Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

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

The Committee notes that the Government’s report contains no reply to its previous comments. It hopes that the next report will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous comments.

Articles 3(b) and 7(1) of the Convention. Use, procuring or offering of a child for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances, and sanctions. The Committee takes due note of the adoption of Act No. 2016-29, of 8 November 2016, amending Act No. 65-60, of 21 July 1965, issuing the Penal Code, which introduces a new Title IV on offences related to information and communication technologies, and includes a section on child pornography. Under the terms of section 431-34, any person who produces, records, offers, makes available, disseminates, transmits an image or representation involving child pornography through an information technology system shall be liable to a sentence of imprisonment of from five to ten years. Furthermore, section 431-38 provides that any person who wilfully offers, by means of information and communication technologies, a meeting with a minor, with a view to the commission during the meeting of one of the offences set out in sections 431-35 to 431-37 (procuring or offering, importing or causing to be imported, exporting or causing to be exported an image or representation involving child pornography by means of an information technology system; knowingly possessing an image or representation involving child pornography on an information technology system or any means of storing electronic data) shall be liable to a sentence of imprisonment of between five and ten years. Where a sexual proposition is followed up by acts leading to such a meeting, the court may neither suspend the execution of the sentence nor take into account attenuating circumstances in relation to the convicted person. The Committee notes that child pornography is defined as any data which is of such a nature or form or on material representing a minor engaging in sexually explicit behaviour; a person who appears to be a minor engaging in sexually explicit behaviour; realistic images representing a minor engaging in sexually explicit behaviour. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the effect given in practice to sections 431-34 to 431-40 of the Penal Code in relation to the use, procuring or offering of a child under 18 years of age for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (a). Preventing children from being engaged in the worst forms of child labour. Access to free basic education. While noting the various measures taken to prevent the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour through access to education, the Committee previously encouraged the Government to continue its efforts to improve the operation of the education system through measures intended to increase the school attendance rate, improve access to education, including at the secondary level, and reduce the school drop-out rate.

The Government indicates in its report that the training and development of “human capital” is still one of the major components of the Emerging Senegal Plan, which takes the form at the sectoral level of the implementation of the Programme to Improve Quality, Equity and Transparency in Education and Training (PAQUET). In its guidelines for 2018–30, PAQUET has integrated the decisions adopted by the Education and Training Consultation, including generalized care for very young children, the improvement of equity of access, the promotion of the inclusion of girls and children with special educational needs and the improvement of the quality of teaching and learning, which will in the longer term contribute to reducing the problem of the insufficient, inadequate and non-inclusive supply of education. The Committee notes that, in its report submitted to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in November 2018, the Government indicates that the gross school enrolment ratio varied between 93.90 per cent in 2012 and 86.45 per cent in 2015, rising to 87.30 per cent in 2017 and should attain 108.7 per cent in 2030. At elementary level, there are no enrolment fees, while at middle school level the fees are capped at CFA francs 10,000 per pupil (approximately US$17). Payment may be staggered over several months and failure to pay may not result in the exclusion of the child. The Government aims to establish schools in which there is equity and equal opportunity. At elementary level, textbooks are free. The Government has taken certain initiatives, including giving out school uniforms, the availability of kits and grants for pupils, especially girls with good results from economically vulnerable homes, and from disadvantaged families regardless of academic results. Free middle and secondary school education is gradually being introduced (E/C.12/SEN/3, paragraphs 190–193). According to the voluntary national review report provided to the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, Senegal has continued the policy of the generalized availability of school canteens for children from vulnerable families in order to provide them with the conditions to remain in school. In practice, the percentage of schools with school canteens fell from 28 per cent in 2015 to 11.2 per cent in 2016, before rising again to 25 per cent in 2017. However, the Committee notes that, in its concluding observations of 18 October 2019, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights expresses concern at reports that schooling still involves indirect costs, particularly at the secondary level. It regrets the inadequacy of the provision of education and training, particularly in rural and disadvantaged areas, and that 47 per cent of school age children are reportedly outside the school system. That same Committee notes with concern the inadequacy of inclusive and quality education in public schools, to the benefit of potentially expensive private schools and Franco-Arabic and Koranic schools, which are generally free, but whose current curricula do not ensure the same level of education as in public institutions (E/C.12/SEN/CO/3, paragraph 41). Considering that education is essential to prevent children from being engaged in the worst forms of child labour, the Committee encourages the Government to pursue its efforts to increase access to education for all children, including at the secondary level, to improve the operation of the education system through measures to increase school attendance and reduce the school drop-out rates. It requests the Government to provide information on the results achieved in this respect, including statistics disaggregated by age and gender on school attendance and completion rates and school drop-out rates in primary and secondary education.

Clauses (a) and (b). Preventing children from being engaged in the worst forms of child labour. Direct assistance for the removal of children from the worst forms of child labour. Children working in traditional gold washing. The Committee previously noted that children take part in traditional gold and iron mining in the regions of Dakar, Thiès, Matam and, very particularly, in the Kédougou region. It encouraged the Government to continue its efforts to prevent children from being engaged in artisanal gold mining and to provide the necessary assistance for their removal from this worst form of child labour and to ensure their social integration. The Government indicates that the State has endeavoured to better organize this activity through the determination of artisanal gold washing corridors and by issuing artisanal gold washing cards, which are exclusively provided to nationals. It further indicates that, according to the monograph study on artisanal gold washing in Senegal, published in July 2018, the rate of the presence of children in the production chain is low, with 0.5 per cent of those engaged in the process being under 15 years of age. In order to enforce the prohibition of child labour at such sites, internal vigilance committees composed of tomboulmen responsible for ensuring safety and of public personalities have been established. Moreover, the programmes developed by formal mining enterprises in the area, through corporate social responsibility, have focused on access to basic social services in the areas in which they are established, with an important education and health component for vulnerable groups. The Committee encourages the Government to pursue its efforts to prevent children from being engaged in artisanal gold mining and to provide the necessary assistance to remove them from this worst form of child labour and ensure their social reintegration. It requests the Government to continue providing information on the impact of the measures adopted to prevent children from being engaged in artisanal gold washing.

Clause (d). Children at special risk. Child HIV/AIDS victims/orphans. In its previous comments, the Committee requested the Government to provide information on the measures adopted to ensure that child HIV/AIDS victims and orphans are not engaged in the worst forms of child labour. The Committee notes that the National Strategic Plan to Combat AIDS 2018–22 provides for partnership with development sectors for social programmes relating to orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) and the development of leadership programmes for OVCs to engage in action to combat HIV. The Committee also notes that, according to the 2018 data available on the UNAIDS web page, the number of children aged between 0 and 17 years of age orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS was estimated at 31,000. Noting that the Government has not provided any information on this subject, the Committee once again requests it to provide information on the specific measures adopted to prevent child HIV/AIDS orphans from being engaged in the worst forms of child labour and to ensure their rehabilitation and social integration, and on the results achieved.