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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ASMARA 000056 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/E AND DRL/ILCSR FOR TU DANG 
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA WATCHERS 
DOL/ILAB FOR TINA MCCARTER 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: ELAB PHUM SOCI PGOV ER
SUBJECT:  ERITREA 2008 WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR 
 
REF:  08 STATE 127448 
 
¶1. (U) Per reftel the following provides the answers for the 
Department of Labor to complete the Worst Forms of Child Labor 
Report.  Sections are keyed to questions posed in reftel para 9. 
Eritrean officials routinely fail to provide basic statistical 
information.  The answers will also be sent via email attachment to 
Sarah Morgan at the Department of Labor. 
 
Report follows: 
 
A) Laws and Regulations Proscribing the Worst Forms of Child Labor 
 
¶2. (SBU) Article 68/1 of the Government of the State of Eritrea's 
(GSE) Labor Proclamation No. 118/2001 sets the minimum age of 
employment at 14 years and section 3(9) states that apprentices may 
be hired at the age of 14.  Young persons between the ages of 14 and 
18 may not work between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., and they may 
not work more than seven hours per day.  Young persons are not 
permitted to work in jobs that involve heavy lifting, contact with 
toxic chemicals, underground work, the transport industry, dangerous 
machines, exposure to electrical hazards, or the commercial sex 
trade. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The worst forms of child labor may be prosecuted under 
different statutes in Eritrea.  Article 16 of the unimplemented 
Constitution prohibits slavery and forced labor except when 
authorized by law. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Proclamation 11/199 prohibits the recruitment of children 
under 18 years of age into the armed forces; however local practice 
indicates that children under the age of 18 have been conscripted 
into the military.  Eritrean law criminalizes child prostitution, 
pornography, and sexual exploitation.  Article 605 of the Criminal 
Code prohibits the procurement, seduction, and trafficking of 
children for prostitution. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Most Eritreans receive their initial military training 
during their 12th year of high school, when the GSE requires that 
all able-bodied 12th graders attend school at a facility adjacent to 
the Sawa Military Training Camp.  Students complete their final year 
of high school and receive initial military training regardless of 
their age at the time.  As a result, children as young as 14 and 15 
years of age may receive initial military training.  Military 
service is compulsory for all able-bodied Eritreans, and there is no 
legal limit on the length of time an individual might serve in the 
military. 
 
¶6. (U) Eritrea has not ratified ILO Convention 182. 
 
B) Regulations for Implementation and Enforcement of Proscriptions 
Against the Worst Forms of Child Labor 
 
¶7. (SBU) Inspectors from the Ministry of Labor and Human Welfare 
(MLHW) are responsible for enforcing child labor laws.  Legal 
remedies available to the labor ministry include criminal penalties, 
fines, and court orders.  According to UNICEF, limited resources and 
a small number of inspectors impedes the MLHW's ability to conduct 
investigations.  There is no information on the level of resources 
at the MLHW devoted to investigating child labor abuses.  There is 
no information on the number of inspections carried out in the past 
year. 
 
(NOTE: The GSE has a high level of distrust of foreign mission 
officials and would not make representatives available to discuss 
the report.  The availability of information on this topic is 
extremely limited.  END NOTE.) 
 
C) Social Programs Specifically Designed to Prevent and Withdraw 
Children from the Worst Forms of Child Labor 
 
¶8. (SBU) The GSE is implementing a National Program of Action on 
Children, coordinated by its National Committee on the Rights of the 
Child, which was anticipated to be completed by the end of 2007. 
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, however, is concerned 
that the GSE Committee on the Rights of the Child does not have 
sufficient resources to implement its mandate.  There is a plan of 
 
ASMARA 00000056  002 OF 004 
 
 
action on child labor that primarily focuses on integrating or 
reintegrating children with families, communities, and schools as a 
means of preventing child labor, or rehabilitating children engaged 
in child labor. Over 5,000 street-working children were enrolled in 
the UNICEF funded programs in 2008, an increase from the 2006 
estimate of 3,700 children.  The GSE also partnered with UNICEF on 
planning a program to ensure that 100,000 girls completed primary 
school in three target regions. 
 
¶9. (SBU) The MLHW works with at-risk children by providing a small 
subsidy to their families to help with food and clothing, as well as 
counseling services to help children reintegrate into their nuclear 
or extended families.  At-risk children are also enrolled or 
re-enrolled at local schools, and the MLHW tracks their development 
through local committees or ministry employees.  The government has 
a program to identify children involved in commercial sex work and 
reintegrate them with their families and society.  Nearly 300 
children involved in commercial sex work received support through 
this program in 2007 (statistics for 2008 were unavailable).  The 
government is also making efforts to assist street children; they 
received UNICEF-funded allowances to purchase uniforms and books so 
that they could attend school, while those older than school age 
were sent to private training centers designed to help them learn a 
vocation and reintegrate into the community.  These types of 
prevention and reinsertion activities are one of the ministry's 
primary activities to address child labor issues. 
 
¶10. (SBU) The GSE has conducted awareness campaigns through the 
state media for the general public and has conducted training for 
officials charged with enforcing child labor laws.  Through state 
media, the government routinely provides information on its strategy 
and its obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the 
Child. 
 
¶11. (SBU) The GSE is implementing the Eritrea Education Sector 
Investment Project with USD 45 million from the World Bank.  The 
project is designed to increase enrollment and completion rates in 
basic education, especially for disadvantaged children, and to 
improve the quality of basic education by building classrooms, 
establishing a Teacher Training and Development Unit within the 
Ministry of Education, and implementing the Ministry of Education's 
curricula and pedagogical reform program.  The program began in 2003 
and the World Bank's closing date on the grant is 2011.  Although 
the program has met with success in implementing the pedagogical 
reform, there has been heavy delay on constructing the classrooms 
due to government restrictions on importing building materials. 
 
¶12. (SBU) In 2005, the African Development Bank agreed to provide 
the GSE with USD 28.5 million to support two projects to improve 
access to basic and secondary education and reduce inefficiencies in 
the management of the education system.  These two projects will 
construct over 800 new classrooms at both primary and secondary 
schools, including for special needs education; equip schools; and 
build capacity within the Ministry of Education. 
 
¶13. (SBU) UNICEF continues to support the GSE in expanding its 
Education Sectoral Development Plan (ESDP), which provides an 
operational framework for developments in education.  The GSE 
adopted the ESDP in April 2005.  Since 2006, 31 schools have been 
constructed in the Debub, Anseba, Northern Red Sea, and Gash Barka 
regions.  Around 1,000 girls are supported each year through an 
incentive scheme involving either direct cash, material support to 
poor families, scholarships, or provision of accommodation to girls 
studying away from home.  Since 2007, over 5,000 students have been 
enrolled in a complementary elementary education scheme to integrate 
over-aged children into primary education.  UNICEF is also working 
with the Ministry of Education to introduce life skills education 
(health issues, mine risk education, and HIV/AIDS) into the grades 4 
and 5 curriculum. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Previously the U.S. Department of Agriculture worked with 
the government as part of a global effort to provide meals for 
school children; however, following the GSE ordered closure of USAID 
and GSE changes in food distribution policy, the U.S. is not 
providing any bilateral school feeding assistance. 
 
D) Country's Comprehensive Policy Aimed at the Elimination of the 
 
ASMARA 00000056  003 OF 004 
 
 
Worst Forms of Child Labor 
 
¶15. (SBU) The GSE is implementing a National Program of Action on 
Children, coordinated by its National Committee on the Rights of the 
Child, which was anticipated to be completed by the end of 2007. 
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, however, is concerned 
that the National Committee on the Rights of the Child does not have 
sufficient resources to implement its mandate.  There is a plan of 
action on child labor that primarily focuses on strongly integrating 
or reintegrating children with families, communities, and schools as 
a means of preventing or rehabilitating children engaged in child 
labor. Over 4,200 street and working children were enrolled in the 
UNICEF funded programs in 2007.  Additionally, more than 2,750 
street children were supported with cash assistance for school 
materials in 2008. 
 
¶16. (SBU) Education is free and compulsory through Grade Seven. 
However, families are responsible for uniforms, supplies, and 
transportation, which can be prohibitively expensive; such costs 
discourage many parents from sending their children to school.  In 
addition, schools are not physically accessible to all Eritreans, 
particularly in rural areas.  Education above Grade Seven is not 
compulsory, and students must pay a nominal fee. 
 
¶17. (SBU) Gross and net enrollment ratios are based on the number of 
students formally registered in middle school and therefore do not 
necessarily reflect actual school attendance.  In 2007, the net 
elementary school (grades 1-5) enrollment rate was 50 percent, 
totaling 248,782 students.  The gross middle school (grades 6-8) 
enrollment rate was 42.3 percent and the net middle school 
enrollment rate was 23.3 percent (statistics for 2008 were not 
available).  For the school year 2006/2007 the Ministry of Education 
reported that 141,081 students were enrolled in middle school.  The 
World Bank noted that although elementary and middle school 
enrollment shot up dramatically during the first few years of 
independence, there has been a steady decline in the increase of 
enrollment, particularly among girls, over recent years. 
 
¶18. (SBU) There are reports of a significant disparity in 
educational access between urban and rural-dwelling children, 
primarily because development has been concentrated in urban areas. 
Available data reports enrollment by region, without differentiating 
between urban and rural areas.  There are also reports of a 
disparity between the number of boys and girls in school, although 
this disparity is decreasing due to the decrease in boys' enrollment 
in school.  It is common for girls attending rural schools to leave 
before the school day ends in order to work at home on domestic 
tasks. 
 
¶19. (SBU) In 2003, the government added an additional grade to 
secondary school and required that all students throughout the 
country attend their 12th and final year at "Sawa," a location 
adjacent to the Sawa military training facility in the western 
region of the country. 
 
¶20. (SBU) Students who do not attend this final year of secondary 
school cannot graduate nor sit for examinations to be eligible for 
advanced education.  Upon completing the examinations, the GSE 
assigns the student his or her post-secondary course of study.  The 
remote location of the school, concerns about security, and societal 
attitudes restricting the free movement of girls resulted in few 
female students enrolling in their last year of high school.  There 
is also concern that this school is under the authority of the 
military, and at least one official was reported as saying that he 
considers the students to be members of the armed forces.  Students 
receive military training while at Sawa. 
 
E) Progress Toward Eliminating the Worst Forms of Child Labor 
 
¶21. (SBU) The GSE has not provided any specifics regarding the 
information requested. 
 
¶22. (SBU) Observations indicate a significant number of children 
work on the street, in the agricultural sector, and as domestic 
servants.  In rural areas, children often work on family farms and 
in subsistence farming, engaging in such activities as fetching 
firewood and water, and herding livestock.  Children are expected to 
 
ASMARA 00000056  004 OF 004 
 
 
work from about the age of 5 by looking after livestock and working 
in the fields.  In urban areas, some children work as street vendors 
of cigarettes, newspapers, or chewing gum.  There are also underage 
apprentices in shops and workshops such as garages or metal 
workshops. 
 
¶23. (SBU) There have been unconfirmed reports that forced labor by 
children occurred in the past, but there was no information 
available on the practice in 2008.  In the past some boys were 
trafficked from Eritrea to Kuwait to work as camel jockeys; however, 
press reports in spring 2006 stated that these children had been 
returned to Eritrea.  There is a lack of data on the commercial 
sexual exploitation of children in Eritrea.  Some believe that the 
conflict with Ethiopia and related internal displacement of the 
population and presence of foreign soldiers has increased the risk 
of the commercial sexual exploitation of children.  UNMEE states 
there were no reports of child sexual exploitation incidents 
involving UNMEE personnel in 2008. 
 
MCMULLEN