VZCZCXRO2481
PP RUEHBZ RUEHGI
DE RUEHBZ #0048/01 0431322
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 121322Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY BRAZZAVILLE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1733
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
INFO RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 0589
RUEHLC/AMEMBASSY LIBREVILLE 0092
RUEHGI/AMEMBASSY BANGUI 0068
RUEHLU/AMEMBASSY LUANDA 0054
RUEHYD/AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE 0099
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHBZ/AMEMBASSY BRAZZAVILLE 2165

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BRAZZAVILLE 000048 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DOL/ILAB FOR STROTKAMP, RIGBY, MCCARTER 
DRL/ILCSR FOR MORGAN, DANG 
G/TIP FOR CDEBACA, YOUSEY 
AF/C FOR KORTE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI CF
SUBJECT: REPUBLIC OF CONGO: INFORMATION ON CHILD LABOR AND FORCED 
LABOR 
 
REF: STATE 131995 
 
¶1. Summary: According to Congo's most recent census of 2005, 71 
percent of children between the ages of 5 to 17 work, 97 percent 
of which work in the home.  Exploitative child labor in the 
Republic of Congo is estimated by the government at 1339 
children, of which 10 percent are girls. Children primarily work 
in the informal sector, either with their families or in forced 
service activities, including street vending, prostitution, and 
domestic labor.  Current legislation does not protect children 
who are exploited in the informal sectors in the Congo. The 
Ministry of Labor uncovered nine cases of child trafficking and 
labor in Point Noire, but these cases have been pending for up 
to two years. There have been no prosecutions from these cases. 
Congo's laws with regard to child labor are not adequate at the 
moment but the Parliament passed in August 2009 the Child 
Protection Code, which awaits the President's signature. End 
summary. 
 
 
 
FORCED LABOR AND EXPLOITATIVE CHILD LABOR IN THE PRODUCTION OF 
GOODS 
 
 
 
¶2. In Congo, child labor is primarily limited to the informal 
sector in the service areas of vending, domestic work, and 
prostitution.  The Republic of Congo does not have a highly 
developed production industry.  There are few factories in Congo 
and very few goods, with the exception of oil and lumber, which 
are refined and/or processed for export.  Children are rarely 
found working in these industries due to the demanding nature of 
the work and the high competition from adult laborers who are 
better suited to the tasks.  The Ministry of Labor and the 
Ministry of Justice have not produced any reports on 
exploitative child labor in any production industry. 
 
 
 
PREVALENCE AND SECTORAL DISTRIBUTION OF EXPLOITATIVE CHILD LABOR 
 
 
 
¶3. Child exploitative labor occurs primarily in the informal 
sector, including the services of market vending, domestic work, 
and child prostitution. 
 
¶4. Domestic work: Children may be exploited as domestic 
servants, exchanging long hours and hard labor for room and 
board.  Children from villages may be trafficked to the cities 
of Pointe Noire and Brazzaville in order to serve as domestic 
staff for relatives, often with the support of their parents 
under the belief that the children will be properly educated and 
cared for.  There is no reliable data on the instance of child 
domestic labor in the Congo. 
 
¶5. Prostitution:  The government of Congo does not have 
information on rates of child prostitution.  UNICEF estimated in 
2007 that of the trafficked population in the Congo, 23 percent 
of children are forced into prostitution with an average age of 
nine years.  There is no data available on the general child 
population. 
 
¶6. Market vending:  This trend is prominent in Brazzaville and 
Pointe Noire, where there is a high presence of child vendors in 
traditional local markets.  According to UNICEF, the majority of 
trafficked children are exploited in this manner.  Children may 
be forced to work long hours for no or little pay in order to 
earn as little as 1,000 CFA (approximately 2 USD) per day. 
 
¶7. The Congolese government did not collect or publish data on 
child labor. 
 
 
 
LAWS AND REGULATIONS 
 
 
 
¶8. The Labor Code sets the minimum age for employment, including 
 
BRAZZAVILL 00000048  002 OF 004 
 
 
apprenticeships, at 16 years. Exceptions may be permitted by the 
Ministry of Labor after an inspection of the place of 
employment.  The code prohibits forced or compulsory labor.  The 
minimum age of enlistment for service in the armed forces in the 
Republic of Congo is 18. 
 
 
 
¶9. Although there is currently no law specifically prohibiting 
the worst forms of child labor in the Republic of Congo, there 
are statutes under which the worst forms can be prosecuted. 
Since 1999, the Government of the Republic of Congo has 
submitted to the ILO a document identifying hazardous forms of 
work prohibited to minors under Convention 182 or Convention 
¶138.  Congo's Parliament passed in August 2009 the Child 
Protection Code, which awaits the President's signature. 
 
 
 
¶10. The Penal Code criminalizes procuring a person for the 
purpose of prostitution and establishes penalties of ten years 
of imprisonment and a fine of 10,000,000 CFA (USD 17,847.60) if 
such an act is committed with respect to a minor.  While the law 
does not specifically prohibit trafficking in persons, under 
existing laws, traffickers could be prosecuted for slavery, 
rape, prostitution, forced labor, and illegal immigration. 
 
 
 
INSTITUTIONS AND MECHANISMS FOR ENFORCEMENT 
 
 
 
¶11. The Ministry of Labor is responsible for enforcing child 
labor laws and monitors businesses in the formal sector, but 
most child labor occurs in the informal sector or in rural areas 
that lack effective government oversight. 
 
 
 
¶12. The Congo does not have a formal mechanism in place for 
making complaints about hazardous or forced child labor, 
although complaints on child labor can be brought to the 
Ministry of Labor officials. 
 
 
 
¶13. The Ministry of Labor employs 17 full-time inspectors and 11 
part-time inspectors, none of which are specifically tasked with 
monitoring child labor. According to the Ministry of Labor, they 
conduct two inspections of each company per year. The Ministry 
discovered nine cases of child labor from 2006-2009, all of 
which were in Pointe Noire.  No prosecutions or fines have 
resulted from these cases. 
 
 
 
INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS FOR EFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT 
 
 
 
¶14. The Ministry of Social Affairs has approximately ten 
inspectors located in Brazzaville and Pointe Noire that are 
responsible for identifying victims of child trafficking.  The 
numbers of investigators are adequate, but training and 
resources for these individuals is extremely limited. 
Investigators lack proper offices, transportation, and wages in 
order to carry out their duties. 
 
 
 
¶15. The Government provided $60,500 in partnership with UNICEF, 
who provided $140,000 for the purpose of investigating victims 
of child trafficking. 
 
 
 
¶16. The Ministry of Labor does not conduct investigations 
specifically for child labor issues.  If in the event of labor 
investigations child labor is discovered, the issue will be 
 
BRAZZAVILL 00000048  003 OF 004 
 
 
addressed.  Investigations can last from three to seven months. 
 
 
 
¶17. Currently, there are eight children that are in the process 
of repatriation after being discovered as victims of trafficking 
and child labor.  These children are currently being held in 
foster homes in Pointe Noire until the processes are completed 
at the Ministry of Social Affairs in order to return the 
children to their native countries. 
 
 
 
¶18. There are no current convictions on child labor.  There are 
only pending cases up to two years old without convictions. 
 
 
 
¶19. Government officials as well as courts officials were unable 
to provide detailed statistics of cases brought in front of 
court of law that dealt with child labor primarily. However, 
they reported that about one third of people sentenced for child 
trafficking were also sentenced for illegal child labor. 
 
 
 
GOVERNMENT POLICIES ON CHILD LABOR 
 
 
 
¶20. The Government of the Republic of Congo participated in a 
three-year inter-regional ILO-IPEC project, funded by USDOL in 
2003 and 2006, to reintegrate children involved in armed 
conflicts into communities and prevent children from becoming 
involved in armed conflicts.  USDOL is providing USD 7 million 
to the seven-country project. 
 
 
 
¶21. The government has also established the High Commission for 
Reintegration of Ex-Combatants, which has worked to demobilize 
child soldiers and offers them financial support and technical 
training.  With funding from UNICEF, the Department of Social 
Affairs established the Traumatized Children Project, which 
provides counseling for former child soldiers. 
 
 
 
¶22. The government is implementing a National Plan of Action for 
Education for All that, among other goals, aims to improve 
quality of and access to preschool, primary, non-formal, and 
vocational technical education by the year 2015.  The plan also 
includes specific goals for increasing girls' school attendance. 
 
 
 
 
¶23.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture provided over $14 
million in-kind resources over fiscal years 2006 to 2008 to 
support school feeding and other programs operated by an 
American NGO, International Partnership for Human Development 
(IPHD).  These programs support school feeding, malaria 
prevention in schools, distribution of school supplies, 
scholarships for girls, construction of water cisterns for 
schools, development of parent-teacher associations (PTAs), and 
school rehabilitation. 
 
 
 
SOCIAL PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE OR PREVENT CHILD LABOR 
 
 
 
¶24.  The government did not implement any social programs 
specifically designed to address the worst forms of child labor. 
 
 
 
 
CONTINUAL PROGRESS 
 
BRAZZAVILL 00000048  004 OF 004 
 
 
 
 
 
¶25. The government made some progress in combating child labor 
during the reporting period.  This is indicated by the increased 
number of investigations into child trafficking, in which 
children are often the victims of exploitative child labor. 
There is also increased funding and government involvement in 
anti-trafficking efforts, including the August 2009 passage of a 
Child Protection Code.  This law, however, is still pending 
presidential signature in order to be put into effect. 
EASTHAM