VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKI #0050/01 0200609
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 200609Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY KINSHASA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9056
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
INFO RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 2238
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC

UNCLAS KINSHASA 000050 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PASS TO DOL/ILAB (TMCCARTER) 
DEPT FOR DRL/ILCSR (TDANG) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI CG
SUBJECT: DRC: 2008 CHILD LABOR INFORMATION FOR TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT 
ACT 
 
REF: (A) 08 SECSTATE 127448 
(B) 08 KINSHASA 629 
 
¶1. (U) Summary. The GDRC has made some institutional progress in 
combating the worst forms of child labor, but faces increasing 
economic obstacles and a deteriorating child soldier situation.  The 
Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing child labor laws, but 
lacks the necessary capacity and resources to do so.  End Summary. 
 
CHILD LABOR LAWS AND REGULATIONS IN THE DRC 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) The GDRC created the National Committee to Combat the Worst 
Forms of Child Labor (NCCL) in June 2006.  The Minister of Labor 
nominated new members to the NCCL in September 2008 from the GDRC, 
labor unions, professional organizations, NGOs, and civil society. 
The Committee's goals are to develop and assure the implementation 
of a national strategy to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. 
The minimum age for work in the DRC is eighteen years old.  Anyone 
over the age of sixteen, but less than eighteen years old, is also 
permitted to work with certain restrictions.  The Minister of Labor 
signed a decree in August 2008 that prohibits those between sixteen 
and eighteen years old from working more than eight hours per day, 
from working at night or on weekends, and from engaging in any 
hazardous work. 
 
¶3. (U) The GDRC has ratified both ILO Conventions 138 and 182, and 
defines the worst forms of child labor in the August decree as: all 
forms of enslavement, trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor, or 
forced recruitment for armed forces; recruitment or use of children 
for prostitution, obscene dances, or production of pornographic 
materials; use or recruitment of children for the production or 
trafficking of illicit drugs; and any work that may have a negative 
impact on a child's health, security, or dignity. 
 
IMPLEMENTATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) Child labor law enforcement remains inadequate, particularly 
in the mining sector (Ref B).  Children work illegally as artisanal 
miners and in other informal sectors.  (See also Post's 2007 Human 
Rights Report.)  The financial crisis and other factors have lead to 
many mining companies closing their operations over the past few 
months, which opens up the opportunity for artisanal and child 
miners to dig on their concessions.  The government's capacity and 
willingness to meaningfully participate in the effort to enforce 
child labor laws are limited, and many firms operating in the 
sector, including Chinese and Indian-owned operations, have thus far 
shown little inclination to promote compliance with child labor 
laws.  (Note: The U.S. Department of Labor provided a 3-year grant 
of USD 5 million in 2007 to the Solidarity Center and Save the 
Children UK to combat child labor in the mining sector through 
educational opportunities.  End note.) 
 
¶5. (U) The DRC's Ministry of Labor is the responsible body for 
investigating child labor abuses and employs ten inspectors in the 
mining region of Katanga province.  There is no dedicated child 
labor inspection service, however, and the GDRC has no capacity to 
investigate and prosecute child labor violations.  The Ministry of 
Labor, with the support of the International Labor Organization 
(ILO), organized a workshop in October 2008 to discuss the NCCL and 
capacity-building, but there are no resources for their new 
initiatives. 
 
¶6. (U) The NCCL will take over responsibility for hearing child 
labor complaints from the DRC's criminal courts in 2009.  NGOs and 
the ILO have reportedly been active in pushing prosecutors to bring 
cases against violators of child labor laws, but the GDRC did not 
process any official child labor investigations in 2008. 
 
RELATED POLICIES AND PROGRAMS 
----------------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) The GDRC continued to demobilize child soldiers in 2008 
through the UN's disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration 
(DDR) program.  Armed groups continued to recruit children, however, 
to become soldiers and porters throughout 2008.  UNICEF estimates 
that 5,000 children still need to be demobilized, down from 11,000 
one year ago. 
 
¶8. (U) The relatively high financial costs and loss of potential 
income for education continue to push children into the informal 
labor sector, because many parents are unable to simultaneously pay 
school fees and give up the income their children may earn to help 
support the family.  For budgetary and political reasons, the 
Ministry of Education has been unable to implement plans, announced 
in 2005, to fund teachers' salaries, an action that would have 
 
eliminated, at least in theory, the need for parents to pay the 
teachers.  The USG continues to support programs to reduce the 
educational gap between boys and girls and to increase school 
attendance. 
 
COMMENT AND PROGRESS REPORT 
--------------------------- 
 
¶9. (U) The GDRC has made some progress in combating child labor 
since 2007 with the full establishment of the NCCL.  Enforcement 
continues to be lax due to institutionalized corruption and 
bureaucratic disorganization.  The DRC's worsening economic 
conditions will have a negative effect on both GDRC 
capacity-building and families' ability to afford sending children 
to school instead of work.  Child labor, especially in the artisanal 
mining sector, and child soldiering are likely to remain significant 
challenges. 
 
 
GARVELINK