Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Iraq (Ratification: 2001)

Articles 3(a) and 7(1) of the Convention. All forms of slavery and practices similar to slavery. Compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict and penalties. The Committee previously noted that according to the report of the United Nations Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict of 5 June 2015, at least 67 boys were recruited by the Islamic State in Iraq and Levant (ISIS) and an unknown number of children were recruited by the pro-Government Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in conflict areas. Boys as young as 10 years old were recruited and used by self-defence groups supporting Iraqi security forces and girls were also reportedly associated with Yezidi self-defence groups. The Committee had noted the Government’s indication that it is endeavouring to promulgate a law prohibiting the recruitment of children under 18 years for use in armed conflict. The Committee strongly urged the Government to take measures to ensure the full and immediate demobilization of all children and to put a stop, in practice, to the forced recruitment of children under 18 years of age into armed forces and armed groups.

The Committee notes an absence of information on this point in the Government’s report. The Committee notes that the recruitment of children for their use in armed conflict is still prevailing on the ground as seen from the report of the United Nations Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict of 16 May 2018 (A/72/865–S/2018/465). The UN documented 523 cases of children recruited by parties to the conflict, of which 109 cases (101 boys, eight girls) were verified. Cases of recruitment involving 59 children, including eight girls, were attributed to ISIS. Children were used as suicide bombers and combatants, for logistics and manufacturing explosive devices, and as wives for fighters (paragraph 75). The Committee also notes that the UN Secretary-General expressed his concern about the organization of military training for boys aged 15 and above by the pro-government PMF and encouraged the Government to develop an action plan to end and prevent the alleged training, recruitment and use of children by the PMF (paragraph 85).The Committee once again deeply deplores the current situation of children affected by armed conflict in Iraq, especially as it entails other violations of the rights of the child, such as abductions, murders and sexual violence. It recalls that, under Article 3(a) of the Convention, the forced or compulsory recruitment of children under 18 years of age for use in armed conflict is considered to be one of the worst forms of child labour and that, under Article 1 of the Convention, member States must take immediate and effective measures to secure the elimination of the worst forms of child labour as a matter of urgency. While acknowledging the complexity of the situation prevailing on the ground and the presence of armed groups and armed conflict in the country, the Committee once again strongly urges the Government to take measures as a matter of urgency to ensure the full and immediate demobilization of all children and to put a stop to the forced recruitment of children under 18 years of age into armed forces and armed groups. It also once again urges the Government to take immediate and effective measures to ensure that thorough investigations and prosecutions of all persons, including members in the regular armed forces, who recruit children under 18 years of age for use in armed conflict, are carried out and that sufficiently effective and dissuasive penalties are imposed in practice. Finally, the Committee once again urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure the adoption of the law prohibiting the recruitment of children under 18 years of age for use in armed conflict and expresses the firm hope that this new law will establish sufficiently effective and dissuasive penalties. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any progress made in this regard.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (a). Prevent the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour. Access to free basic education. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the Government’s information that it had finalized a project with UNESCO entitled “Teach a child” which aims to provide institutional and technical support to improve the quality and capacity of informal education. This project also aimed to provide alternative education to more than 180,000 out-of-school children, including girls and children from rural areas and to integrate them into formal education through expedited education. In this regard, UNESCO, with the help of labour inspectors, had registered a number of children, including children in street situations, for expedited education. However, the Committee noted from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey of 2011, that 38 per cent of children among the age group of 12–17 years were out of school, and that the situation of girls was much worse than boys. The Committee further noted that the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), in its concluding observations of March 2015, expressed concern that only half of secondary school-age children are attending school, as a consequence of schools being attacked and school children kidnapped on their way to school, and that a number of internally displaced and refugee children have no access to school.

The Committee notes the absence of information in the Government’s report on this point. The Committee notes that according to the 2018 report of the Secretary-General, 161 incidents of attacks on schools and hospitals had been documented by the UN (paragraph 85). The Committee also observes that according to UNICEF, drop-out rates for the overall education system increased from 2 per cent in 2013–14 to 2.6 per cent in 2015–16. The lower secondary level is notable because drop-out rates are significantly higher (3.6 per cent for boys and 4.7 per cent for girls) than for other education levels. Moreover, around 355,000 internally displaced children remain out of school in Iraq, representing 48.3 per cent of the total internally displaced school-age children. In conflict affected governorates, more than 90 per cent of school-age children are left out of the education system. The Committee also observes that according to UNICEF, Iraq spent only 5.7 per cent of its government expenditure on education for the period 2015–16, and therefore needs to increase the total amount it spends on education, and this increased spending should address education needs for school construction, access to education for girls and low-income families, as well as improving the quality of education (report on the cost and benefits of education in Iraq, 2017). The Committee once again expresses its deep concern at the large number of children who are deprived of education because of the climate of insecurity prevailing in the country. While acknowledging the difficult situation prevailing in the country, the Committee once again urges the Government to take the necessary measures to improve access to free basic education of all children, particularly girls, children in rural areas and in areas affected by war. It once again strongly encourages the Government to redouble its measures to increase the enrolment, attendance and completion rates at the primary and secondary level and to reduce school drop-out rates so as to prevent the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour.

Clause (b). Providing the necessary and appropriate assistance for the removal of children from the worst forms of child labour and for their rehabilitation and social integration. 1. Children in armed conflict. The Committee noted from the 2015 report of the Secretary-General that at least 391 children, including 16 girls, held in detention facilities were indicted or convicted of terrorism-related charges for their alleged association with armed groups.

The Committee notes the absence of information in the Government’s report on this point. It notes that according to the 2018 report of the Secretary-General, in 2017 at least 1,036 children (1,024 boys, 12 girls), including 345 in the Kurdistan Region, remained in juvenile detention facilities on national security-related charges, mostly for their alleged association with ISIS (paragraph 76). The Committee once again expresses its deep concern at the practice of the detention and conviction of children for their alleged association with armed groups. In this regard, the Committee must emphasize that children under the age of 18 years associated with armed groups should be treated as victims rather than offenders (see 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 502). The Committee, therefore, once again urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that children removed from armed groups are treated as victims rather than offenders. It also, once again, urges the Government to take effective and time-bound measures to remove children from armed groups and ensure their rehabilitation and social integration. It requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken in this regard and on the number of children removed from armed groups and reintegrated.

2. Sexual slavery. The Committee noted that according to the CRC, “markets” were set up by ISIS in which abducted girls were sold after attaching price tags to them, and that the sexual enslavement of children detained occurred in makeshift prisons of ISIS. The Committee further noted from the report of the Secretary-General that at least 1,297 children were abducted, including girls as young as 12 years, who were sold in ISIS-controlled areas for sexual slavery. The Committee notes an absence of information on this point in the Government’s report. The Committee notes that according to the 2018 report of the Secretary-General, nine cases of sexual violence were verified, and girls who were abused were often forced to manufacture bombs (paragraph 79). The Committee once again urges the Government to take effective and time-bound measures to remove children under 18 years of age from sexual slavery and ensure their rehabilitation and social integration. It once again requests the Government to provide information on specific measures taken in this regard as well as the number of children removed from sexual slavery and rehabilitated.

The Committee is also raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.

[The Government is asked to supply full particulars to the Conference at its 108th Session and to reply in full to the present comments in 2019.]