Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Eritrea (Ratification: 2000)

Article 2(1) of the Convention. Scope of application. Self-employment. The Committee recalls its previous comment which had noted that, although Labour Proclamation No. 118/2001 (Labour Proclamation) excludes self-employed workers from its scope of application, the Ministry of Labour and Human Welfare intends to introduce a programme regulating self-employment. The Committee notes the Government’s latest indication that the Ministry has inserted provisions for self-employment in draft amendments to the Labour Proclamation. The Government further indicates that it has introduced a pilot local economic development (LED) project which aims, among others, to extend the protections of the Convention to children who are working outside of the formal employment relationship. Recalling that the Committee has been requesting the Government to take the necessary measures in this respect for many years, the Committee strongly requests the Government to strengthen its efforts to ensure that the protections provided under the Labour Proclamation are extended to children working outside of an employment relationship in the very near future. The Committee also requests the Government to provide further details concerning the pilot LED project, including the number of children covered by the programme, the results achieved and its potential continuance.

Article 6. Apprenticeship. The Committee notes that, despite its repeated indication over several years, the Government has taken no concrete action to implement national regulations to implement Article 6 of the Convention. Rather, the Government indicates that the Ministry of Education has issued a concept paper on this matter. The Committee draws the Government’s attention, in this respect, to Paragraph 12(2) of the Minimum Age Recommendation, 1973 (No. 146), which stipulates that measures should be taken to safeguard and supervise the conditions in which children and young persons undergo vocational orientation and training and to formulate standards for their protection and development. The Committee requests the Government to take concrete measures without delay to implement regulations on the training of apprentices, after consultation with the organizations of employers and workers concerned, and to submit a copy once adopted.

Article 7. Light work. The Committee previously observed that the legislation contains no exception for light work for children below the minimum age of 14 years. It further noted the finding of the Constitution Commission that statutory regulations are needed concerning the number of hours children may work (light work and after school hours) in addition to the types of work which should be prohibited. Noting the Government’s indication that the Ministry of Labour and Human Welfare has a plan to prescribe the number of hours during which, and the conditions in which, such employment or work may be undertaken, the Committee requests the Government to finalize those regulations without delay and to transmit a copy.

Finally, observing the Government’s intention to ratify the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), as indicated in the 2014 Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (A/HRC/26/13/Add.1, paragraph 3), the Committee requests the Government to provide updated information on any decisions taken in this respect.