NATIONAL STATISTICS

* For the year 2000, the ILO projects that there will be 35,000 economically active children, 16,000 girls and 18,000 boys between the ages of 10-14, representing 37.56% of this age group. (ILO, International Labour Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010, STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997)

* In 1995, there were 32,000 economically active children between the ages of 10-14, representing 39.25% of this age group. Of these, 15,000 were girls and 17,000 were boys. (ILO, International Labour Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010, STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997)

RECRUITMENT LAWS AND REGULATIONS

* The minimum age for recruitment is 18 years. (CSUCS, Africa Report, April 1999, citing UNICEF)

NOTES ON OPPOSITION GROUPS

* Neither the group led by the self-declared President Abdallah Ibrahim nor the other smaller group by the former Prime Minister Chamassi Said Oma has made a public declaration not to recruit children. In both groups, young boys between 13 and 16 years of age have been recruited. (CSUCS, Africa Report, April 1999, citing UNICEF)

NOTES ON PREVIOUS ARMED CONFLICTS

GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS

* Children, often as young as 7 years of age, typically work long hours as domestic servants in exchange for food and shelter. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)

ASSORTED NOTES

* Children generally help with the work of their families in the subsistence farming and fishing sectors. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)