VZCZCXRO0173
PP RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHCO #0021/01 0131315
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 131315Z JAN 09 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY COTONOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0729
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHLMC/MILLENIUM CHALLENGE CORP WASHDC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0338

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 COTONOU 000021 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/W ACOOK 
DOL/ILAB FOR TMcCARTER AND TDANG 
LONDON FOR PLORD 
PARIS FOR BKANEDA 
 
 
E.0.12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EIND EINV ETRD PHUM SOCI USAID PGOV BN
SUBJECT: BENIN: CHILD LABOR INFORMATION FOR TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT 
ACT (GSP) 2008 REPORT 
 
REF: A) STATE 127448; B) 07 COTONOU 915; C) COTONOU 314 
 
COTONOU 00000021  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. In response to State 127448, Post provides the following 
information: 
 
-------------------- 
Laws and Regulations 
-------------------- 
 
¶2.  Benin uses laws and ministerial decrees to set the minimum age 
for employment, to prohibit child trafficking, and to forbid 
children's work in certain sectors. Benin's Labor law sets the 
minimum age for employment at 14 years of age. Children aged 12 to 
14 may perform domestic work and light work of a temporary or 
seasonal nature, provided that it does not interfere with their 
compulsory schooling. Benin's minimum age for military recruitment 
is 18. 
 
¶3. In April 2006, President Yayi promulgated Act No 2006-04 relating 
to the Displacement of Minors and the Suppression of Child 
Trafficking. The new law provides for increased penalties for the 
trafficking of minors, including imprisonment from six months to 
life, depending on the severity of the crime, and fines from $100 
(50,000 CFA francs) to $10,000 (five million CFA francs). The GOB 
has increased its fight against child trafficking by creating a 
National Child Protection Coordination and Monitoring Working Group, 
by increasing public campaign awareness along its borders, and by 
coordinating the repatriation of Beninese children exploited in 
Nigeria's stone quarries. 
 
¶4. The inter-ministerial decree No 132 of November 2, 2000 provides 
a comprehensive list of the worst forms of child labor. It sets the 
categories of work that are prohibited for under-aged children. 
Examples of forbidden work for children under the age of 18 include 
the operation of motorized vehicles, the operation of crushing 
machinery or use of sharp instruments, and work in slaughterhouses. 
 
¶5. Beninese law does not at present contain a definition of the 
worst forms of child labor; however, the GOB ratified both 
International Labor Organization Conventions 138 (setting the 
minimum work age) and 182 (defining the worst forms of child labor) 
in 2001. While Benin did set out several categories of work children 
cannot perform in Decree No 132 (noted above), Benin has not yet 
prepared a list of the worst forms of child labor using the 6-step 
procedure required by Convention 182. However, according to the 
Labor Office at the Ministry of Labor and Civil Service, a 
consultant has been hired to finalize that list which will be 
released in 2009. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
Regulations for Implementation and Enforcement of Proscriptions 
Against the Worst Forms of Child Labor 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶6. The legal remedies that are available to government agencies that 
enforce child labor laws cover different statutes in Benin including 
the Criminal Law, the Labor Law, the General Labor Collective 
Convention, the Social Code, case law, and a wide range of other 
legislation and government decrees.  The penalties for violating the 
Labor Law relating to child labor include a penalty of imprisonment 
for 2 to 12 months and/or a fine. Act No. 2006-04 relating to the 
Displacement of Minors and the Suppression of Child Trafficking also 
provides a penalty of imprisonment and heavy fines for child 
traffickers.  These penalties are adequate to punish and deter 
violations; however, their enforcement is often lax. 
 
¶7. The Government of Benin designated the Ministry of Interior's 
Brigade for the Protection of Minors (BPM) as the lead agency for 
enforcement of laws related to children, including child labor and 
child trafficking.  BPM arrests child traffickers and rescues and 
reintegrates trafficked children. Though in most cases child 
trafficking is associated with child labor, the BPM has not been 
able to provide statistics related to the worst forms of labor. 
However, the BPM compiles yearly statistics detailing its success 
stories with regard its child protection activities. 
 
¶8. There are approximately 126 government labor agents (inspectors, 
controllers and administrators), who are located at the departmental 
level throughout the 12 departments of Benin. These officials only 
regulate the formal sector (not the informal one, where the majority 
of child labor occurs) and none are dedicated solely to 
investigating child labor cases. When a complaint arises regarding 
child labor, a government labor inspector will visit the work site 
and investigate. If the law is being violated, the labor inspector 
 
COTONOU 00000021  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
may try to negotiate with the employer to remedy the situation 
immediately. If the labor inspector finds serious violations have 
occurred, the inspector has the authority to sanction the employer 
and order the employer to pay compensation to the victim(s). 
 
¶9.  The Ministry of Labor was unable to provide Post with any 
information detailing the number of complaints investigated and 
violations addressed regarding the worst forms of child labor. 
 
¶10. In 2008 the GOB undertook several awareness raising and training 
activities on the risks of child labor. On June 12, 2008, 
International Day of the Fight against Child Labor, the Government 
of Benin organized an awareness campaign on Child Labor throughout 
the country. The Office of Labor worked with minors who are 
apprentices in handicraft workshops to make them aware of their 
rights. The Office of Labor has set up several counseling centers to 
provide these apprentices with advice and guidance. 
 
¶11. The Office of Labor has also acted to strengthen its 
institutional capacity to respond to child labor violations.  In 
July 2007, it created a unit led by two Office of Labor 
administrators dedicated to fighting child labor violations. 
Additionally, the French Ministry of Labor, through an assistance 
program, supports the Beninese Ministry of Labor in training labor 
inspectors on inspection techniques and on labor risk analysis. 
During the year labor inspectors also received training funded by 
UNICEF and ILO on specific techniques enabling them to efficiently 
investigate labor violations in the informal sector. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
Social Programs Specifically Designed to Prevent and Withdraw 
Children from the Worst Forms of Child Labor 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶12.  While Benin does not have social programs specifically designed 
to prevent the worst forms of child labor, President Yayi has 
introduced a new micro-credit program to give poor women the 
resources to start businesses.  As this program contributes to 
income generation activities for women, it may lead to the 
alleviation of poverty which often results in child labor. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
Comprehensive Policy Aimed at the Elimination of the   Worst Forms 
of Child Labor 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶13.  Benin recently completed drafting and editing of the UNICEF 
sponsored National Policy and Strategy for Child Protection and the 
ILO sponsored National Plan to Combat Child Trafficking and Labor. 
Those two policy documents incorporate the issue of child labor and 
are expected to provide coherence, focus and direction to all child 
protection related activities undertaken by the GOB.  As each policy 
is new it is too early to measure the GOB's success in 
implementation.  Benin incorporated an overall child protection 
policy into its National Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper 
(DCSRP). 
 
¶14. Benin's Constitution makes primary education compulsory and 
free, but this provision was not implemented until the election of 
President Boni Yayi. As of the 2007-2008 academic year, President 
Yayi ended the school fees that parents used to pay.  While this has 
reduced parents' outlays for their children's education, parents 
continue to pay additional "fees" for school materials and uniforms. 
As a result of President Yayi's elimination of school fees the 
number of children enrolled for primary education keeps increasing. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
Benin's Progress toward Eliminating the Worst Forms of Child Labor 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶15. According to statistics (from Benin's 2002 census) published in 
a 2006 ILO publication entitled "The End of Child Labor: An 
Objective within our Reach", there are 480,023 children, 14 and 
under, working in either the formal or informal sectors in Benin in 
the following activities: agriculture, hunting and fishing 
(275,648); industry (22,476); construction and public works (4,189); 
trade/vending and food & beverage (78,823); transportation and 
communication (909); and other services including employment as 
household staff (97,978). 
 
 
¶16. According to Post's and NGO observations, children working in 
Benin often work in the agricultural sector performing planting, 
 
COTONOU 00000021  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
cultivating and harvesting work, in the commercial sector as street 
and market vendors, as apprentices in various garages and selling 
smuggled gasoline.  Children also work in the construction sector 
and as domestic servants. 
 
¶17. Benin is a source, transit point and destination for trafficked 
children. According to NGOs and local authorities children are 
trafficked internally in Benin to perform domestic work in its 
cities and to harvest cotton in the cotton fields of Northern Benin. 
Traffickers also take children across the country's borders to 
Ghana, Nigeria, Gabon, Cote d'Ivoire, Republic of Congo, Guinea 
Bissau and the Central African Republic for indentured servitude in 
domestic service, farm labor, labor in stone quarries and commercial 
sex. 
 
 
 
 
BROWN