Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2019, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Togo (Ratification: 2000)

Article 3(d) of the Convention and Article 4 of the Convention. Determination of hazardous work. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that Order No. 1464/MTEFP/DGTLS of 12 November 2007, which prohibits hazardous work for children under the age of 18 years, is being revised. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on progress made in this regard and to provide a copy of the Order once it is adopted.

Article 6 of the Convention. Programmes of action to eliminate the worst forms of child labour. The Government indicates that it has just received financial support for an evaluation of the National Plan of Action against the Worst Forms of Child Labour (PAN). The aim is to produce a new version of the PAN for the period 2020–2024. The Committee further notes that the Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP) in Togo, developed for the period 2019–2022, anticipates under Outcome 3.1 that a plan of action against unacceptable forms of work, including the worst forms of child labour, will be available. The Committee once again requests the Government to provide detailed information on the specific measures taken and the results obtained in the context of the PAN and other action programmes for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour. Please also provide a copy of the PAN 2020-2024 once it is adopted.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (a). Preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour. Access to free basic education. The Committee previously noted the Government’s indications in its report that a large number of children in Togo do not have the opportunity to attend school. It also noted that the portion of the State budget allocated to education is insufficient to enable the actual abolition of school fees. In addition, one-third of children have no access to primary education, with girls, children living in remote areas and children with disabilities being at particular risk of not attending school. The repetition rate is very high and the completion rate in primary education remains very low, especially among girls. There are not enough schools, and the teaching infrastructure and resources remain insufficient and unsuitable. As part of a plan to reduce the factors linked to the trafficking of girls, the Government has established a canteen programme in rural schools to encourage school enrolment and attendance for all children, especially girls.

The Government indicates that it has introduced educational reforms with a view to reducing the repetition rate and a project to improve school facilities by building classrooms and training teachers to provide quality education. In order to encourage their education, school fees for girls in public secondary establishments are reduced. From 2019 to 2020, a project to combat the worst forms of child labour, launched by the Office of Development and Social Works (ODOS) will be implemented in four villages in the Maritime region, where intensive gravel extraction is prevalent. The project is aimed at prevention, raising awareness and strengthening the financial capacities of families through the creation of large-scale agricultural cooperatives and the provision of school support to some 3,000 children at risk by offering them one meal a day. Monitoring committees have been established at extraction sites in the villages concerned. Considering that education is essential for preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour, the Committee urges the Government to provide information on the measures taken to improve the functioning of the education system, including to raise school attendance and completion rates and reduce drop-out rates, particularly in rural areas. It requests the Government to provide information on the results achieved, and to provide updated statistical data on school enrolment and drop-out rates at the primary and secondary levels, disaggregated by gender and age.

Article 8. International cooperation and assistance. 1. Regional cooperation relating to the sale and trafficking of children. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that several multilateral agreements have been concluded by Togo with neighbouring countries (Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), including Benin and Ghana) in the context of the fight against the trafficking of children. The Committee also noted that discussions were under way with Nigeria with a view to the signing of a bilateral agreement against the trafficking of children.

The Government indicates that from 2013 to 2017, the main objective of the programme implemented to support the fight against trafficking in human beings in the countries of the Gulf of Guinea (Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Togo) was to contribute to increasing the ability of Gulf of Guinea States to combat human trafficking and reinforce care for victims.

In particular, the programme has made it possible to strengthen and coordinate national anti-trafficking capacities; create a pool of trained investigators (police/gendarmes) and contact judges (magistrats référents), who trained their peers; strengthen the criminal justice system to combat impunity for traffickers; strengthen the capacities of civil society organizations providing assistance for victims of trafficking and their coordination with the authorities, as well as strengthening regional cooperation. The Committee notes the signature on 25 September 2018 by Gabon and Togo of the Bilateral Agreement on Cooperation to Combat Trafficking in Children, to which the Government’s report refers. Furthermore, the Committee notes the recent conclusions of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences, on her visit to Togo from 27 to 31 May 2019, which find that child labour and exploitation are often the result of trafficking in persons at the national and regional levels, which is linked, inter alia, to the lack of development and the difficult security situation throughout the region. The Committee therefore requests the Government to continue its efforts to cooperate with the signatory countries of the abovementioned multilateral agreements and, thereby, strengthen border security measures in order to detect and intercept child victims of trafficking and to apprehend and arrest persons operating in networks involved in child trafficking. Noting that the Government’s report does not provide information in this regard, it also asks the Government to provide information on progress made with regard to the conclusion of bilateral agreements with Nigeria against child trafficking and on the impact of the results achieved as a result of the various existing multilateral and bilateral agreements.

2. Poverty reduction. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that more than 60 per cent of the Togolese population was living under the poverty threshold, with a particularly high rate in rural areas. It also noted that the Government was increasing initiatives aimed at improving the living conditions of at-risk groups, especially by implementing social security projects with assistance from the World Bank, namely: the community development project, providing school meals to some 38,000 children in primary schools in the most vulnerable areas of the country and creating jobs in public works for 25,000 rural youngsters; and the pilot project for the transfer of funds to 11,490 children between 0 and 24 months and pregnant women in the Savanes and Kara regions. Noting the lack of information provided on this matter, the Committee reminds the Government that poverty reduction programmes contribute to breaking the circle of poverty, which is essential for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour. The Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on any significant impact of the implementation of the abovementioned social projects on the elimination of the worst forms of child labour.