VZCZCXYZ0008
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLGB #1095/01 3340948
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 300948Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY KIGALI
TO RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4946
INFO RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 0279

UNCLAS KIGALI 001095 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DOL/ILAB FOR TINA MCCARTER, DRL/IL FOR TU DANG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB PHUM SOCI EIND ETRD RW
SUBJECT: RWANDA - REPORT ON WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR 
 
REF: SECSTATE 158223 
 
¶1. (U) Post submits the following information for the 2007 
Report on the Worst Forms of Child Labor.  The Government of 
Rwanda (GOR) continues to make progress in its efforts to 
implement its international commitments to eliminate the 
worst forms of child labor.  Programs and policies described 
in the 2006 report are still ongoing, with significant 
updates outlined below.  Despite the challenges of child 
labor and the extreme poverty that is one of the problem's 
underlying causes, the GOR has made addressing the issue a 
national priority. 
 
¶2. (U) Requested information is keyed to reftel. 
 
A) In July, the GOR adopted a strategic plan to implement its 
National Policy for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children, 
which includes strategies to combat child labor.  Both a 
draft penal code that includes prohibitions against child 
exploitation and a draft law on child trafficking went before 
Parliament in the spring of this year and are now under 
consideration by requisite parliamentary committees.  On the 
local level, some districts established and began to 
implement bylaws preventing child labor, and child labor 
reduction benchmarks have been integrated into district 
performance contracts. (Note: President Paul Kagame 
personally signs performance contracts with each district 
mayor, and each is evaluated on his or her district's yearly 
performance.  End note.) 
 
B) The Ministry of Public Service, Skills Development and 
Labor (MIFOTRA) employed labor inspectors in Rwanda's 30 
districts (one inspector per district).  Inspectors received 
training on child labor issues from NGOs including UNICEF and 
"Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia Together" (KURET), and 
continued to issue warnings and levy fines against those 
illegally employing children. 
 
NGOs provided local government child development committees 
with training on monitoring child labor and sensitized 
parents and children on child labor issues through these 
committees.  School-based programs included teacher training 
on child labor monitoring and counseling and the formation of 
student clubs to raise awareness of social issues including 
child labor and HIV/AIDS. 
 
UNICEF gave 300 members of the Rwandan National Police 
training on child protection procedures, in addition to 
standard government training they receive on child and family 
protection and gender-based violence. 
 
C) The GOR continued its collaboration with KURET to withdraw 
or prevent children from exploitive labor through the 
provision of training and prevention services.  Joint efforts 
between the GOR and NGOs directed toward street children 
included prevention, rehabilitation, and reintegration 
programs.  In conjunction with NGOs, the GOR worked to 
develop a child poverty profile to determine which vulnerable 
children would have access to a social support package 
including health, educational, justice, and psychosocial 
services. 
 
The GOR continued to support a demobilization and 
reintegration program for combatants, including children. 
During the year, 50 children who had served as soldiers in 
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) received care and 
reintegration preparation from the Muhazi demobilization 
center for children in the Eastern Province.  There were some 
reports of a DRC-based armed group recruiting children in 
refugee camps to be used as combatants or forced laborers. 
The GOR sent counselors to these camps to educate refugee 
populations on the dangers of child soldiering and to urge 
them to report and cease recruitment efforts. 
 
D) The National Advisory Committee on Child Labor (comprised 
of Ministries of Gender and Family Promotion, Education, and 
Labor; the National Commission on Human Rights; the national 
police; trade unions; and NGOs) met regularly to provide 
guidance and technical assistance to the GOR on child labor 
issues and to develop a national child labor policy.  As part 
of MIFOTRA's five-year action plan addressing the problem of 
child labor, a survey on the extent, details, and causes of 
child labor in Rwanda was developed jointly by MIFOTRA, the 
Rwandan Bureau of Statistics, ILO/IPEC and several NGOs, and 
will be implemented in 5000 households in the coming months. 
The development of a national child labor monitoring system 
is another goal of the plan. 
 
The GOR Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy, 
adopted in November, specifically prioritizes the elimination 
of child labor in its public sector capacity and employment 
promotion component. 
 
Education is compulsory through primary school or until age 
¶13.  While primary school fees were abolished, most parents 
still had to pay unofficial fees to support basic school 
operations.  However, children were not dismissed from school 
for their parents' failure to pay such fees.  A survivors' 
fund assisted with the secondary school fees for school-age 
genocide survivors. 
 
According to the Ministry of Education, 92.4 percent of 
primary school-age children were enrolled in school. 
 
E) NGOs cited resource constraints and the scope of poverty 
in Rwanda as the greatest challenges to the elimination of 
child labor, but reported strong will on the part of the GOR 
to combat child labor and "overwhelming support" from the 
government for their activities despite these challenges. 
While the results of the national survey on child labor will 
not be available until 2008, a recent joint study carried out 
by MIFOTRA and the Bureau of Statistics in the pilot district 
of Karongi showed a drop in child labor, from 9.6 percent in 
2002 to 3 percent in 2007.  In a June meeting with the 
Ambassador, the Minister of MIFOTRA described an earlier GOR 
study which indicated that approximately 450,000 children 
(around 9 percent of the country's four million children 
under 18) were engaged in child labor.  Recent preliminary 
reports indicate that national numbers continued to decline. 
In September, a UNICEF official stated the number of children 
engaged in the worst forms of child labor in Rwanda had 
measurably declined (exact figures were unavailable). 
 
More than 85 percent of the Rwandan workforce is engaged in 
subsistence agriculture, and child labor in this sector 
persisted.  Children also worked as household domestics, in 
small companies, and in the brick-making industry.  Updated 
statistics on the incidence and nature of child labor across 
labor sectors were not available. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
ARIETTI