Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Ukraine (Ratification: 1979)

Part V of the report form. Application of the Convention in practice. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s information that, in 2012, the state labour inspectorate of Ukraine, in collaboration with the Service for Children’s Affairs, inspected 540 enterprises employing 1,026 minors, 28 of them aged 14–15 years, 149 aged 15–16 years, and 859 aged 16–18 years. The Government indicates that 18 minors were found to be working in difficult and harmful conditions, most of whom were detected in the Zhitomir region. The inspections also revealed 24 cases of employees under the age of 18 years doing night work, overtime, and working on days off, in contravention of the requirements of section 192 of the Code of Labour Laws of Ukraine. As a result of these inspections, instructions to remedy 234 violations of the labour legislation were issued to heads and officials of the breaching enterprises, and 176 protocols were drawn up and filed with the courts against the heads of such enterprises. In addition, the heads of six enterprises were held administratively liable for failing to fulfil the demands of state labour inspectors. In the first six months of 2013, 188 enterprises were inspected, which were employing 369 minors, three of them aged 14–15 years, 57 aged 15–16 years, and 304 aged 16–18 years. These inspections permitted the identification of 12 minors working in difficult and harmful conditions. Moreover, 12 minors were found to be doing night work, overtime, or work on days off. As a result of these inspections, instructions to remedy 141 violations of the labour legislation were issued to heads and officials of the breaching enterprises, and 85 protocols were drawn up and filed with the courts against the heads of such enterprises. The heads of one enterprise were held administratively liable for failing to fulfil the demands of state labour inspectors. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on the number of children found working by the labour inspection services, and on the number of violations detected and convictions, especially in the informal economy. It also requests the Government to provide specific information on the number and nature of penalties applied in this regard.