Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Myanmar (Ratification: 2013)

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Article 3 of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour. Clause (b). Use, procuring or offering of a child for pornography or pornographic performances. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes with interest that the Child Rights Law, 2019, prohibits all the worst forms of child labour and, in particular, that section 66 provides that whoever subjects children (defined as persons under 18 years of age) to sexual exploitation, prostitution (offering, acquiring, purchasing or support for such a purpose), or the production of child pornography or offering, selling, possession, importing or exporting pornographic contents related to children, shall be considered a criminal offender. Section 105 of the Law contains the penalties for these offences, including both imprisonment and fines. The Committee requests the military authorities to provide information on the application in practice of sections 66 and 105 of the Child Rights Law, indicating the number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and penalties applied.

Clause (c). Use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes with interest that section 48(a) of the Child Rights Law, 2019, provides that no child under the age of 18 shall be employed in the worst forms of child labour. Under section 3(t)(3) of the Law, these worst forms include persuading, purchasing, utilizing or proposing a child for illegal drug operations, including the production and smuggling of drugs.

The Committee observes, however, that the penalty for this offence is not clearly stated. Under section 108 of the Law, committing any of the offences or prohibitions stipulated in the law, including exploitation, which was not specified for separate punishment by this law shall be punished by one of the relevant existing legislations. The Committee therefore requests the military authorities to clearly indicate the penalties to which perpetrators of the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities are liable. It also requests the military authorities to provide information on the application of sections 3(t)(3) and 48(a) concerning the use, procuring or offering of children for illegal drug operations, indicating the number of investigations, prosecutions, convictions and penalties applied.

Clause (d) and Article 4(1). Hazardous work and determination of hazardous work. With regard to the adoption of the list of hazardous types of work prohibited to children under 18 years of age, the Committee refers to its detailed comments under the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138).

Articles 5 and 6. Monitoring mechanisms and national plans of action. National Plan of Action (NPA) to Combat Human Trafficking. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes, from the report of the military authorities under the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), that the Central Body for Suppression of Trafficking in Persons (CBTIP) has implemented the first, second and third NPAs, which together covered the years 2007 to 2021, in accordance with the provisions under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of Coordinated Mekong Ministerial Initiative against Trafficking in Persons (COMMIT) and the UN and ASEAN Conventions Against Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children. The CBTIP is now implementing the NPA (2022–26) in cooperation with respective ministries, departments and organizations. The Committee requests the military authorities to continue providing information on the activities of the CBTIP, in particular within the framework of the NPA to Combat Human Trafficking, and to provide information on the results achieved relating to the protection of children under 18 years of age from sale and trafficking for labour or sexual exploitation.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (d). Identifying and reaching out to children at special risk. Child domestic workers. The Committee notes with regret that the military authorities provide no information on the measures taken to protect child domestic workers from the worst forms of child labour. It notes that the Working Committee on the Removal and Remedy of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, established under the new National Committee on the Elimination of Child labour in the framework of the Myanmar National Action Plan on the Elimination of Child Labour (NAP-ECL), is implementing processes to eliminate hazardous child labour, remove children who are at risk, and prosecute offending employers who commit child rights abuses in violation of legislation. The military authorities indicate that children working in hazardous workplaces have been identified and the necessary support and referrals are being prioritized, but does not give any specific information regarding how many children were removed, from which sectors of the economy and how many were given support. Recalling that child domestic workers are particularly vulnerable to the worst forms of child labour, including hazardous work, the Committee once again urges the military authorities to take effective and time-bound measures to provide the necessary and appropriate direct assistance to remove children engaged in domestic work from hazardous and exploitative working conditions and ensure their rehabilitation and social integration. It requests the military authorities to provide information on the measures taken in this regard, including, if relevant, through the Working Committee on the Removal and Remedy of the Worst Forms of Child Labour, and on the results achieved in terms of the number of child domestic workers removed from such situations and rehabilitated.

Internally displaced, refugee, asylum-seeking and stateless children (Rohingya). The Committee notes that several UN sources report that, since the military takeover in February 2021, the number of displaced children in Myanmar has drastically increased. According to the 2022 Global Report from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on the Myanmar situation, in 2022, Myanmar grappled with multifaceted crises that resulted in significant further displacements within and from the country. The report reveals that there were 1.2 million new internally displaced persons (IDPs) in 2022 alone, adding to the 1.3 million refugees and asylum seekers, 48 per cent of which are children, and to the 630,000 stateless persons in Myanmar (Rohingya). According to the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar as of 9 March 2023, more than 1.3 million people have been displaced since the coup (A/HRC/52/66, para. 4), and many Myanmar nationals without legal status or documents, undocumented children, refugee and migrant children lack opportunities for schooling and are put at risk of labour exploitation (paras 83–88). Considering that displaced, refugee, asylum-seeking and stateless children are at an increased risk of being drawn into the worst forms of child labour, the Committee requests the military authorities to take immediate and effective measures to protect these children from these worst forms of child labour, and to provide information on the measures taken in this regard and the results achieved.

Article 8. International cooperation and assistance. Sale and trafficking. Following its previous comments, the Committee takes note of the information from the military authorities’ report under Convention No. 29, regarding the continued bilateral cooperation between Myanmar and Thailand and China. The military authorities indicate that a MoU is in the process of being signed between Myanmar and Thailand on border cooperation for child protection. Another MoU on cooperation for prevention of trafficking in persons, rescue, recovery, repatriation and reintegration of victims of trafficking was signed in February 2020 between Myanmar and India and is currently being implemented. Other bilateral agreements include a draft memorandum of subsidiary arrangement between Myanmar and Australia under the ASEAN–Australia Counter Trafficking Program and a MoU on Combating Trafficking in Persons between Myanmar and Viet Nam, which is in the process of being signed. The Committee encourages the military authorities to continue its international and regional cooperation efforts to combat trafficking of children. It also requests the military authorities to provide information on the results achieved in this regard through the MoUs signed and in the process of being signed with the countries mentioned, in particular China and Thailand.