Cablegate: Update for Worst Forms of Child Labor Mandatory

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

250727Z Aug 05

UNCLAS PARIS 005719

SIPDIS

DEPT ALSO FOR DRL/IL LAUREN HOLT AND EUR/WE AND EAP/ANP
DEPT OF LABOR FOR ILAB TINA MCCARTER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB FR PGOV
SUBJECT: UPDATE FOR WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR MANDATORY
REPORTING REQUIREMENT

REF: STATE 143552

1. Per reftel para 10, post presents the following update to
the annual Worst Forms of Child Labor report mandated by the
Trade Development Act of 2000.

2. Post raised child labor issues with Gerald Delafosse,
Legal Counselor at France's Overseas Ministry, which
administers France's overseas territories. France's overseas
territories, which include New Caledonia and French
Polynesia, are the areas under French jurisdiction where
economic and social conditions are such that child labor
might be a problem. Mr. Delafosse shared our concerns about
the worst forms of child labor, while noting that the
Overseas Ministry kept no statistics on instances of child
labor and had received no information on any instances that
might be considered worst forms of child labor. Delafosse
also noted that forced or bonded labor in all its forms
(including slavery) has been outlawed in France for almost
two hundred years. He said that legislation prohibiting
child labor is enforced effectively in France through
periodic checks by labor inspectors, who have the authority
to take employers to court for noncompliance with the law.
He underlined that free public schooling is provided in
Metropolitan France and in its Overseas Departments (which
are not the same as the Overseas Territories) through the age
of 18 and that education is compulsory between the ages of 6
and 16.

3. French law prohibits the employment of minors under 16
years of age, with exceptions for those enrolled in certain
apprenticeship programs or working in the entertainment and
agricultural industries. Children aged 15 years in other
industries may by granted an exemption in certain hardship
cases by the competent government officials. Light work
during the summer vacation period is allowed for children
aged 14 and older, but is subject to the approval and
inspection of local government officials. Work for children
below the age of 14 is prohibited, except in certain hardship
cases which must be approved by the competent government
officials. This legislation on child labor applies to all
French overseas departments and certain overseas territories
including Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna, and
Mayotte. However, in Overseas Territories of French
Polynesia and New Caledonia, child labor laws are the
exclusive domain of the semiautonomous, territorial
governments.

4. The government in New Caledonia was granted full authority
over its labor laws on January 1, 2000. The government in
French Polynesia assumed full authority for its labor laws on
March 2, 2004. However, apart from minor differences in the
labor code resulting from local conditions, the same legal
strictures against child labor that apply in France also
apply in France's overseas territories. In general, in
France, as in its overseas territories, children may not be
admitted to the work force, or to apprentice programs, until
they have completed their "scholastic obligation" which ends
at 16 years of age. In general, these laws are well enforced.
Hofmann

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