Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1994, published 81st ILC session (1994)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Dominica (Ratification: 1983)

The Committee takes note of the Compulsory School Attendance Order and the Roseau Compulsory School Attendance Area Order, 1965, which were supplied with the Government's last report.

With reference to its observation, the Committee sees itself obliged to come back to the following matters raised in its previous direct requests:

Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention. The Committee noted that under section 3 of the Employment of Children Prohibition Ordinance, the minimum age of admission to employment was 12 years and under sections 4, subsections 1 and 5 of the Employment of Women, Young Persons and Children Ordinance that age is 14 years. The Government, however, specified a minimum age of 15 years when it ratified the Convention. It hoped that the Government would indicate the measures taken or envisaged in order to raise the statutory minimum age to 15 years, in accordance with this provision of the Convention.

2. The Committee noted that the statutory provisions on minimum age applied only to persons employed under an employment relationship or under a contract of employment, whereas the Convention also covered work performed outside any employment relationship, including work performed by young persons on their own account. The Committee hoped that the Government would indicate the measures taken or envisaged to give full effect to the Convention on this point.

Article 3. The Committee noted that no higher minimum age has been fixed for work which is likely to jeopardize the health, safety or morals of young people, other than night work. It hoped that the Government would indicate the measures taken or contemplated to set such higher minimum age(s) in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article 3 of the Convention and to determine the types of employment or work to which higher minimum age(s) should apply, in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article.

Article 7. The Committee noted that section 3 of the Employment of Children Prohibition Ordinance allowed the employment of children (i.e. persons under the age of 12 years) in domestic work or agricultural work of a light nature at home by the parents or guardian of such children and the employment of children under the age of 14 years in an undertaking or on a ship where only members of the same family are employed (section 4, subsection 1 and section 5 of the Employment of Women, Young Persons and Children Ordinance). The Committee recalled that under this Article of the Convention, national laws or regulations may permit the employment or work of persons 13 to 15 years of age on light work which is (a) not likely to be harmful to their health or development; and (b) not such as to prejudice their attendance at school, their participation in vocational orientation or training programmes approved by the competent authority or their capacity to benefit from the instruction received and that the activities involved and the conditions of work and employment shall be determined by the competent authority. It hoped that the Government would indicate, in its next report, the measures taken or envisaged to restrict in accordance with this provision the possibility to employ children below the minimum age specified, and to determine the activities and conditions of their employment or work.

Article 9, paragraph 3. The Committee noted that section 8, subsection 1, of the Employment of Women, Young Persons and Children Ordinance provided for the keeping of registers or lists of young persons of less than 16 years of age, whereas the Convention describes the keeping of such registers of persons of less than 18 years of age. It hoped that the Government would indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure the application of the Convention on this point. It also requested the Government to communicate a sample copy of the register to be kept.