Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

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

The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

Article 5 of the Convention. Monitoring mechanisms. Police and the National Unit for the Fight against Organized and Other Serious Crimes. In its previous comments, the Committee had noted that the National Unit for the Fight against Organized and Other Serious Crimes is in charge of gathering intelligence data on trafficking of human beings, including trafficking of children, and on child pornography. It had also noted that in 2004 a national police intelligence project was launched to improve the knowledge of the extent and methods of trafficking in women and children. The Committee notes the Government’s information that the National Unit for the Fight against Organized and Other Serious Crimes is currently investigating a case involving a Norwegian citizen suspected of offering children for prostitution in an Asian country. The Committee also notes the Government’s information that police intelligence projects have effectively been conducted in the field of trafficking in women and children but that, at present, it is impossible to make well-founded estimates of how many children have been or are victims of human trafficking in Norway. The Committee asks the Government to keep it informed of any progress made with regard to the activities and investigations led by the police and the National Unit for the Fight against Organized and Other Serious Crimes concerning the trafficking of children and child prostitution. It also asks the Government to supply any relevant information pertaining to the trafficking of children which was discovered through the police intelligence projects which have been conducted until now.

Article 6. Programmes of action. Plan of Action to Stop Human Trafficking. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s information that, in December 2006, the Government launched a new Plan of Action to Combat Human Trafficking for the period of 2006–09, in which particular attention is paid to the trafficking of children, as outlined in its sixth chapter “Child victims of human trafficking will be ensured appropriate follow-up”. The Plan of Action aims to pave the way for coordinated and coherent efforts to stop human trafficking and ensure that victims are helped and protected. With regard to the protection of children from trafficking, the Plan of Action proposes seven measures, including joining the experience of local and regional agencies relating to assistance for child victims of human trafficking, providing regional training courses on child victims of human trafficking and developing tools for identifying those child victims. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the results of the Plan of Action to Combat Human Trafficking 2006–09 and on any relevant impact on the elimination of the worst forms of child labour, notably the trafficking of children and child prostitution.

Article 7, paragraph 2. Effective and time-bound measures. Clauses (a) and (b). Prevent the engagement of children and provide direct assistance for the removal of children from the worst forms of child labour. Child prostitution. The Committee had previously noted that, according to the follow-up report on the commercial sexual exploitation of children published in 1999, the Government has taken concrete measures mainly aimed at preventing child sexual abuse and prostitution, and providing rehabilitation services for child victims. The Committee once again asks the Government to provide information on the impact of the measures adopted according to the follow-up report of 1999 on commercial sexual exploitation of children, with regard to the prevention of children under 18 years from being engaged in prostitution and the rehabilitation and social integration of child victims of prostitution.

Clause (d). Identifying and reaching out to children at special risk. Unaccompanied minors and children seeking asylum. The Committee notes that the Plan of Action to Combat Human Trafficking identifies unaccompanied minors, as well as those seeking asylum, as especially vulnerable to exploitation. It notes that there are state reception centres for unaccompanied minors seeking asylum in Norway, which must report to the child welfare service if they suspect human trafficking in minors. The Committee notes the UNIO’s statement that although the situation for minors in those reception centres is improving, it is still very difficult for young persons between 15 and 18 years of age. In this respect, the Committee notes that a measure to improve information on the right to protection of unaccompanied minors was taken under the Plan of Action to Combat Human Trafficking. This measure aims to improve the knowledge of reception centre employees in this regard and to improve their competencies so that they can provide better information to minors seeking asylum about their special rights and rights to protection if they are victims of human trafficking. Furthermore, the Plan of Action includes a measure to prevent and investigate cases of disappearance of minors from reception centres. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the impact of the abovementioned Plan of Action and its measures on protecting unaccompanied minors and children seeking asylum from the worst forms of child labour.

Article 8. International cooperation and assistance. The Committee had previously noted that Norway is participating actively in the important efforts to combat human trafficking under the auspices of the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe and in the Baltic Sea Task Force on organized crime under the Baltic Sea States, as well as being a member of the Task Force against Trafficking of Human Beings in the Barents Euro-Arctic region and of the Nordic Baltic Task Force against Trafficking in Human Beings.

The Committee notes the UNIO’s comments on the need to strengthen Norway’s international efforts to combat child labour. The Committee notes that, through an action plan under the auspices of the Council of Baltic Sea States, Norway has made a commitment to safeguard children and young people who cross national borders, including those who are victims of human trafficking. To that effect, a training programme has been initiated in nine countries to improve the competence of personnel and organizations working with children and young persons who have been or are in danger of being exposed to human trafficking for sexual purposes or other criminal activities which, in the long term, may help to prevent the recruitment of minors by human traffickers. The Committee also notes that, under the Plan of Action to Combat Human Trafficking, the Government plans to take an initiative for a Nordic conference on the situation of minors who are victims of human trafficking. It notes that the Plan of Action to Combat Human Trafficking includes a measure to intensify efforts for orphans and for vulnerable children in developing countries in order to protect them from being recruited to forced labour, military service or prostitution as part of the follow-up to Norway’s Development Strategy for Children and Young People in the South: Three Billion Reasons. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the concrete measures taken pursuant to the international and regional initiatives and plans of action and their impact on combating child trafficking for labour or sexual exploitation.

Part V of the report form. Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee had previously noted that, according to Norway’s first report of 2004 regarding the implementation of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, a survey on child and youth prostitutes had been carried out in 2003 in Trondheim, one of the largest cities in Norway. It had noted that this survey was due to be continued in 2004. The Committee once again asks the Government to communicate the results of the survey regarding child prostitution.

The Committee notes the Government’s new information that in the first human trafficking case brought before the Supreme Court of Norway in 2006, one of the victims was a 16-year-old girl from Albania who had been offered for prostitution. The police have also investigated other cases where children would have been victims of human trafficking. This applies to children who have come to Norway as unaccompanied minors and applied for asylum. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information and statistical data on the nature, extent and trends of the worst forms of child labour, the number of children covered by measures giving effect to the Convention, the number and nature of infringements reported, investigations, prosecutions, convictions and penalties applied.