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Effective abolition of child labour:
Conventions Nos. 138 and 182
International labour standards
have for 80 years been at the forefront of the fight against
child labour. The Convention with the broadest scope has been
found to be Fundamental.
The ILO adopted its first Convention on child labour
in 1919, the year of its foundation. Since then, nine sectoral
Conventions on the minimum age of admission to employment were
adopted. Two ILO Conventions on child labour are Fundamental
Minimum
Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138)
The States that ratify this Convention undertake
to pursue a national policy designed to ensure the effective abolition
of child labour and to raise progressively the minimum age for
admission to employment or work to a level consistent with the
fullest physical and mental development of young persons. One
of the principal means to be taken for this purpose is the prohibition
of employment or work for children under the duly fixed minimum
age.
The Convention sets a number of minimum ages depending
on the type of employment or work. The first principle is that
the minimum age should not be less than the age for completing
compulsory schooling and in no event less than age 15. For countries
whose economic and educational facilities are insufficiently developed,
the age can be set initially at 14.
The second principle is that a higher minimum age
should be set for hazardous work. This age may not be less than
18. The Convention provides that the types of employment or work
deemed to be hazardous shall be determined by national laws or
regulations or by the competent authority, leaving it to the individual
countries to determine the content of these activities.
Finally, in the case of light work, the minimum
age can be set at 13 years, or 12 years where the economy and
educational facilities are insufficiently developed.
The Convention is supplemented by Recommendation
No. 146.
Convention No. 138 was not intended as a static
instrument prescribing a fixed minimum standard but as a dynamic
one aimed at encouraging the progressive improvement of standards
and of promoting sustained action to attain the objectives. The
number of ratifications of this Convention has been growing since
the beginning in May 1995 of the Director-General's initiative
to achieve universal ratification of the ILO's fundamental Conventions,
although it is still fewer than other fundamental Conventions.
Worst
forms of child labour
The ILO member States took a decisive step towards
liberating scores of millions of children from slavery and debt
bondage, prostitution and pornography, dangerous work and forcible
recruitment for armed conflict with the unanimous adoption of
the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention,
1999 (No. 182).
The Convention applies to all persons under the
age of 18 and calls for "immediate and effective measures to secure
the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour
as a matter of urgency." It defines the worst forms of child labour
as:
- all forms of slavery or practices similar to
slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt
bondage, serfdom and forced or compulsory labour;
- forced or compulsory recruitment of children
for use in armed conflict;
- use of a child for prostitution, production
of pornography or pornographic performances;
- use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit
activities, in particular for the production and trafficking
of drugs; and,
- work which is likely to harm the health, safety
or morals of children.
The Convention requires ratifying States to
"design and implement programmes of action" to eliminate the worst
forms of child labour as a priority and "establish or designate
appropriate mechanisms" for monitoring implementation of the Convention,
in consultation with employers' and workers' organizations. It also
says ratifying States should "provide support for the removal of
children form the worst forms of child labour and their rehabilitation;
ensure access to free basic education or vocational training for
all children removed from the worst forms of child labour; identify
children at special risk; and take into account the special situation
of girls."
An accompanying Recommendation defines "hazardous
work" as "work which exposes children to physical, psychological
or sexual abuse; work underground, under water, at dangerous heights
or in confined spaces; work with dangerous machinery or tools,
or which involves heavy loads; work in unhealthy environments
which may expose children to hazardous substances, temperatures,
noise or vibrations; and work under particularly difficult conditions
such as long hours, during the night or where a child is confined
to the premises of the employers." The Recommendation urges ratifying
States to declare the worst forms of child labour criminal offences
and impose penal sanctions on those who would perpetrate them.
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