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

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Lebanon (Ratification: 2003)

The Committee notes with concern that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that the next report will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous comments.

Repetition

Article 1 of the Convention. National policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labour. In its earlier comments, the Committee noted that, the Ministry of Labour (MoL) established a National Committee to Combat Child Labour (NCCL) whose task was to prepare and follow up on the implementation of programmes aimed at combating child labour in collaboration with the ILO–IPEC, international organizations and NGOs, and that a Special Unit to Combat Child Labour had been constituted within the MOL. The Committee requested the Government to continue to provide information on national policy measures designed to ensure the effective elimination of child labour, and the results achieved.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that the National Committee to Combat Child Labour and the Child Labour Unit at the Ministry of Labour have carried out some activities resulting in: (i) the preparation of the 2015 study “Children living and working on the streets in Lebanon: Profile and Magnitude” in collaboration with the ILO, the MOL, UNICEF and other relevant bodies (2015 Study); (ii) the launch of a broad information campaign on the issue of child labour in a certain number of companies and in news bulletins; (iii) the preparation of a guiding manual on using Decree No. 8987 on the worst forms of child labour; (iv) the launch of the website on the Child Labour Unit at the Ministry of Labour (www.clu.gov.lb), and (v) the coordination with the ILO of the project “Tackling child labour among Syrian refugees and their host communities in Jordan and Lebanon” July 2015–March 2017. The Committee requests that the Government continue to provide information on the steps taken, within the framework of the NCCL to ensure the effective abolition of child labour.

Application of the Convention in practice. Referring to its previous comments with regard to the preparation of a survey on working children in Lebanon, the Committee takes note of the 2015 study “Children living and working on the streets in Lebanon: Profile and Magnitude”. The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that a training course on child labour in agriculture and its risks was organized in August 2015, with the collaboration of the ILO. The Committee requests that the Government provide information on the application of the Convention in practice, in particular statistical data on the employment of children and young persons by age group, extracts from the reports of inspection services, and information on the number and nature of contraventions reported.