NATIONAL STATISTICS

* For the year 2000, 67669 children between 15-19 years were economically active. (ILO, Yearbook of Labour Statistics, 2001)

* For the year 2000, the ILO projects that there will be 0 economically active children between the ages of 10-14. (ILO, International Labour Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010, STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997)

* In 1995, there were 0 economically active children between the ages of 10-14. (ILO, International Labour Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010, STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997)

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* No cases of forced or bonded child labour is recorded. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

NATIONAL STATISTICS

* Nearly 2,000 unaccompanied minors requested asylum in 1999, most from the former Yugoslavia and central Africa. Because of the difficulties involved in travelling to Belgium from those areas, the International Organisation for Migration believes that many of these unaccompanied minors were brought in by traffickers or assisted by professional smugglers. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001 citing statistics compiled by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees)

* Child Focus, the government-sponsored centre for missing and exploited children, reported that it handled 1,503 cases in 1999 and 722 cases in the first 4 months of 2000. Nearly 12% of the cases reported from January to April involved sexual exploitation. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001, citing Child Focus)

* 45 children from 26 countries were trafficked during 1998. The highest number of children, i.e. 8, were from Macedonia. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

ADULT STATISTICS

* There are 28,000 prostitutes in Belgium, about half come from abroad, mainly Western Europe. (CATW Fact Book, citing Belgium police estimates, "The Growing Exploitation of Migrant Women from Central and Eastern Europe", IOM, May 1995)

* There are 2,000 foreign prostitutes in Belgium from developing countries and the Central and Eastern European Countries. (CATW Fact Book, citing Belgium police estimates, "The Growing Exploitation of Migrant Women from Central and Eastern Europe", IOM, May 1995)

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* A Dutch study by Terre des Hommes indicates that many children are trafficked into the Netherlands for purposes of abuse through prostitution. Many of these children, mostly girls, come from Africa. They are sold again to Belgium and other European countries where they are forced to provide sex. (ECPAT International, A Step Forward, 1999)

* Prostitution trade networks provide Colombian women for the markets in Spain, Britain, Germany, Belgium and the United States. (CATW Fact Book, citing Gustavo Capdevila, IPS, 2 April 1997, citing Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Special Report on Violence Against Women)

* In addition to child prostitution, in 1996 a murderous paedophile/child pornography group was uncovered. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)

GENERAL JUVENILE CRIME STATISTICS

* 3.6% of total prisoners are juveniles. (UNDP, Human Development Report, 1999)

* Voluntary recruitment is possible from 16 years of age. (CSUCS, Europe Report, October 1999, citing a telephone conversation, dated 8 September 1999.)

* The minimum age for conscription is 18 years. (Guy Goodwin-Gill and Ilene Cohn, Child Soldiers, The Role of Children in Armed Conflicts, A Study on Behalf of the Henry Dunant Institute, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1994)

NOTES ON GOVERNMENT FORCES

* There are indications of under-18s in government armed forces as certain ranks may enlist voluntarily from the age of 16. (CSUCS, Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001, 12 June 2001)

NOTES ON FOREIGN OPPOSITION GROUPS

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