R 071636Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAMAKO
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 9890
DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
INFO USMISSION GENEVA

UNCLAS BAMAKO 000009 
 
 
DOL/ILAB FOR TINA MCCARTER 
DRL/ILCSR FOR TU DANG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM USAID ML
SUBJECT: MALI'S UPDATE ON WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR 
 
REF: 08 STATE 127448 
 
¶1.  In response to reftel, this cable provides the 2008 
update of the worst forms of child labor information. 
 
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A) CHILD LABOR LAWS AND REGULATION 
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¶2.  Article 187 of the Malian Labor Code of 1992 and Article 
20 of the Malian Code for the Protection of Children of 2002 
set the general minimum age for employment at 15 years. 
However, Decree No. 96-178 of 1996 establishes more detailed 
regulations regarding children's work.  It allows children 
from the ages of 12 to 14 to work in certain occupations, 
including seasonal or domestic work, although they may not be 
employed for more than four and a half hours per day (two 
hours a day, if they are in school), or without the 
authorization of a parent or tutor.  The decree prohibits 
children under 16 from working in certain strenuous 
occupations, including mining.  Finally, it prohibits 
children under 18 from engaging in work that threatens their 
safety or morals, from working more than eight hours per day, 
or from working at night.  Article 183 of the Criminal Code 
establishes penalties for the sexual exploitation and sexual 
abuse of children.  The Labor Code prohibits forced or 
obligatory labor. 
 
-- The minimum age for military recruitment is 18. 
 
-- Mali ratified Convention 182 in 2000.  Since the formation 
of the Child Labor Unit in July 2007, the Ministry of Labor 
has taken the lead in reaching consensus among the unit's 43 
governmental, non-governmental, and civil society members.  A 
final list of the hazardous occupations has been drafted 
after several iterations between the national and local 
levels of government.  The list is currently awaiting the 
approval of the Council of Ministers and is expected to pass 
without delay in early 2009.  This would set into place a 
legislative framework that would allow better monitoring and 
prosecution of offenders. 
 
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B) IMPLEMENTATION AND ENFORCEMENT 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  Penalties for violations of the minimum wage law are 
established in the Labor Code and range from a fine of 20,000 
to 200,000 FCFA (USD 40 to 400).  Legislation passed in 2001 
made the trafficking of children punishable by 5 to 20 years 
in prison.  In 2008, three traffickers were arrested under 
this law.  They have subsequently been released pending 
further investigation and no charges have been brought 
against them. 
 
¶4.  Labor inspectors from the Ministry of Employment and 
Civil Service conduct surprise and complaint-based 
inspections but operate only in the formal sector and lack 
resources to effectively monitor child labor throughout the 
country.  In 2007, there were eight assigned inspectors.  No 
updated information on the number of inspectors or on the 
cases inspected in 2008 was available. 
 
¶5.  Labor inspectors have received some training for 
preventing child labor abuses.  The frontier police, 
INTERPOL, and territorial and security authorities are 
responsible for enforcing the bilateral cooperative 
agreements to curb cross-border trafficking, signed between 
the GOM and Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Guinea, and Burkina Faso. 
 
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C) SOCIAL PROGRAMS TO PREVENT CHILD LABOR 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  The Government of Mali is participating in a U.S. 
Department of Labor/ILAB funded 3.5 million dollar project to 
contribute to the elimination of the worst forms of child 
labor and the progressive elimination of all forms of child 
labor in the country.  The objectives are to identify and 
promote replicable, community-based educational innovations 
that lead to the prevention or reduction of child labor.  The 
project aims to strengthen formal and non-formal education 
systems that enable working children and those at risk to 
attend school, as well as provide data on enrollment, 
persistence, transition, and completion of school programs. 
In addition, the program will raise awareness of the value of 
education for all children, and the hazards of child labor, 
as well as strengthen institutions and policies to address 
education and child labor. 
 
¶7.  As part of the Africa-wide project, CARE and World Vision 
recently completed a USD 3.8 million four-year project 
started in October 2003, in conjunction with the Malian 
Ministry of Education, to combat child trafficking through 
education.  The project, which operated in the regions of 
Segou, Mopti, and Bamako District, was aimed at reducing 
child trafficking and child labor by improving access to 
informal schools in the regions of the country most affected 
by trafficking. 
 
¶8.  USAID-Guinea completed in December 2008 the first phase 
of a project, at the cost of USD 120,000, in 15 villages in 
Guinea and five in Mali.  Through this project, families in 
these villages received education about the methods of child 
traffickers and the danger inherent in abusive child labor. 
The project also sought to inform truck, taxi, and bus 
drivers on how to recognize probable traffickers and 
encourage these drivers to contact the appropriate 
authorities to report suspicious activity.  The second phase 
of the project, at a cost of USD 159,000, is scheduled to run 
from December 2008 through November 2009. 
 
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D) GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND PROGRAMS 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  The Ministry of Labor, in collaboration with the ILO, has 
been working to draft and pass a law specifically against the 
worst forms of child labor.  The Minister of Labor and 
President of the National Assembly formed a parliamentary 
commission toward this end. 
 
¶10.  The Malian Government's Plan of Action, elaborated in 
2007, specifically addresses child labor.  To implement these 
recommendations, the Ministry of Labor formed a National 
Steering Committee by decree.  The committee is composed of 
13 ministries, non-governmental, and civil society members, 
totaling 43 members in all.  In order to give the Steering 
Committee greater political scope, the Labor Ministry drafted 
a decree that would be signed by the Prime Minister and would 
require the approval of the Council of Ministers.  The Labor 
Ministry hopes to enhance the Committee's ability to 
coordinate activities combating child labor by achieving 
greater political consensus. 
 
¶11.  The GOM signed the United Nations Development Assistance 
Framework (UNDAF), which defines objectives of concrete and 
ambitious outcomes for the United Nations Systems agencies in 
Mali for the 2008-2012 time frame Based on the analyses in 
the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (GPRSP) for 
the 2007-2011 period, UNDAF identifies development goals that 
are fully consistent with the national priorities defined in 
the national strategy paper for the next five years. 
 
¶12.  Mali's 1999 Education Law makes education free and 
compulsory for children ages 7 to 15.  The school enrollment 
rate for children under the age of 15 who are considered 
economically active is 40% compared to 62% for those not 
economically active.  Between the ages of 15 and 17, the 
difference is even more dramatic: 22.7% for those 
economically active compared to 58.4% for those not 
economically active. 
 
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E) PROGRESS TOWARD ELIMINATING CHILD LABOR 
------------------------------------------ 
 
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Sectors/Work Activities 
----------------------- 
 
The following data is taken from a provisional report 
entitled, "Understanding Children's Work in Mali", a joint 
publication by the ILO, UNICEF, and the World Bank Group, 
issued October 2008. 
 
--Currently, 1.4 million children between the ages of seven 
and 14 are employed in child labor, comprising 50% of 
children of this age group.  More than 60% of children 
employed are under the age of 12. 
 
--The phenomenon is more rural (60%) than urban (36%). 
 
--The regions of Bamako and Kidal have less than a 10% rate 
of child labor.  This is significantly lower than the more 
intensely agricultural regions of Sikasso (76.3%), Segou 
(67.6%), and Koulikoro (60.6%). 
 
--The majority of children work in the agricultural sector 
(83%), followed by the services sector (10%) and 
manufacturing (6%).  This represents some change in the 
statistics from the previous year, which may reflect better 
 
data collection as a result of the Malian government's 
collaboration with the ILO and UNICEF. 
 
--The agricultural sector also includes fishing and forest 
exploitation (chopping wood and making charcoal).  The 
services sector includes domestic servitude as well as work 
in grocery stores, restaurants, transportation, and 
communication.  Manufacturing also includes labor in mining 
and construction. 
 
--A provisional report completed by the ILO, UNICEF, and the 
World Bank will be sent to the contact provided in reftel. 
 
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Children Working in Slavery 
--------------------------- 
 
¶13.  There is currently no data available on slavery, child 
or otherwise, in Mali, but there is evidence that hereditary 
relationships continue to informally link different ethnic 
groups, particularly in the north.  Members of the black 
Tamachek community reportedly continued to live in forced 
servitude and were deprived of civil liberties by members of 
other ethnic groups, and forced servitude often extended to 
their children. 
 
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Children Trafficked 
------------------- 
 
¶14.  No official estimate of the number of children 
trafficked for the purposes of performing labor in 2008 was 
available.  A common practice is for families to give their 
children to itinerant Koranic teachers who promise to provide 
boys with education.  While some religious education may take 
place for as little as one hour per day, the boys are usually 
forced to work or beg during the day.  Many Malian children 
are sold into forced labor in Cote D'Ivoire and other 
neighboring countries to work on coffee, cotton, and cocoa 
farms or to work as domestic servants.  Guinea and Senegal 
are also reported destinations for traffickers and their 
victims.  Organized networks of traffickers, promising 
parents they will provide paid employment to their children, 
reportedly sell the children to commercial farm owners for 
between 14,500 to 29,000 CFA (USD 29 to 60).  Mali is also 
reported to be a transit country for children trafficked to 
and from neighboring countries and to Europe. 
 
LEONARD