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

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

Article 2(1) of the Convention. Scope of application and labour inspectorate. Children working in the informal economy. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that section 63(1) of the Labour Code prohibits children under 16 years of age from signing an employment contract. It also noted the Government’s statement that the illegal employment of minors and the violation of their labour rights were frequent occurrences in the informal economy. Following its repeated requests since 2003, the Committee urged the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that all children under 16 years of age, including those who work on their own account or in the informal economy, benefit from the protection afforded by the Convention.

The Committee notes with concern that, according to the Government’s indication in its report, no information is available on measures taken regarding the protection of children under 16 years old in the informal economy. The Committee also notes that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights expressed its concern at widespread informal employment in the Russian Federation in its concluding observations of 2017 (E/C.12/RUS/CO/6, paragraph 32). The Committee recalls that the Convention applies to all branches of economic activity and covers all types of employment or work, whether or not there is a contractual employment relationship, and whether or not the employment or work is paid. In this regard, the Committee is of the view that the expansion of the relevant monitoring mechanisms to the informal economy can be an important manner in which to ensure that the Convention is applied in practice, particularly in countries where expanding the scope of the implementing legislation to address children working in this sector does not seem a practicable solution (2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 345). The Committee once again urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that all children under 16 years of age, including those who work on their own account or in the informal economy, benefit from the protection afforded by the Convention. In this regard, the Committee once again requests the Government to take the necessary measures to strengthen the capacity and expand the reach of the labour inspectorate to better monitor children carrying out economic activities without an employment relationship or in the informal economy. It once again requests the Government to provide information on the specific measures taken in this regard as well as on their implementation.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.