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Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Russian Federation (RATIFICATION: 2003)

Article 7(1) of the Convention. Penalties. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that sections 240, 241 and 242.1 of the Penal Code cover offences related to using or engaging a minor in prostitution and in the production of pornographic material. It also noted the statistics on the application in practice of these provisions in 2014, available in the additional relevant information submitted by the Government in 2015 to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

The Committee notes the Government’s information in its report under the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) that, in 2018, under article 242 of the Criminal Code (illegal production and circulation of pornographic materials or items), 751 offences were registered, 480 cases were solved, and 359 perpetrators were identified; under article 242.1 of the Criminal Code (production and circulation of materials or items with pornographic images of minors), 563 offences were committed, 447 cases were solved and 224 perpetrators were identified; and under article 242.2 of the Criminal Code (use of a minor for the purposes of producing pornographic materials or items) 278 offences were identified, 214 cases were solved, and 13 perpetrators were identified. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on the application in practice of sections 240, 241 and 242.1 of the Penal Code, including the number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and the penalties applied for the use, procuring or offering of persons under 18 years of age for prostitution or pornography.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clauses (a) and (c). Preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour. Access to free basic education. The Committee previously noted that a study on child labour conducted in St Petersburg within the context of an ILO–IPEC project on street children in the St Petersburg region revealed that many of the children interviewed dropped out of school because they were working for eight to 12 hours a day. The Committee also noted that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) expressed concern about the sizeable numbers of children who do not attend school in the Russian Federation.

The Committee notes with regret the absence of information in the Government’s report on this point. According to the information of the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, the number of out-of-school children dropped from 21,682 in 2011 to 8,523 in 2017, while the number of out-of-school adolescents dropped from 184,026 in 2013 to 11,460 in 2017. However, the Committee also notes that, in its concluding observations in 2018 regarding the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children (OPSC), child prostitution and child pornography, the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) requests that the Government take measures to ensure that all children have access to education, irrespective of their parents’ legal status in the country, in order to prevent them from becoming victims of sale or labour exploitation (CRC/C/OPSC/RUS/CO/1, paragraph 20). The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that children in vulnerable and marginalized situations also have access to education, and provide information on the measures taken and results achieved in this regard, including the number of out-of-school children identified in such situation and those who have access to free basic education.

Clauses (d) and (e). Identifying and reaching out to children at special risk and taking account of the special situation of girls. The Committee previously noted that the ILO–IPEC study on child labour indicated that the numbers of children involved in prostitution in the region was between 3,000 and 6,000 (95 per cent of them girls). It also noted that the CESCR expressed its concern about the large number of children who live and work on the streets, in particular in the informal economy where they are vulnerable to abuse, including sexual abuse, and to other forms of exploitation.

The Committee notes with concern an absence of information on this point in the Government’s report. The Committee also notes that, in its concluding observations regarding the OPSC in 2018, the CRC expressed its serious concern about the insufficient efforts to identify children in need of protection among children in vulnerable and marginalized situations, such as migrant, asylum-seeking and refugee children. The CRC is also concerned that some child victims and children at risk of becoming victims of offences under the Optional Protocol are regarded as potential offenders (CRC/C/OPSC/RUS/CO/1, paragraphs 18-19). The Committee once again urges the Government to take the necessary measures to identify and protect children at special risk, particularly girls, from the worst forms of child labour. It requests the Government to provide information on specific measures taken in this regard, and on the results achieved in terms of the number of children at special risk identified, removed from worst forms of child labour and provided with appropriate assistance.

Article 8. International cooperation and assistance. The Committee previously noted the Government’s information on various measures taken to strengthen the international cooperation in relation to trafficking of persons, including within the framework of the Programme of Cooperation for 2014–18 among member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS). Combating trafficking in persons was also a priority of standing working groups in bilateral police cooperation. The Committee strongly encouraged the Government to continue its international cooperation efforts to combat and eliminate the trafficking of children, and requested the Government to provide information on specific measures taken and the results achieved in this regard.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that, on 12 August 2019, the Protocol to the Agreement on Security Cooperation in the Caspian Sea of 18 November 2010 on Cooperation in Combating Organized Crime in the Caspian Sea was signed, which sets out the obligation for relevant agencies in the Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to cooperate, including in combating offences relating to trafficking in persons, particularly women and children. A number of bilateral agreements have also been concluded to combat trafficking in persons, particular women and children, including with Argentina, Burundi, Cambodia, Greece, India, Mongolia and Namibia. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing concrete information on activities taken and results achieved regarding the elimination of child trafficking, within the abovementioned arrangements of international cooperation, including joint actions taken and cases detected.