At the level of the Ministry responsible for the Family, Women and Children, there is a National Committee on the fight against violence perpetrated against women and children. The protection policy initiated by the Government ensured the conviction of several persons by the courts for engaging in excision. 3- Protection of the Rights of the Child (Article 18, Paragraph 3 of the Charter) Article 6 of the constitution provides that the State shall ensure the protection of children. In this regard, Cote d’Ivoire has ratified the main International Legal Instruments relating to the protection and promotion of the Rights of the Child. In addition, a ministry has been devoted to them: the Ministry for the Solidarity of the Family, Women and Children. Besides, two Committees have been set up by decree to fight against the trade, exploitation and labour of children. These are: - Interministerial Committee on the fight against the trade, exploitation and labour of children (CIM), and - National Committee for the Monitoring of Activities in the fight against the trade, exploitation and labour of children (CNS); Thus, the formulation and adoption of the 2012-2014 National Plan of Action for the fight against child labour led to satisfactory results, a few of which should be presented here: - prevention of the phenomenon – the strengthening of the legal and regulatory framework through the adoption of several enactments, including the one prohibiting the worst forms of child labour in Cote d’Ivoire. This enactment enabled the arrest and conviction of several child traffickers to terms of imprisonment; - deepening of sub-regional cooperation through the signing of two cooperation agreements: one with Mali, and the other with Burkina Faso. These agreements ensure that there is a permanent formal consultation and cooperation framework for the fight against crossborder trade in children; - community campaigns have been initiated to stimulate national awareness for the people to buy into the national effort in the fight against the worst forms of child labour. In this regard, cocoa farmers have been sensitized on the dangerous tasks children must not be made to perform and the prohibition of the use of child labour on their plantations, and - activities of the government to promote and protect the rights of the child. * At the Legal Level The national legal framework first entails the conversion by decree of the Child Protection Department into a Central Administrative Department of the Ministry of Solidarity, the Family and the Child. Also attached to this Department are the Technical Secretariat of the National Committee on the Fight against the Trade and Exploitation of Children, the Implementation Unit of the Programme for the Protection of Vulnerable Children and Adolescents and the National Child Protection Coordination Unit. There is also a legal child protection mechanism: This is the Department for the Legal Protection of the Child and the Youth (DPJEJ) at the Ministry of Justice, Human Rights and Public Freedoms. The international legal arsenal for the protection of the rights of the child ratified by Cote d’Ivoire makes mention of its awareness of and commitment to this category of rights. These are as follows: - Convention on the Rights of the Child; - ILO Convention (No. 182) on the prohibition of the worst forms of child labour and immediate action to ensure their eradication; 44