Fighting Child Labour :National Action Plan 2019-2021 extended to 1 year

First Lady Dominique Ouattara chaired a meeting on the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) 2019-2021 to fight against trafficking, exploitation and child labour on Thursday, October 21, 2021.

The meeting, which took place at the Office of the First Lady, witnessed the participation of Mr. Adama Kamara, Minister of Employment and Social Protection, and President of the Inter-ministerial Committee for the Fight against Trafficking, Exploitation and Child Labor (CIM), Mrs. Nassénéba Touré, Minister for Women, Children and Family, and Vice-President of the CIM, as well as all stakeholders involved in fighting child labour.

The meeting focussed on evaluating the level of implementation of the NAP 2019-2021 and defined new priorities and perspectives.

At the end of the meeting the different stakeholders unanimously decided to extend the National Action Plan for one year.

The NPA which was  launched on June 25, 2019 and scheduled to last 2 years  is now expected to end in June 2022.

But long before that, Mrs. Dominique Ouattara, President of the National Monitoring Committee for Actions to Combat Trafficking, Exploitation and Child Labor (CNS) explained that the COVID-19 pandemic had prevented the holding of a meeting on the assessment  of the NAP 2019-2021. According to the wife of the Head of State the health crisis could have impacted the implementation of the National Action Plan. "As you know, our country, like all other countries in the world, is facing a serious health crisis caused by the coronavirus disease. This exceptional situation has not allowed us to hold regular meetings to monitor the implementation of the National Action Plan 2019-2021. Anything that could make us run the risk of a loss of synergy and synchronization of our actions, detrimental to the successful achievement of our objectives, "said Ms. Dominique Ouattara.  The President of the CNS urged the stakeholders to continue to make every effort to achieve the objectives.

Mrs. Yao Patricia Sylvie, Executive Secretary of the CNS, made a presentation on the efforts of stakeholders to address child labour in the country.

The meeting ended with a discussion.