Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Minimum Age (Industry) Convention (Revised), 1937 (No. 59) - Paraguay (Ratification: 1966)

Article 2(2) of the Convention. Minimum age for admission to employment in industrial undertakings. In its previous comments, the Committee pointed out the need to amend section 120 of the Labour Code, which allows children aged between 12 and 15 years to work in undertakings in which those employed are “preferably” members of the employer’s family. It stressed that this provision is broader than the exception established in Article 2(2) of the Convention, which allows children under 15 years of age to be employed in undertakings in which “only” members of the employer’s family are employed.

The Committee notes that in its report, the Government states that section 120 of the Labour Code is no longer in force in that section 257 of the Code on Children and Young Persons of 2001 repeals the provisions of Chapter II, Section 1 of the Labour Code, which deal with the work of minors, as being contrary to the Code on Children and Young Persons. The Committee notes in this connection that although sections 52–69 of the Code on Children and Young Persons regulate some aspects of young people’s work, none of these provisions deals specifically with the minimum age of admission to employment of children, particularly children employed in family undertakings. The Committee accordingly infers that section 120 of the Labour Code is the only provision governing the minimum age of admission to employment of children employed in family undertakings and, therefore, the repealing provisions set forth in section 257 of the Code on Children and Young Persons should not affect section 120 of the Labour Code. In these circumstances, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary steps to ensure that, in accordance with Article 2(2) of the Convention, the employment of children under 15 years of age may be authorized only in undertakings in which “only” members of the employers’ family are employed.