US embassy cable - 05PARIS5719

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