Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Malawi (Ratification: 1999)

Article 1 of the Convention. National policy. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes with interest the many measures adopted by the Government to combat child labour in the country. The Government has reviewed the National Plan of Action (NAP II), which now runs from 2020 to 2025. The main priority areas of the NAP II are: (i) Legal and Policy Framework; (ii) Capacity Building; (iii) Awareness Raising; (iv) Prevention, Withdrawal, Rehabilitation and re-Integration; (v) Chronic Illnesses and HIV and AIDS in the context of Child Labour; (vi) Child Labour Information Base and Management; and (vii) Availability of Child Labour Information.

The Government also developed the National Child Labour Mainstreaming Guide, which aims to assist Government institutions, social partners and other key stakeholders on how to include child labour issues in their functional scope and programming. The expected outcomes are: (i) Child labour elimination strategies incorporated in key legal and policy documents; (ii) Enhanced child labour responsive planning and service delivery; and (iii) Enhanced multi-sectoral collaboration in addressing child labour. The guide is aligned with the NAP II and directly supports its priority areas.

Another initiative is the adoption by the Government of the National Advocacy and Communication Strategy (NACS) 2022, to reinstate the commitment of the authorities in terms of support to the implementation of the child labour Conventions and provide a conducive environment for combating child labour. The overall objective of the NACS is to ensure well-coordinated and effective advocacy and awareness of child labour to accelerate its elimination through, for example, advocacy for child labour legislation and policy improvement and lobbying of the Government and stakeholders for increased resource allocation towards child labour programmes.

Finally, the Committee also notes that a Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP) 2020-23 is being implemented in Malawi, the overall objective of which is to contribute to the achievement of the national development agenda through improved, gainful, secure, and rights-based employment for youth, women and men. Consequently, the DWCP 2020-23 should contribute to the elimination of child labour by mitigating some of the push factors that are inducing children to work (such as poverty or lack of decent work opportunities for their families). The Committee encourages the Government to continue taking the necessary measures to ensure the progressive elimination of child labour. It requests the Government to provide information on the progress made and results achieved, in particular in terms of the effective reduction of the prevalence of child labour.

Article 2(1). Scope of application. Self-employed children, children working in the informal economy and labour inspectorate. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that the labour inspections referred to under section 9 of the Employment Act may be conducted at any place where people are working, including in the informal economy, and that the exclusion of that sector is due, rather, to administrative reasons, including challenges related to human and financial resources.

However, measures are being taken to strengthen the labour inspectorate, including the Ministry of Labour entering into MOUs with some employers, especially in the tobacco sector, to conduct independent labour inspections to identify labour-related issues, including child labour. The Committee further notes that certain activities are planned, in the framework of the NAP II, to further strengthen the labour inspectorate and expand its reach, including the review of legislation related to child labour to ensure that all workplaces including informal sector are eligible for inspection and the extension of labour inspection services to monitor child labour in the informal sector and private homes. The Committee strongly encourages the Government to continue its efforts to strengthen the capacity of the labour inspectorate – including in the framework of the NPA II, of the MOUs entered into with employers, and through the provision of appropriate human and financial resources – to ensure that all self-employed children or children working in the informal economy benefit from the protection of the Convention. It requests the Government to continue providing information on specific measures taken in this regard, as well as on the results achieved, including the number and nature of violations relating to the employment of children and young persons detected by the labour inspectorate.

Article 3(1). 1. Minimum age for admission to hazardous work. In its previous comments, the Committee noted a discrepancy between article 23 of the Constitution, which provides for protection from dangerous work for children below the age of 16 years, and section 22(1) of the Employment Act, which, in accordance with the Convention, lays down a minimum age of 18 years for work that is likely to be harmful to their health, safety, education, morals or development, or prejudicial to their attendance in school. The Committee notes with satisfaction that a constitutional amendment was adopted which establishes the minimum age for admission to hazardous work at 18 years under article 23.

2. Hazardous work in commercial agriculture. The Committee takes due note of the Government’s detailed information regarding the activities implemented and results achieved regarding the use of hazardous child labour in commercial agriculture. With regard to the measures taken and results achieved to protect children under 18 years from hazardous work in commercial agriculture, in particular tobacco plantations, the Committee refers to its comments under the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182).

Article 9(3). Keeping of registers by employers. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that it has planned to develop the model register of employment, in line with Article 9(3) of the Convention, before the end of 2022, with the support of the ILO. Observing that the Government has been referring to the model register of employment since 2006, the Committee once again strongly urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure its elaboration and adoption without delay. It once again requests that the Government supply a copy of the model register as soon as it is adopted.

Practical application of the Convention. Data on child labour. The Committee notes that, according to the document of the NAP II, while child labour surveys are supposed to be conducted every 4–5 years, only two were conducted in the country: the first one in 2002, and the follow-up survey of 2015, which revealed that 38 per cent (over 2.1 million) of children aged 5–17 years were involved in child labour. To remedy this gap, and to contribute to the effective monitoring of the progress made in eliminating child labour, one of the main objectives of the NAP II is to improve child labour information availability and accessibility. Measures planned to achieve this objective include building the capacity of District Labour Officers (DLOs) to collect, manage and analyse data on child labour, conduct a national child labour survey, and create a national database for child labour. The Committee encourages the Government to pursue its efforts aimed at monitoring the application of the Convention in practice through the development of a data collection system on child labour and requests it to provide information on the progress made in this regard. It expresses the hope that the national child labour survey to be conducted in the framework of the NAP II will contain up-to-date statistical data on the employment of children and young persons by age group, gender and sector, and requests the Government to communicate the results of the survey with its next report.