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Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Ethiopia (RATIFICATION: 1999)

Article 1 of the Convention. National policy and application of the Convention in practice. The Committee previously noted that according to the 2015 Child Labour Survey results, the number of children aged 5–13 years engaged in child labour was estimated to be 13,139,991 with 41.7 per cent aged between 5 and 11 years.

In response to its previous comments concerning the measures undertaken for the elimination of child labour, the Committee notes the Government’s information in its report that several policies and action plans for the elimination of child labour are in place notably, the National Social Protection Policy, the Education and Training Policy, the National Occupational Safety and Health Policy and the newly endorsed National Action Plan on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (NAP-WFCL) 2021-2022. The Government indicates that the Tripartite Steering Committee undertook the evaluation of the 2019-2020 national action plan implementation report and identified critical challenges and crafted remedial measures. In addition, a national Tripartite plus Steering Committee comprising the Federal Government agencies, employers’ and workers’ organizations and civic societies have been established to execute, follow-up, monitor and evaluate the NAP 2021-22.

The Committee further notes from the Government’s report under the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) that a number of projects are being implemented in collaboration with CARE-Ethiopia, the Freedom Fund, the ILO-Ethiopia Office, the Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions (CETU), and GIZ (German Agency for International Cooperation for sustainable development) with the objective of preventing and reducing the prevalence of child labour in Ethiopia.

The Committee however notes from the UNICEF Policy Brief 2020: Child labour and the Youth Market in Ethiopia that despite several initiatives taken by the Government and civil society to combat child labour, the incidence of the phenomenon remains high in Ethiopia with approximately 43 per cent of children aged 5–17 engaged in child labour. The Committee further notes from the UNICEF report entitled A Review of Child Sensitivity in Social Policies in Ethiopia, December 2021 that a recent study on child poverty in Ethiopia estimates that 36 million of its 41 million children are multidimensionally poor. The impact of a rise in poverty and extreme poverty, coupled with social norms that normalize child labour to some extent, make households far more likely to resort to child labour to cope with job losses associated with COVID-19. While noting the measures taken by the Government, the Committee expresses its concern at the significant number of children who are involved in and are at risk of being involved in child labour. The Committee therefore urges the Government to intensify its efforts to address the situation of children engaged in child labour, and to ensure the progressive elimination of child labour. It requests the Government to provide specific information on the concrete measures taken in this regard, including within the framework of the NAP 2021-22 and the results achieved.

Article 2(1). Scope of application and labour inspection. The Committee had previously noted that 89.4 per cent of the children engaged in child labour worked in the agricultural, forestry and fishing sectors and in wholesale and retail trade sector and the majority of children performing economic activities were working as unpaid family workers (95.6 per cent).

The Committee notes that the new Labour Law Proclamation No. 1156 of 2019, which prohibits the employment of children under 15 years, applies only to employment relations based on a contract of employment that exists between a worker and an employer (section 3). The Committee notes the Government’s information that in order to monitor child labour in the informal economy, the newly structured labour administration body of the Ministry of Labour and Skills has developed a new strategy to complement the labour advisory services of the labour inspection system. Accordingly, MOU’s were signed with key Ministries including the Ministry of Health and Agriculture which has access to all households in the informal sector and uses its extension worker service to create public awareness and to detect and inform cases of child labour to the law enforcement bodies. The Government also indicates that a complaint handling mechanism has been established for filing and responding to complaints about child labour. The labour inspection service closely works with the community police, trade unions, community-based organization, women’s associations, and non-governmental organizations to receive complaints and information related to child labour and exploitation. In addition, the labour inspection services have been enhanced by increasing the number of labour inspectors from 441 in 2019 to 637 in 2021 and their annual labour inspection visits raised from 39,000 in 2019 to 43,000 in 2021. Newly assigned labour inspectors were provided training on conducting inspections, particularly of child labour. Moreover, in coordination with the ILO Decent Work Country Programme, eight motor bikes and nine digital monitoring equipments were distributed to labour inspectors in six regions based on their activity. The Government indicates in its report under Convention No. 182 that in 2020 a total of 58,006 workplace inspections were carried out including inspections of child labour in enterprises. Investigation reports on 13,981 visited establishments notified that the minimum age for admission to employment (15 years) should be respected and strict screening mechanisms to determine the age of applicant need to be followed. The Committee requests the Government to continue to strengthen the functioning of the labour inspection system to enable it to effectively monitor and detect cases of child labour, including children working on their own account as well as in agriculture and the informal economy and to provide information on the measures taken in this regard. The Committee also requests the Government to provide statistical information on the number and nature of violations of child labour detected through the new strategy developed within the labour advisory services of the labour inspection system as well as the number of complaints related to child labour and exploitation received and handled by the Complaints Handling Mechanism within the labour inspection service.

Article 2(2). Raising the minimum age for admission to employment or work. The Committee previously noted the Government’s indication that the revised Labour Law raises the minimum working age limit of young persons from 14 to 15 years. The Committee accordingly notes with satisfaction that section 89(2) of the Labour Proclamation No. 1156 of 2019 prohibits the employment of persons under 15 years of age. The Committee once again requests the Government to consider the possibility of sending a new declaration under Article 2(2) of the Convention thereby notifying the Director-General of the ILO that it has raised the minimum age that it had previously specified.

Article 2(3). Age of completion of compulsory schooling. With regard to its previous comments, concerning making education compulsory up to the minimum age of admission to employment, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that it is currently engaged in drafting legislation and conducting public discussions on making primary education compulsory. The Committee also notes the Government’s information that the Education Policy provides for free primary education and that the Government is committed to achieving universal and quality primary education for all school age children through various programmes, including the school feeding programme, provision of uniform and other educational materials for children, mobile schooling for children from pastoralist areas, and the expansion of school facilities and advocacy works. Recalling that compulsory education is one of the most effective means of combating child labour, the Committee expresses the firm hope that the Government will take the necessary measures to make education compulsory up to the minimum age for admission to employment or work in accordance with Article 2(3) of the Convention.

Article 3. Determination of hazardous work. The Committee notes that the Government has not provided any information as requested by the Committee in its previous comments but indicates that the data will be collected from the regional and city labour inspection offices.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that a new Directive No. 813/2021, restating the hazardous activities prohibited to young workers, has been issued in order to protect young workers from serious occupational injuries or damage to their health in the course of their work and that the federal and regional labour inspection service is currently enforcing this directive across the country. The Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of Directive No. 813 of 2021 and to provideinformation on its application in practice, indicating the number and nature of violations detected and penalties imposed.