Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2017, published 107th ILC session (2018)

Night Work of Young Persons (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 6) - Myanmar (Ratification: 1921)

Article 2(1) of the Convention. Prohibition on employing children under 18 years of age at night in industrial undertakings. The Committee previously noted that under the terms of section 79(1)(a) of the Factories Act 1951 (No. LXV), no child (person under the age of 15 years, by virtue of section 2(a)) shall be employed or permitted to work in any factory between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. However, the Committee noted the Government’s information that a young person between 15 and 18 years of age (adolescents, by virtue of section 2(b)) who is certified as being fit for work as an adult in factories may be employed at night. It further noted the Government’s information that the process of amending section 79(1) of the Factories Act to bring it into conformity with this Convention was being carried out.

The Committee notes the Government’s information in its report that the provisions of the Factories Act relating to children under 18 years of age were amended. While the amended provisions prohibit night work for young persons up until the age of 16, the Committee notes with concern that, young persons between the ages of 16 and 18 may be declared by a registered medical doctor to be fit for employment and allowed to work between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. (section 79(3) of the amended Factories Act). The Committee recalls that Article 2(1) of the Convention prohibits the employment of all young persons under the age of 18 during the night in any public or private industrial undertaking, or in any branch thereof, other than an undertaking in which only members of the same family are employed. Under Article 3(1) of the Convention, the term “night” signifies a period of 11 consecutive hours, including the interval between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. The Committee therefore requests the Government to take measures to ensure that section 79 of the amended Factories Act is once again modified to prohibit the night work of all young persons under the age of 18 for a period of eleven consecutive hours, including from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. It requests the Government to provide information on the progress made in this regard.