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Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Tajikistan (RATIFICATION: 1993)

Article 2(1) of the Convention. 1. Minimum age for admission to employment or work. The Committee previously noted that, at the time of ratification, Tajikistan specified a minimum age of 16 years for admission to employment or work. The Committee, however, noted that while section 180 of the Labour Code of 1973 establishes a minimum age of 16 years, section 174 of the Labour Code of 15 May 1997 only prohibits the employment of persons under the age of 15 years. Recalling that by virtue of Article 2(1) of the Convention, no one under the minimum age for admission to employment or work, specified upon ratification of the Convention (16 years), shall be admitted to employment or work in any occupation except for light work as authorized under Article 7 of the Convention, the Committee urged the Government to take the necessary measures to bring the national legislation into conformity with the Convention.

The Committee notes that a new Labour Code was adopted in July 2016. It notes with regret that, despite its reiterated comments for many years, Chapter 13, section 174 of the new Labour Code prohibits the employment of children under 15 years, which is lower than the minimum age of 16 years specified by the Government at the time of ratification. The Committee emphasizes that the objective of the Convention is to eliminate child labour and that it allows and encourages the raising of the minimum age but does not permit the lowering of the minimum age once specified. The Committee therefore strongly urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that section 174 of the Labour Code of 2016 is amended in order to align this age to the one specified at the time of ratification, namely a minimum age of 16 years, and bring it into conformity with the provisions of the Convention. It requests that the Government provide information on any progress made in this regard.

2. Scope of application. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that the Labour Code does not seem to apply to work done outside employment contracts. It requested that the Government provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that children working outside of a formal labour relationship, such as children working in the informal sector or on a self-employed basis, benefit from the protection provided by the Convention.

The Committee notes the Government’s information in its report that the State Supervisory Service for Labour, Migration and Employment under the Ministry of Labour supervises and monitors compliance with labour legislation. The activities of the State Supervisory Service include monitoring of child labour in the formal and informal economy as well as children working on a self-employed basis. However, no information has been provided on the number of inspections carried out and the number of violations related to child labour detected by the State Supervisory Services in the informal economy. In this regard, the Committee notes from a report entitled ILO–IPEC contributions to eliminate the worst forms of child labour in Tajikistan, 2005–15 (ILO–IPEC Report, 2015) that children in Tajikistan work in almost all sectors of industry, as well as in cotton, tobacco and rice plantations and in various services such as car washing, shoe cleaning and transportation of carriages in the markets. The Committee therefore requests that the Government take the necessary measures to strengthen the capacity and expand the reach of the State Supervisory Services so as to ensure appropriate monitoring of child labour in the informal economy and to guarantee the protection afforded by the Convention to children under the age of 16 years who are working in the informal economy. It also requests that the Government provide information on the number of inspections conducted by the State Supervisory Service in the informal economy as well as the number of violations detected with regard to the employment of children in this sector.

Application of the Convention in practice. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes from the Working children in the Republic of Tajikistan: The results of the child labour survey 2012-2013 (CLS report), issued on 17 February 2016, conducted in cooperation with ILO–IPEC, that of the 2.2 million children aged between 5 to 17 years in Tajikistan, 522,000 (26.9 per cent) are working, with an employment prevalence rate of 10.7 per cent among 5 to 11 year-olds and 30.2 per cent among 12 to 14 year olds. About 82.8 per cent of working children are employed in the agricultural sector, 4.4 per cent in wholesale and retail trade, and 3 per cent in manufacturing and construction. Of the total number of working children, 21.7 per cent are involved in hazardous work, including in agriculture, fishery and related works, forestry and related works, construction and street work. The CLS report also indicates that children more often combine schooling with unpaid household services and employment. However, the Committee also notes that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in its concluding observations of March 2015, expressed concern at the large number of children, mostly from single-parent families and migrant worker families, who are involved in child labour, and that 13 per cent of them are working in dangerous conditions, while 10 per cent never attend school (E/C.12/TJK/CO/2-3, paragraph 24). The Committee must express its concern at the significant number of children working in the country, particularly in hazardous work. The Committee therefore strongly encourages the Government to strengthen its efforts to ensure the progressive elimination of child labour in the country. It requests that the Government provide information on the measures taken in this regard as well as the manner in which the Convention is applied in practice, including information on the number and nature of contraventions detected with regard to the employment of children below the minimum age as well as in hazardous work, and on the penalties applied.

Noting the Government’s intention to seek assistance from the ILO, the Committee encourages the Government to take the necessary measures to avail itself of ILO technical assistance, with a view to bringing its law and practice into conformity with the Convention.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.