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

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Tajikistan (Ratification: 1993)

Article 2(1) of the Convention. 1. Minimum age for admission to employment or work. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that despite its reiterated comments for many years, the Labour Code of 2016, in its section 21, prohibits the employment of children under 15 years, which is lower than the minimum age of 16 years specified by the Government at the time of ratification. The Committee further emphasized that the objective of the Convention is to eliminate child labour and that it allows and encourages the raising of the minimum age but does not permit the lowering of the minimum age once specified.

The Committee notes with  deep regret  that the Government does not provide information on any progress made in the amendment of section 21 of the Labour Code of 2016. The Committee therefore once again strongly urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that section 21 of the Labour Code of 2016 is amended in order to align this age to the one specified at the time of ratification, namely a minimum age of 16 years, and bring it into conformity with the provisions of the Convention. It further requests the Government to provide information on any progress made in this regard.

2. Scope of application and labour inspection. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that the Labour Code does not seem to apply to work done outside employment contracts. It further noted that the State Supervisory Service for Labour, Migration and Employment under the Ministry of Labour supervises and monitors compliance with labour legislation, including monitoring of child labour in the formal and informal economy as well as children working on a self-employed basis. The Committee requested the Government to provide information on the number of inspections carried out and the number of violations related to child labour detected by the State Supervisory Service in the informal economy.

The Committee notes an absence of information on this point in the Government’s report. Referring to its comments made under the Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81), the Committee once again requests the Government to take the necessary measures to strengthen the capacity and expand the reach of the State Supervisory Service to ensure appropriate monitoring of child labour in the informal economy and to guarantee the protection afforded by the Convention to children under the age of 16 years who are working in the informal economy. It also once again requests the Government to provide information on the number of inspections conducted by the State Supervisory Service in the informal economy as well as on the number and nature of violations detected with regard to the employment of children in this sector, and on the penalties applied.

Article 3(2). Determination of types of hazardous work. With regard to the list of hazardous types of work prohibited to children under the age of 18 years, the Committee requests the Government to refer to its detailed comments under the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182).

Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee previously noted from the Working children in the Republic of Tajikistan: The results of the child labour survey 2012-2013 (CLS report), issued on 17 February 2016, conducted in cooperation with ILO–IPEC, that of the 2.2 million children aged between 5 to 17 years in Tajikistan, 522,000 (26.9 per cent) were working, with an employment prevalence rate of 10.7 per cent among 5 to 11 year-olds and 30.2 per cent among 12 to 14 year olds. About 82.8 per cent of working children were employed in the agricultural sector, 4.4 per cent in wholesale and retail trade, and 3 per cent in manufacturing and construction. Of the total number of working children, 21.7 per cent were involved in hazardous work, including in agriculture, fishery and related works, forestry and related works, construction and street work. The Committee also noted various activities undertaken by the Child Labour Monitoring Unit (CLMU) in combating child labour and that child labour monitoring committees had been established in the hukumats (local councils) of Kulob and Khorugh with the aim of eliminating child labour and to provide assistance to children working in these areas.

The Committee notes from the latest report provided by the Government on the application of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) that with support from the ILO-IPEC, the national trade unions have carried out a number of activities aimed at the elimination of child labour, including various trainings for trade union labour inspectors, schoolteachers, children, and their parents. The Government also indicates that, under the programme “Trade union capacity building to tackle forced and child labour” for 2017-2018, the work on identification of cases of forced and child labour was carried out in 11 districts of the country. The results of the programme were discussed by representatives of trade unions, public organizations, and the ILO. In addition, a Trade Union Federation action plan for preventing and tackling forced labour was devised for the period 2019-2021 based on the outcome of the programme. The Government further indicates that the child labour monitoring committees carried out 10 monitoring exercises in the first half of 2020 at the central market in Rudaki and found three cases of child labour in which young people 14 to 16 years of age were being put to work for a wheelwright (“arobakash”). The Committee also notes from the 2019 ILO publication “Some best practices employed in the project “Combating Child Labour and Human Trafficking in Central Asia – Commitment Becomes Action” implemented in Tajikistan in 2017 and 2018” that the child labour monitoring committees were established in 12 administrative subdivisions covering all districts of the country.

The Committee however notes that the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in its 2017 concluding observations expressed serious concern that approximately a quarter of all children aged between 5 and 17 from families facing social and economic hardships are engaged in economic activity. The CRC further recommended to reinforce the capacity of the ministerial CLMU and the local level child monitoring committees (CRC/C/TJK/CO/3-5, paragraph 43). The Committee requests the Government to continue its efforts to ensure the progressive elimination of child labour, in particularly, in hazardous work, in the country. The Committee further requests the Government to provide information on the impact of the activities undertaken by the CLMU and the child labour monitoring committees in terms of the number of children identified, removed and assistance provided.

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