Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

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

Articles 3(a) and 7(1) of the Convention. All forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery. 1. Compulsory recruitment of children in armed conflict.  Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes the absence of information in the Government’s report concerning the compulsory recruitment of children in armed conflict.

In this regard, the Committee notes the information in the Global Protection Cluster Annual Report 2021, regarding an increase in child trafficking, forced labour and compulsory recruitment by armed groups in Mali, as a result of the conflict, insecurity, the COVID-19 pandemic and the deterioration in socio-economic conditions. The report indicates that armed groups also engage in trafficking children for gold panning and that other children are forced to fight within armed groups. They are victims of trafficking in persons, rape, sale and domestic or sexual slavery.

The Committee also notes in the November 2020 Report of the United Nations Secretary-General, on children and armed conflict in Mali (S/2020/1105, paragraph 16), that for the first time since 2014, boys were associated with the Malian armed forces in the Gao region. A total of 24 boys in 2019 and 21 boys in 2020, between the ages of 9 and 16, were used as domestic workers and couriers. However, they were released to their families in 2020 and have been receiving reintegration support.

The Committee once again deplores the recruitment and use of children in the armed conflict affecting the north of the country, especially since the persistence of this worst form of child labour entails other grave violations of the rights of children. While acknowledging the complexity of the situation prevailing on the ground and the presence of armed groups and armed conflict in certain regions of the country, the Committee once again requests the Government to take the necessary measures, as a matter of urgency, to bring an end, in practice, to the forced recruitment of children under 18 years of age by the parties to the conflict. It also requests the Government to implement the process of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of all children associated with the armed forces or armed groups in order to ensure their rehabilitation and social integration. Lastly, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that persons forcefully recruiting children under 18 years of age for their use in armed conflict are prosecuted and penalized, and to provide information in this regard.

2. Forced or compulsory labour. Begging. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s information that, between 2019 and 2022, 11 Koranic teachers (marabouts) were brought before the courts for forced begging affecting 109 children. The Government states that the cases are pending before the examining judges of the Court of First Instance of Commune III of Bamako. The Committee requests the Government to continue to take the necessary measures to ensure that thorough investigations and prosecutions are carried out and that sufficiently effective and dissuasive sanctions are imposed upon marabouts who use children under 18 years of age for purely economic purposes. It requests the Government to provide information on the results achieved in this regard, including the number of convictions and the penalties imposed.

Clause (b). Use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution.  The Committee previously noted the significant number of child victims of commercial sexual exploitation in the country. The Committee notes with regret that the Government has not noted any cases of prosecutions or convictions relating to the use, procuring or offering of children under 18 years of age for prostitution.

In this regard, the Committee notes the report of the United Nations Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Mali in the Human Rights Council of 15 January 2020, (A/HRC/43/76 paragraph 55) that, during its universal periodic review in January 2018, Mali agreed to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The Committee once again urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure the effective implementation of the provisions of Act No. 2012-023 on the use, procuring or offering of a child under 18 years of age for prostitution. It also requests the Government to provide information in this regard, including statistics on the convictions and criminal penalties handed down.

Articles 3(d) and 7(2). Hazardous work and effective and time-bound measures. Children working in traditional gold panning. In its previous comments, the Committee notes that there are a significant number of children working in hazardous conditions in gold mines, some of whom are not even 5 years old.

The Committee notes from the report of the National Unit against Child Labour (CLNTE), annexed to the Government’s report, that a total of 52 girl and 20 boy victims of the worst forms of labour were identified through the monitoring of three gold panning sites in 2021.

The Committee also notes the total number of 205 girls and 232 boys who have benefited from the project against child labour in the cotton production and gold panning value chains through the accelerated schooling strategy (SSA/P), and the results of the Clear Cotton project, both conducted in cooperation with the ILO Office.

However, the Committee notes the Government’s indications that the National Plan of Action for the Elimination of Child Labour in Mali (PANETEM I) has not received adequate funding owing to the political and security crisis in the country, but that PANETEM II, which will cover the period 2023 to 2027, is in the process of being approved. The Committee requests the Government to continue its efforts, under PANETEM II, the Clear Cotton project and the SSA/P,in order to remove children from the worst forms of child labour in traditional gold panning and cotton production, with a view to ensuring their rehabilitation and social integration. It requests the Government to continue to provide information on the progress achieved and results obtained in this regard.

Article 7(2)(a). Access to free basic education. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes the information in the Government’s report that the results of the implementation of the ten-year programme for the development of second-generation vocational training and education 2019-2028 (PRODEC II) will be available at the end of 2022. The Government emphasizes in PRODOC II that the children who are out of school come mainly from rural areas and are relatively higher in number in the regions of Mopti (60.4 per cent), Ségou (52.3 per cent), Sikasso (43.7 per cent) and Kayes (45.3 per cent).

The Committee notes the statistics of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, according to which in 2018, a total of 2,061,713 children and adolescents of primary and lower secondary school age were not in school. In this respect, the Committee notes from the quarterly report of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali on trends in human rights violations and abuses in Mali from 1 April to 30 June 2022, that a total of 1,731 schools are not operational (affecting 519,300 children) due to insecurity, particularly in the Mopti and Ménaka regions.

The Committee once again expresses its concern at the large number of children deprived of education due to the armed conflict affecting northern Mali. The Committee urges the Government to step up its efforts to improve the functioning of the education system and to provide access to free basic education, by increasing school enrolment rates, both at the primary and secondary levels, and by reducing the drop-out rates in all regions of the country.In this regard, it requests the Government to provide information on the progress achieved and the results obtained through the implementation of PRODEC II 2019-2028.

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