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O 030708Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA
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UNCLAS BUJUMBURA 000806 
 
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SIPDIS 
 
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EIND ELAB ETRD PHUM SOCI BY
SUBJECT: UPDATE OF WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR 
 
REF: STATE 149662 
 
¶1. (U) Per Reftel, included is the update of worst forms of 
child labor information for Burundi. 
 
¶2. (U) Text of report follows: 
 
The Government of Burundi (GOB) has evidenced concern about 
child labor, but due to a critical lack of resources 
exacerbated by more than twelve years of civil war, it is 
hamstrung in its efforts to address the worst forms. 
According to UNICEF, AIDS and the civil war that ended in 
2006 left more than 800,000 orphans, including street 
orphans.  Though the GOB appears genuinely concerned about 
the problem, the sheer numbers severely tax already-limited 
government resources.  Further, in 2007, political 
in-fighting in Parliament prevented the government from 
pursuing more aggressive legislation and enforcement to 
address the problem of orphans and street children. 
 
Burundi also faces the challenge of reintegrating former 
child soldiers from the civil war.  Between 2004 and 2007, 
Burundi demobilized 3041 children from the armed forces, 
but the government faces the challenge of educating and 
finding jobs for these former child soldiers.  However, 
UNICEF numbers indicate that the GOB has worked 
successfully with NGOs to provide skills and training to 
some 20 percent of the former child soldiers. 
 
Laws and Regulations Proscribing the Worst Forms of Child 
Labor 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
The Burundian Labor Code states that children under the age 
of 18 cannot be employed by "an enterprise," except for the 
types of labor the Ministry of Labor determines to be 
acceptable.  Acceptable labor includes light work or 
apprenticeships that do not damage children's health, 
interfere with their normal development, or prejudice their 
schooling.  Children are prohibited from working at 
night. 
 
The legal age for performing most types of non-dangerous 
work is 18, but during the reporting year children under 
the age 16 in rural areas regularly engaged in manual labor 
in the daytime during the school year. 
 
Under the law the country's minimum age for military 
recruitment is 16, although the government states that no 
one under the age of 18 is recruited and no soldiers under 
18 are currently in uniform. 
 
In 2005 Burundi created the Brigade for the Protection of 
Women and Children within its National Police.  The Brigade 
uses existing law to protect children against forced 
prostitution.  The GOB and police are aware of the major 
areas in the capital used for prostitution, but have not 
begun a survey of the problem, and prevention of child 
prostitution in these areas has yet to be fully realized. 
 
Burundi has ratified several international conventions 
relating to child labor, including the Convention Relative 
to the Rights of the Child, the African Charter on the 
Rights and Well-Being of Children, and the Convention on 
the Rights of the Child Concerning the Selling of Children, 
Child Prostitution, and Child Pornography. Burundi has 
ratified Convention 182, but has not developed a list of 
occupations considered to be the worst forms of child labor 
existing in Burundi. 
 
 
Regulations for Implementation and Enforcement of 
Proscriptions 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
Government agencies that enforce child labor laws have 
multiple enforcement tools available to them, including 
criminal penalties, civil fines and court orders.  In 
theory, these tools provide adequate deterrence to would-be 
violators of child labor laws and punishment to offenders. 
In practice, however, the laws are infrequently enforced. 
Due in part to a lack of labor inspectors, the Ministry of 
Labor enforced labor laws only when a complaint was 
filed. 
 
In 2007, the government acknowledged no cases of child 
labor in the formal sector of the economy, and has 
conducted no child labor investigations.  In conjunction 
with UNICEF, PADCO and other NGOs, the government has 
provided training for Ministry of Labor officials in the 
enforcement of child labor laws. 
 
 
Social Programs Specifically Designed to Prevent the Worst 
Forms of Child Labor 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
The GOB has few resources to allocate to social programs 
designed to prevent or ameliorate the worst forms of child 
labor.  In large part, the government depends on private 
organizations, such as churches, labor unions, human rights 
organizations, and NGOs to provide necessary social 
services. 
 
International organizations, several NGOs and labor unions 
engaged in efforts to combat child labor; efforts included 
a campaign to demobilize child soldiers.  Additionally, 
through its World Bank-funded Demobilization Department, 
the GOB carries out follow-up programs with demobilized 
former child soldiers.  Working in partnership with PADCO, 
the government provides vocational training, conflict 
resolution training, and income-generating projects to 
assist the reintegration of former child soldiers into 
civilian life. 
 
As in previous years, the Ministry of Defense instructed 
its officers to punish soldiers who continue to use 
children to perform menial tasks, such as carrying water 
and firewood, cooking and cleaning.  According to the 
army's spokesperson, by 2006 soldiers found to abuse 
children in this manner were among the first to be forced 
from service as part of the 
military's demobilization following the civil war.  The 
regular army no longer uses children to perform tasks, and 
no specific incidents of reprisals against military or 
security forces have been reported in 2007. 
 
 
Comprehensive Policies Aimed at Elimination of the Worst 
Forms of Child Labor 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
Burundi does not have a comprehensive policy or national 
program aimed at addressing the worst forms of child 
labor.  The GOB does not incorporate child labor as a 
specific issue to be addressed in poverty reduction, 
education, development, or other social policies. 
 
The government does, however, provide free public 
education.  In 2005, the president abolished all school 
fees.  While the initiative made schooling available to 
hundreds of thousands of new students, it also led to an 
educational emergency involving overcrowded classrooms and 
teachers working multiple shifts.  Education is compulsory 
up to age 12; however, in practice this is not enforced. 
 
Progress Toward Eliminating the Worst Forms of Child Labor 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
Statistics in Burundi are difficult to obtain, and many 
records were lost during the decade-long war.  The most 
recent UNICEF statistics on child labor cover 1999 - 2005, 
and indicate that 25 percent of Burundi's children are 
engaged in some form of labor.  This statistic is 
considered low by most observers.  Beyond the capital of 
Bujumbura, Burundi is overwhelmingly agrarian, and most 
families are primarily engaged in subsistence agriculture. 
Children in the rural areas work on small family farms or 
help neighbors in various work-related activities, 
generally without pay.  Even the few paid activities in 
rural areas, such as hand-made brick making, children are 
rarely remunerated for their work.  It is viewed by most as 
"assistance," and the children willingly help in the work. 
 
There are no reported examples of children working in 
slavery or debt bondage.  Even though they may work without 
pay, they generally are not forced to work. 
 
At home on rural farmsteads children will often work 
alongside their parents or older relatives, but this is 
generally seen as necessary to provide basic food and a 
livelihood for their families. 
 
The government acknowledges that some children have been 
used in commercial sexual exploitation.  It considers the 
few known cases to be isolated and not an indication of 
organized trafficking of children.  The government views 
these instances to be acts of despair brought on by extreme 
poverty, and has made no arrests this year for child 
commercial sexual trafficking. 
 
MOLLER