
conventions aimed at protecting children.   While progress has 
been made at completing studies that identify the causes and 
magnitude of child labor abuses, progress has been slow in 
implementing legislation and dedicating the financial and 
personnel resources needed to actively enforce that 
legislation.  End summary. 
 
Legal Regime 
------------ 
 
¶2.  A comprehensive executive decree harmonizing ChadQs legal code 
with ILO 182 and 138 has been completed by the Ministry of 
Justice, but has yet to be submitted to the Council of Ministers 
for its concurrence and subsequent approval by President Deby. 
In addition to outlining working conditions and limitations 
on acceptable forms of child labor by age group, the decree 
includes language addressing the worst forms of child labor 
including prostitution and child soldiering. Because the 
labor code does not currently include punitive provisions 
to allow for prosecution of child labor violations, the decree 
will be a watershed in providing the legal means for effective 
enforcement.  The decree specifies that the enforcement and 
punitive provisions article of the labor code (article 190) 
shall be applied to the violations identified in the decree. 
 
 
Regulations for Implementation and Enforcement of the Legal Regime 
--------------------------------------------- --------------------- 
 
¶3.  The prosecution of child labor abuses has to date been rare in 
Chad due to the lack of child labor-specific provisions in the 
existing labor code, a weak and backlogged judicial system 
and a shortage of labor inspectors. 
 
¶4.  Due in large measure to the absence of child-labor provisions 
in the penal code, the judicial system remains a weak link in 
efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. The Child 
Protection Office of the Ministry of Justice reported that in 
August, a 16-year-old child was rescued from human traffickers who 
were attempting to take the child across the Chadian border to 
Nigeria. The traffickers were detained and their case referred to 
the Ministry of Justice.  To date, the traffickers have yet to be 
prosecuted because of the lack of child-specific provisions in the 
penal code. The approval of the executive decree by the Council of 
Ministers and the President regulating child labor will allow for 
the penal code to be applied to the prosecution of child labor 
cases. 
 
Social Programs and Withdrawal of Children from the Worst Forms of 
Child Labor 
--------------------------------------------- --------------------- 
 
¶5.  The UNICEF child protection office reports that to date some 
300 child herders have been rescued through the intervention with 
local authorities of non-governmental and church-based 
organizations. In this highly visible form of child labor in which 
non-nomad children are leased by their families/villages to nomad 
herdsmen, local NGOs have formed a coordinative network to 
identify child herders and to work with communities for their 
return. 
 
¶6.  In early 2006, some 40 street children begging outside an 
NQDjamena mosque were rescued by a local NGO (Bethesda), which 
initially provided shelter and registered and enrolled the 
children in school. Lacking resources for food, clothing and 
continued shelter, the NGO later released the children who, 
lacking support, returned to the streets. 
 
¶7.  UNICEF also reports that a Catholic-church supported NGO, 
the Justice and Peace Commission, initiated in 2006 a model and, 
to date unique, program for child domestic workers that combines 
rescue, shelter, counseling, vocational training, placement and 
follow up. No data have as yet been released on the number of 
children affected by this program. In conjunction with refugee and 
internally displaced persons (IDP) facilities in the East and 
South, Qchild friendly centersQ  have been established by UNICEF 
that provide shelter, education and training opportunities not 
only to refugee/IDP children, but to those children in need from 
areas surrounding the camps. 
 
Comprehensive Policy to Eliminate Child Labor 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
 
NDJAMENA 00000002  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶8.  The Government of Chad has yet to issue a comprehensive plan 
to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. However, UN, NGO 
and church-affiliated organizations continue to work with the 
ministries of justice, labor, education and social action and 
family to identify target groups and to raise public awareness. 
An impact study that will expand on the list of the worst forms 
of child labor is scheduled to be conducted by UNICEF in 2007. 
The study is to focus particular attention on urban areas and 
on the sexual exploitation of minors in ChadQs growing petroleum 
sector. 
 
Progress toward Elimination of Child Labor 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶9.  Government ministries are inching forward in the effort to 
combat the worst forms of child labor. Extreme poverty, a weak 
educational system and lack of capacity and resources remain 
significant obstacles. 
 
¶10.  The most visible progress was in prevention and in 
awareness-raising. The rising involvement at the grass-roots level 
of community-based NGOs to identify, rescue and register children 
is of particular note, but resource constraints limit the capacity 
of these organizations to provide the educational and training 
opportunities needed to allow child victims to pursue acceptable 
alternatives. 
 
¶11.  However, a positive development in 2006 was the elimination of 
school fees and the provision of free textbooks and school supplies 
at public primary schools.  This represented a key step forward in 
providing a means for rescued children to be educated as well as 
being an alternative for children at risk of exploitation. 
 
¶12.  Comment:  A major cabinet reshuffle that included the justice 
and other ministers responsible for implementing measures to combat 
the worst forms of child labor helps explain the slow progress in 
this and other social areas of the Chadian government. However, the 
sharp increase in 2006 of armed rebel opposition to the Government 
has diverted both executive attention and financial resources from 
child labor and other social problems.  An urgent next step for the 
Government is promulgation and application of the child labor 
decree currently before the Council of Ministers. Absent effective 
legal means to prosecute child labor abuses, government, UN and 
NGO programs to raise public awareness and to provide abused and 
vulnerable children with shelter, education and training can have 
only limited effect. 
 
Tamlyn