Children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) engage in the worst forms of child labor, including in the forced mining of gold, tin ore (cassiterite), tantalum ore (coltan), and tungsten ore (wolframite), and are used in armed conflict, sometimes as a result of forcible recruitment or abduction by non-state armed groups. (1-7) Table 1 provides key indicators on children's work and education in the DRC. Data on some of these indicators are not available from the sources used in this report.

Table 1. Statistics on Children's Work and Education Children Age Percent Working (% and population) 5 to 14 35.8 (unavailable) Attending School (%) 5 to 14 77.3 Combining Work and School (%) 7 to 14 37.1 Primary Completion Rate (%) 70.0

Source for primary completion rate: Data from 2015, published by UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2019. (8)

Source for all other data: International Labor Organization's analysis of statistics from Demographic and Health Survey, 2013–2014. (9)

Based on a review of available information, Table 2 provides an overview of children's work by sector and activity.

Table 2. Overview of Children's Work by Sector and Activity Sector/Industry Activity Agriculture Farming, including tilling fields, planting seeds, watering crops, carrying heavy loads,† weeding, harvesting crops, and use of chemical products and machetes in the production of beans, corn, manioc, rice, and sweet potatoes (10-14) Fishing, including maintaining fishing tools, baiting hooks, transporting heavy loads, using explosives, and salting, smoking, and packaging fish (10-12,14) Herding and raising livestock such as chickens, goats, and pigs, including feeding, cleaning cages or stalls, and disposing of waste (11,12,15) Hunting (10,15) Industry Mining,† including carrying heavy loads,† digging, sifting, sorting, transporting, using explosives, washing, and working underground† in the production of diamonds, copper, cobalt ore (heterogenite), gold, tin ore (cassiterite), tantalum ore (coltan), and tungsten ore (wolframite) (1,4,5,10,13,14,16-19) Working as auto mechanics and in carpentry and craft workshops (10) Working on construction sites and building roads (10) Services Domestic work (10,13,14) Driving motorcycle taxis (14) Street work, including vending, garbage scavenging, and carrying heavy loads (10,11,14) Categorical Worst Forms of Child Labor‡ Forced mining of gold, tantalum (coltan), tin (cassiterite), and tungsten (wolframite), each sometimes as a result of debt bondage (3-5) Forced domestic work and commercial sexual exploitation, each sometimes as a result of human trafficking (3,4,10,18,20-23) Use in illicit activities, including for spying, carrying stolen goods, and smuggling minerals (3,20,24,25) Forced recruitment of children by non-state armed groups for use in armed conflict, including as checkpoint monitors, combatants, concubines, domestic workers, field hands, human shields, looters, porters, spies, and tax collectors at mining sites (3,6,7)

† Determined by national law or regulation as hazardous and, as such, relevant to Article 3(d) of ILO C. 182.

‡ Child labor understood as the worst forms of child labor per se under Article 3(a)–(c) of ILO C. 182.

International organizations estimate that there are between 125 and 150 indigenous and foreign non-state armed groups operating within the DRC. (3,27) Some of these armed groups—including Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR), Mayi Mayi Mazembe, Kamuina Nsapu Mayi Mayi groups, Nduma Défense du Congo (NDC/Renove), Nyatura, and Rayia Mutomboki—continued to abduct and recruit children for use in armed conflict. (6,7,26) UNICEF and other international organizations estimate that between 40 and 70 percent of the militias in central DRC include children, some as young as age 5. (25) Roughly half of all children separated from armed groups were under the age of 15. (26) Limited research indicates that some members of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) may have collaborated with non-state armed groups known for recruiting children, including coordinating operations or selling arms and munitions. (3,6,27-29) Although there is strong evidence of children engaged in armed conflict, commercial sexual exploitation, and forced labor in mining, there is a lack of information on the overall nature of child labor because a comprehensive, stand-alone, child labor survey has never been conducted in the DRC. (12)

The government has mandated free primary education, but these laws were not implemented throughout the country, and some families are required to pay for school uniforms, tuition, and additional fees, which may be prohibitive. (1,10,12,16,19,23,30-32) Children may sometimes join armed groups or engage in child labor in artisanal mines hoping to earn money for school-related expenses. (1,4,16,17,25,30-32) Schools throughout the DRC are overcrowded, understaffed, structurally damaged by conflicts, occupied by internally displaced persons, or require students to travel long distances. (1,2,23,25,33-35) Children and teachers also face difficulty in accessing education due to their large-scale internal displacement and fear of violence, being forcibly recruited, or sexually assaulted at or on their way to school. (23,25,33-37) Non-state armed groups attacked 89 schools between January and September 2018, and FARDC attacked 3 schools. (26) Furthermore, an Ebola outbreak in northeastern DRC impacted some students' access to education as families fled the affected areas or others kept their children at home for fear of transmission at school. Additionally, frequent teacher strikes occurred as a result of irregular payment of teacher salaries. (14,38)

UNICEF estimates that only 14 percent of children under age 5 have birth certificates. (39) Low rates of birth registration leave many children vulnerable to child labor because it makes age verification difficult during the FARDC recruitment campaigns and hinders efforts to identify and separate children associated with armed groups. (4,11,35)