Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Trinidad and Tobago (Ratification: 2004)

The Committee takes note of the Government’s report and the supplementary information provided in light of the decision adopted by the Governing Body at its 338th Session (June 2020).

Article 1 of the Convention. National policy. The Committee notes the Government’s reference in its report, in response to its previous request, to the elaboration of a draft National Child Policy, which was subject to public consultation in June and July 2019. The Committee further notes the Government’s information in its supplementary report according to which following consultation, the 2018-28 National Child Policy was approved. In addition, the implementation Policy is in the process of being approved. The Committee welcomes that the 2018–28 National Child Policy, available on the website of the Gender and Child Affairs Division of the Office of the Prime Minister, addresses a wide range of issues concerning the prevention and elimination of child labour and the involvement of children in hazardous work, and provides for a specific outcome in this respect (Outcome 3, entitled “Children are Protected”).

The Committee also welcomes the Government’s indication that a National Steering Committee for the Prevention and Elimination of Child Labour was appointed in February 2019 (for a period of three years) and has been mandated to oversee the implementation of critical activities associated with the prevention and elimination of child labour. That Committee is, among many other functions, tasked with the development of the national policy on the elimination of child labour, and the identification of gaps or weaknesses in laws, polices, programmes and institutions in addressing child labour and making relevant recommendations. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the implementation of the National Child Policy 2018–28 and the results achieved in terms of eliminating child labour. Moreover, it requests the Government to provide information on the activities of the National Steering Committee for the Prevention and Elimination of Child Labour.

Article 3(1) and (2). Minimum age for admission to, and determination of, hazardous work. With regard to the list of hazardous types of work prohibited to children under 18 years of age, the Committee refers to its comments under the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182).

Labour inspection and application of the Convention in practice. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that labour inspectors continued to monitor child labour and the employment of young people, but that in 2015, no reports of child labour had been received, and no instances of child labour had been discovered during inspections.

Following its reiterated requests for measures to ensure the availability of data on the situation of child labour, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that Outcome 3 of the 2018–28 National Child Labour Policy provides, among other things: (i) for strategies to assess the prevalence of child labour; and (ii) the National Steering Committee for the Prevention and Elimination of Child Labour is mandated, among other things, to conduct research to better understand the situation of child labour in the country, and to strengthening the unit at the labour inspectorate responsible for monitoring child labour. In this respect, the Committee also recalls its direct request published in 2019 under the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) in which it noted with concern that the number of labour inspection visits had declined from 1,177 in 2010–11 to 612 in 2014–15.  The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the implementation of the above-mentioned measures as well as any other measures to ensure that sufficient data on the situation of working children in Trinidad and Tobago is made available (such as information on the number of children working below the minimum age, and the nature, scope and trends of their work). In this respect, it also requests the Government to provide information on any measures taken to strengthen the capacity of the labour inspectorate and to provide information on the activities undertaken by the labour inspectorate in the area of child labour including the number of labour inspections carried out, the number and nature of cases detected and any follow-up measures taken.