Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Armenia (Ratification: 2006)

Article 1 of the Convention. National policy on the effective abolition of child labour. The Committee previously noted that the Government adopted the National Plan of Action for the Protection of the Rights of the Child for the period 2013–16.

The Committee notes the Government’s information in its report that the Strategy Plan for the Protection of the Rights of the Child for the period 2017–21 was adopted on 13 July 2017. The Government Protocol Decree on Establishing the Timetable of the Measures for the Implementation of the 2017–21 Strategy Plan for the Protection of the Rights of the Child was also approved, which envisages to establish a supervision and monitoring mechanism in relation to the protection of the rights of working children. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken, within the framework of the Strategy Plan for the Protection of the Rights of the Child 2017–21, to eliminate child labour and on the results achieved in this regard. It also requests the Government to provide information on any progress made on the establishment of the supervision and monitoring mechanism envisaged by the Government Protocol Decree.

Labour inspectorate. The Committee previously noted that, following the adoption of Government Decree No. 857-N of 25 July 2013, the State Labour Inspectorate (SLI) of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Sanitary and Epidemiological Inspectorate of the Ministry of Health were merged and reorganized into the State Health Inspectorate of the Ministry of Health (SHI), which supervises the application of labour laws, including inspections regarding the labour rights and privileges of workers below the age of 18 years.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that, based on section 5(1) and (4) of the Law on Inspection Bodies of 2014, the Health Inspection Body of the Ministry of Health was established by Government Decree No. 444-N of 27 April 2017, which is provided only with a function of supervision of the healthcare and occupational safety of workers (section 9 of Annex I). The Committee also notes that the SHI established by Government Decree No. 857-N of 2013 has been dissolved by Government Decree No. 444-N of 2017 (section 10). The Committee therefore requests the Government to indicate which institution is responsible for the supervision and inspection of the employment of children other than issues of occupational health and safety, following the establishment of the Health Inspection Body and the dissolution of the State Health Inspectorate by Government Decree No. 444-N of 27 April 2017.