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UNCLAS YAOUNDE 000150 
 
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SIPDIS 
DOL/ILAB FOR LEYLA STROTKAMP, RACHEL RIGBY AND TINA MCCARTER 
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DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD KTIP PHUM SOCI CM
SUBJECT: CAMEROON: INFORMATION ON CHILD LABOR AND FORCED LABOR 
 
REF: STATE 131994; 08 YAOUNDE 609; 09 YAOUNDE 49 
 
¶1. Summary: Child Labor in Cameroon is found primarily in the 
production of agricultural goods, including palm oil, rubber, 
coffee, banana, cocoa and tea in four regions of Cameroon. 
Statistics on child labor (as with most other issues) are limited 
or non-existent.  The most reliable sources of information are the 
International Labor Organization (ILO), Catholic Relief Services 
(CRS) and its partner NGOs and trade unions.  On February 3, 2010, 
the government released the results of its long-awaited 2007 study 
on child labor. Cameroon also has a record of child trafficking, 
which is prohibited under Cameroonian law.  Trafficking occurs to, 
from, and within the country, with the majority occurring within 
the country's borders.  End summary. 
 
 
 
¶2. The responses below are keyed to questions in reftel A for 
taskings 1 and 2.  As requested, this message repeats information 
in different sub-headings. 
 
 
 
---------- 
 
TASKING 1 
 
--------- 
 
 
 
¶3.  There is very limited information about the use of child labor 
in producing specific goods. Post has no new information to add to 
our 2008 and 2009 reporting (ref B and C respectively).  We confirm 
the persistence of child labor in the cocoa, tea, rubber, banana 
and palm oil sectors.  According to trade unions, this was mostly 
perceptible in large plantations in the Littoral and Southwest 
Regions.  In 2009 the ILO expressed concern that the GRC's lack of 
significant efforts to keep children away from plantations could 
result in a massive return of children to forced/hazardous labor. 
 
 
 
--------- 
 
TASKING 2 
 
---------- 
 
 
 
2A). PREVALENCE AND SECTORAL DISTRIBUTION OF EXPLOITIVE CHILD LABOR 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----------------- 
 
 
 
¶4.  On February 3, the Government published a long-awaited study 
with data collected by the National Institute of Statistics on 
exploitive child labor.  This filled the ten year gap during which 
the government rejected as inaccurate the results of a 2000 study 
conducted by an ILO-sponsored local consultant.  According to the 
Government's 2007 study which was conducted in all ten regions of 
Cameroon, 2.4 million children ranging in age from 5-17 years work 
in Cameroon.  Among these, 40.6 percent are girls and 41.4 percent 
are boys.  An estimated 262,000 among those children are exposed to 
hazardous labor.  They were used primarily for domestic service, 
street vending, and child prostitution and were internally 
trafficked from the Adamaoua, North, Far North, and Northwest 
regions to Douala and Yaounde to work as domestic servants, street 
vendors, or prostitutes. 
 
 
 
2B). LAWS AND REGULATIONS 
 
---------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶5.  The country's legal and regulatory framework should be adequate 
for addressing exploitive child labor, with strong penalties 
 
envisioned for violations.  The law provides that any person who 
engages in crimes associated with trafficking in persons shall be 
punished by prison terms between six months and 20 years.  The law 
against child trafficking and child slavery carries prison terms 
between 15 and 20 years.  It also provides that corporate bodies 
may be declared criminally liable and punished with fines between 
100,000 francs CFA ($200) and 10,000,000 francs CFA ($20,000), 
where the offences were committed by managers, in the discharge of 
their duties. 
 
 
 
¶6.  The Penal Code prohibits a person from imposing work 
obligations on another person for which that person has not freely 
applied.  Violations are punishable by imprisonment of 5 to 10 
years and/or a fine.  The Penal Code prohibits slavery and engaging 
in the trafficking of human beings and punishes these acts with 
prison terms of 10 to 20 years.  The Code also prohibits making or 
sharing in the profits from another person's prostitution.  The 
penalty includes fines and prison sentences of up to 5 years, which 
double if the crime involves a person less than 21 years of age. 
However, the legal prohibitions do not include family chores, 
which, in many instances are beyond a child's capacity.  The 
penalties are adequate to punish and deter violations in theory; 
however, it is difficult to assess their effectiveness in practice 
because there are no statistics on labor investigations or 
prosecutions.  There were no new laws passed on child labor in 
¶2009. 
 
¶7.  While the 2005 law against child trafficking is generally 
considered to be very good, its implementation has been almost 
inexistent.  Various actors, including magistrates, law enforcement 
officers and parents, lack awareness of the problem and there is 
little cooperation between the various agencies involved. 
According to officials from the Ministry of Justice, judges do not 
enforce the child trafficking legislation because they are 
unfamiliar with it.  The government has no established system to 
provide magistrates with the new laws.  Occasionally, the ministry 
organizes seminars for representatives from the ten courts of 
appeals, with the intent that participants train their colleagues 
once they return to their regions.  Instead, participants often 
keep the information to themselves and do not share it with their 
colleagues.  The same lack of awareness is seen among the victims 
and their families.  Few know about the law and few file complaints 
against traffickers.  Families often don't know they are entering 
into trafficking arrangements. 
 
¶8.  The Government's National Commission on Human Rights and 
Freedoms (NCHRF) and local and international NGOs are currently 
running awareness-building programs which should help address the 
issue in the future.  For instance, in July, Catholic Relief 
Services (CRS) started implementing a U.S. State Department-funded 
anti-child trafficking program which provides for the training of 
trainers of law enforcement officers, judges, social workers, 
shelter staff, and community leaders at the local level.  The 
significant increase in the number of trainers may boost the level 
of awareness, as an increasing number of colleagues, communities 
and parents are informed of the issue.  CRS had previously worked 
with the Northwest Region branch of the Justice and Peace Committee 
of the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon to survey the extent of 
trafficking in the region and build awareness among law enforcement 
officers and magistrates. 
 
 
 
2C). INSTITUTIONS AND MECHANISMS FOR ENFORCEMENT - Hazardous Child 
Labor and Forced Child Labor 
 
 
 
¶9.  The government continues to fight hazardous child labor through 
the use of an interagency committee, the Consultative Committee to 
Implement the IPEC/WACAP Project, established to improve 
coordination and communication between the various agencies. 
However, the effectiveness of that mechanism is limited because the 
interagency committee has almost never met.  During a meeting in 
the past year, officials from the Ministry of Justice complained 
about the poor level of inter-agency cooperation. 
 
 
 
¶10.  Government agencies working within this group include: the 
Ministries of Labor and Social Insurance (MTSS, French acronym); 
Social Affairs (MINAS, French acronym); Justice (MINJUSTICE); 
 
External Relations (MINREX, French acronym); Women and Family 
Promotion (MINPROF, French acronym); Territorial Administration and 
Decentralization (MINATD, French acronym); and Tourism (MINTOUR, 
French acronym).  Also included in the inter-agency group is the 
Secretariat of State for Defense, in charge of National Gendarmerie 
(SED, French acronym); General Delegation for National Security 
(DGSN, French acronym), which includes border police; Bureau 
Central National-Interpol (BCN-Interpol); and the Customs Services 
for both seaports and airports.  The Ministry of Labor is primarily 
responsible for fighting hazardous child labor. 
 
 
 
¶11.  Complaints about hazardous child labor may be initiated by the 
victim, through a third party (parents, associations, etc.), or by 
officials from the Ministry of Labor.  Incidences of a child 
exposed to hazardous child labor may be reported to a competent 
authority, such as the local representative of the ministries of 
labor or social affairs, or a law enforcement office including the 
police and gendarmerie.  The report can be done by the child (which 
rarely happens because children do not always realize that they are 
exposed to hazardous labor) or, more often, by a third party. 
 
 
 
¶12.  Once the situation is reported or the complaint filed, an 
investigation is conducted by the labor or social affairs offices, 
which can call in the police or gendarmerie if needed.  For minor 
offenses, the matter is usually settled at the level of the social 
affairs or labor offices.  For more serious offences, the file is 
forwarded to the prosecutor's office for judicial investigation, 
which eventually takes the case to trial and sentencing. 
 
 
 
¶13.  During routine or targeted inspections, Labor Inspectors write 
reports on labor violations and forward their reports to the 
regional officer.  Upon completion of the investigation, the 
solution to the issue is determined at the administrative level, or 
forwarded to the prosecutor's office for judicial action. 
 
 
 
¶15.  There are no statistics available on the number of complaints 
received by the various agencies.  Officials told post that there 
were complaints during the reporting period, but that it takes a 
while before statistics are gathered. 
 
 
 
¶16.  The various anti-child labor agencies use their general 
budgets to address child labor issues since there is no separate 
line item specifically reserved for combating child labor.  Such 
funds are inadequate, seriously limiting the ability to implement 
anti-child labor policies and programs. During site visits, it is 
common to hear investigators complain that they have not been able 
to implement field work for several weeks simply because they lack 
a vehicle or fuel to travel.  The government, nonetheless, made 
some budgetary efforts to assist partner NGOs.  In 2008, for 
instance, the government provided those organizations 40 million 
francs CFA ($80,000) to carry out anti-trafficking activities. 
 
 
 
¶17.  There are 58 general labor inspectors responsible for 
investigating child labor cases in Cameroon.  While they had office 
facilities, transportation and the availability of fuel to allow 
them to conduct field investigations remained a critical issue. 
Labor inspections do not seem to be a budget priority.  One labor 
inspector told post that, while they are aware of child labor 
cases, they simply do not have the means to intervene. 
 
 
 
¶18.  According to officials from the Ministry of Labor, several 
inspections involving child labor took place during the year. 
However, there are no overall statistics available on the number of 
children impacted nor on the number of prosecutions because the 
government does not collect and maintain the information 
systematically. Depending on the type of solution chosen to address 
a case, the average length of time it took to resolve child labor 
cases varied from a few days to over one year. 
 
Penalties, mostly fines, were applied in cases in which violations 
 
were found.  Fines ranged from 50,000 francs CFA ($100) to 200,000 
francs CFA ($400). 
 
 
 
¶19.  Because the Cameroonian government has a poor record of 
collecting and keeping statistics in all domains, it is hard to 
determine whether the lack of statistics reflects a lack of 
commitment to combat exploitive child labor.  However, the release 
of the national report on child labor provides some data and 
indicates that the government is attempting to track the issue. 
Catholic Relief Services, in collaboration with national NGOs, 
developed data collection tools that will be implemented by 
officials of the various agencies involved in anti-trafficking 
actions in the Center, Southwest and Northwest regions. 
 
 
 
¶20.  The government has not directly offered training in combating 
child labor and trafficking, but has instead relied on the 
assistance of the National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms 
and national and international NGOs to train law enforcement 
officers and magistrates.  In April, the Northwest Region branch of 
the Committee Justice and Peace (sic) of the Episcopal Conference 
of Cameroon finalized a several-month-long anti-trafficking 
program, which included the training of law enforcement officers 
and magistrates.  In July, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) launched 
a U.S. State Department-funded anti-trafficking program, which 
trained 33 law enforcement officers and magistrates by the end of 
the year. 
 
 
 
¶21.  The trainings have had a positive impact, especially at the 
local level.  For instance in April, during the closing session of 
an anti-trafficking seminar organized by the Committee Justice and 
Peace of the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon in Bamenda, Northwest 
Region, the Chief of Staff of the gendarmerie legion explained how 
he and his collaborators used their knowledge of the law to track 
down and address trafficking cases.  This was echoed by a 
magistrate, who encouraged interagency collaboration to better 
disseminate and implement the 2005 law against child trafficking. 
This may explain why more child trafficking cases were reported 
during the year. 
 
 
 
2D). INSTITUTIONAL MECHANISMS FOR EFFECTIVE ENFORCEMENT- Child 
Trafficking, Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC), Use 
of Children in Illicit Activities 
 
 
 
¶22.  The inter-agency Consultative Committee is the primary 
coordinating mechanism to bring together the various governmental 
actors to address the issue of child trafficking, commercial sexual 
exploitation, and the use of the children in illicit activities. 
The inter-agency group includes: the Ministries of Labor and Social 
Insurance (MTSS, French acronym); Social Affairs (MINAS, French 
acronym); Justice (MINJUSTICE); External Relations (MINREX, French 
acronym); Women and Family Promotion (MINPROF, French acronym); 
Territorial Administration and Decentralization (MINATD, French 
acronym); and Tourism (MINTOUR, French acronym).  Also included 
among the inter-agency group is the Secretariat of State for 
Defense, in charge of National Gendarmerie (SED, French acronym); 
General Delegation for National Security (DGSN, French acronym), 
which includes border police; Bureau Central National-Interpol 
(BCN-Interpol) office in the country; and the Customs Services for 
both seaports and airports.  The Ministry of Labor is primarily 
responsible for fighting child trafficking. 
 
 
 
¶23.  Police officers from the National Police and gendarmes from 
the National Gendarmerie address the worst forms of child labor 
issues nationwide, although there is no case data available. 
Interpol's National Branch Office and border police, which has 
dozens of officers, also play a key role in addressing the worst 
forms of child labor.  A special "vice squad" that the General 
Delegate for National Security (DGSN) created in 2005 to track down 
and fight trafficking in children also uses dozens of police 
officers. 
 
¶24.  The government also cooperates with NGOs Such as the Cameroon 
Coalition of NGOs for Children's Rights (COCADE) which is a 
coalition of 65 NGOs that cooperate with the Government. 
 
 
 
¶25.  The various anti-child trafficking agencies use their general 
budgets to address child labor issues since there is no separate 
line item in their budget reserved for anti-child labor action. 
These funds are insufficient.  During Embassy site visits, 
investigators frequently complained that they had not been able to 
implement field work for several weeks, simply because they did not 
have a vehicle or fuel to travel. 
 
 
 
¶26.  The government, however, made some efforts to financially 
assist partner NGOs.  In 2008, for instance, the government 
provided 40 million francs CFA ($80,000) to NGOs for 
anti-trafficking activities.  In addition, the police, the national 
gendarmerie and the Ministry of Social Affairs have hotlines on 
both landlines and cell phone networks that are made available to 
the public for the denunciation of crimes or to request rapid 
intervention. 
 
 
 
¶27.  At year's end, 26 child labor cases, mostly in the Northwest 
Region, were identified and addressed.  Investigations on 18 other 
cases are currently ongoing.  Twenty two children were rescued as a 
result. Eight arrests were made in the Northwest Region, and the 
cases are still pending with judicial investigations still ongoing. 
In comparison, in 2008, according to the government's human rights 
report, seven arrests were made. All cases from 2009 and 2008 were 
still pending in courts. The average length of time to resolve 
these cases varies from several days (where no judicial action is 
implemented) to one year or more, for cases requiring court action. 
 
 
 
¶28.  While the government did not offer training directly, it used 
the assistance of the National Commission on Human Rights and 
Freedoms and national and international NGOs to train law 
enforcement officers and magistrates.  In April, the Northwest 
Region branch of the Committee for Justice and Peace of the 
Episcopal Conference of Cameroon finalized a several-month 
anti-trafficking program, which included the training of law 
enforcement officers and magistrates.  In July, Catholic Relief 
Services (CRS) launched an anti-trafficking program, which included 
the training of law enforcement officers and magistrates.  Thirty 
three officials were trained at the end of the year. 
 
 
 
¶29.  The training is having some impact, particularly at the local 
level.  In addition to the examples provided in section 2c, during 
a recent trip to the Northwest, post talked to one senior 
government official and one magistrate who were looking for nannies 
to take care of their newborns.  The officials said they were 
carefully scrutinizing the ages of the candidates recommended to 
avoid inadvertently supporting child trafficking.  They 
acknowledged that in the past they probably were involved in what 
had always been seen as "normal business" in the region, without 
knowing that it actually was child trafficking.  This may explain 
why more child trafficking cases were reported during the year. 
 
 
 
¶30.  There were no statistics available on the number of 
investigations conducted to track the commercial sexual 
exploitation of children, the number of children rescued or, the 
number of arrests made. 
 
 
 
¶31.  The average length of time it takes to resolve cases of child 
trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation of children, and the 
use of children in illicit activities may vary from several days 
(where no judicial action is implemented) to one year or more, for 
cases requiring court action. 
 
2E) GOVERNMENT POLICIES ON CHILD LABOR 
 
 
 
¶32.  The Government continues to work on a national plan of action, 
entitled the "National Strategic Plan against Child Trafficking." 
The recent release of the National Report on Child Labor in 
Cameroon may spur the inter-agency working group to finalize and 
implement the plan in a timely manner. 
 
 
 
¶33.  During the year, the GRC through the Ministries of Economy and 
Planning, Basic Education, Women Empowerment and Family, Public 
Health, and UNICEF finalized the "National Policy Framework 
Document for the Full Development of the Young Child." This Policy 
Framework is designed to provide a holistic solution to the plight 
of children in the country. The government also implemented the 
annual action plan of the first phase of a Special Protection Plan 
that it elaborated in cooperation with UNICEF.  The program runs 
from 2008-2012. 
 
 
 
¶34.  The government continued to build awareness among local 
government and security officials in the areas where trafficking 
was an issue. Anti-trafficking information or education campaigns 
and anti-trafficking spots were broadcast on government radio and 
television.  Frontier police at airports, borders, and ports 
monitored immigration and emigration patterns for evidence of child 
trafficking. 
 
 
 
¶35.  The government incorporates the issue of exploitive child 
labor directly into some of its programs, including activities 
focused on poverty reduction, education, and social policies.  The 
"National Policy Framework Document for the Full Development of the 
Young Child" and the "Special Protection Plan" that the government 
elaborated in cooperation with UNICEF are among those programs. 
Education, however, remains the key instrument of the government's 
anti-child labor approach.  In 2008, and in the framework of the 
"Explorons le Droit Humanitaire" (EDH) program, the International 
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Ministry of Secondary 
Education organized a training seminar for 60 pedagogy inspectors 
from the ten regions of Cameroon.  Those inspectors became trainers 
who taught teachers how to teach humanitarian law in schools. 
 
 
 
¶36.  Education programs are key to Cameroon's efforts against child 
labor.  In 2006, the government released information on education 
funding levels.  They indicated that the government disbursed about 
7 billion CFA francs ($14 million) to construct 422 classrooms and 
10 nursery schools, rehabilitate 53 primary and secondary schools 
and nine nursery schools, and provide some schools with electricity 
and water.  Also, the government disbursed about 47 billion CFA 
francs ($95 million) as a result of the HIPC (High Indebted Poor 
Countries) program, to pay the salaries of 4,836 teachers, furnish 
textbooks to schools in priority zones, distribute scholarships in 
the form of school materials to deserving pupils, provide essential 
medicines to primary schools, construct 2,830 classrooms, provide 
84,900 benches, and construct 403 latrines and 52 water points 
between 2001 and 2006.  The government continued to include such 
efforts in its 2010 budget. 
 
 
 
¶37.  In December, the National Assembly approved the 2010 budget. 
The budget of the Ministry of Secondary Education increased from 
204,507 million francs CFA ($409 million) to 208,624 million francs 
CFA ($417 million), making it the leading budget item.  The budget 
of the Ministry of Basic Education increased from 153,102 million 
francs CFA ($306 million) to 167,728 million francs CFA ($335 
million). This increase signals the government's plans to hire more 
teachers, build additional classrooms, nurseries and water 
facilities, and sponsor and run more vocational schools for older 
children that can serve as an alternative to work.  In those 
schools, which are named SARs (Section Artisanale Rurale), students 
learn carpentry, masonry, electricity, etc. 
 
 
 
¶38.  The Government does not have a separate line item in its 
 
budget to specifically fund anti-child labor efforts, except for 
those designed in cooperation with agencies of the UN system or 
International NGOs.  The lack of funding seriously limits 
officials' ability to implement the policies assigned to them. 
 
 
 
¶39.  The government also continued to work with local and 
international NGOs to provide temporary shelter and assistance to 
victims of trafficking. In July, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) 
launched a project to fight child trafficking in the Northwest 
Region. CRS had previously worked with the Northwest Region branch 
of the Justice and Peace Committee of the Episcopal Conference of 
Cameroon to survey the extent of trafficking in the region. CRS 
also worked to combat corruption in local schools that led to child 
prostitution. UNICEF was also actively engaged in combating girls' 
prostitution throughout the year. 
 
 
 
¶40.  The government continued to fight trafficking through the use 
of an interagency committee and a program to find and return 
trafficked children. In addition, the government cooperated with 
the governments of Chad, Gabon, Nigeria, Togo, and Benin to fight 
trafficking through the exchange of information and preparation of 
common legislation on trafficking. The GRC and the Government of 
Chad held two security meetings during the year.  The Interpol 
office in the country also played a significant role in the 
government's anti-trafficking actions.  Perhaps because of better 
international cooperation, post learned of only one trafficking 
case at one of Cameroon's borders. 
 
 
 
¶41.  The government did not sign any bilateral, regional or 
international agreement to combat trafficking during the reporting 
period. 
 
 
 
2F) SOCIAL PROGRAMS TO ELIMINATE OR PREVENT CHILD LABOR 
 
 
 
¶42.  The government continued to work with local and international 
NGOs to provide temporary shelter and assistance to victims of 
trafficking. In July, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) launched a 
project to fight child trafficking in the Northwest Region. CRS had 
previously worked with the Northwest Region branch of the Justice 
and Peace Committee of the Episcopal Conference of Cameroon to 
survey the extent of trafficking in the region. CRS also worked to 
combat corruption in local schools that led to child prostitution. 
In addition, UNICEF worked on combating girls' prostitution 
throughout the year. 
 
 
 
2G) CONTINUAL PROGRESS 
 
 
 
¶43.  While the Government of Cameroon's other competing priorities 
and limited resources have resulted in a delegation of its 
leadership role to NGOs, the release of the National Report on 
Child Labor was a concrete step in the right direction.  On 
February 3, during the release ceremony, participants prepared a 
list of 12 recommendations, which included a sustained system for 
data collection, sustained education development programs, better 
recuperation and protection of children, and increased specific 
enquiries.  Post will continue to follow up on the implementation 
of these recommendations and provide assistance where possible. 
GARVEY