According to the Convention, each member of the ILO for which this Convention is in force undertakes to pursue a national policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labour and to raise progressively the minimum age for admission to employment or work to a level consistent with the fullest physical and mental development of young persons.

Under the Convention, the minimum age shall not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling and, in any case, shall not be less than 15 years. Nevertheless an ILO member whose economy and educational facilities are insufficiently developed may, after consultation with the organization of employers and workers concerned, where such exist, initially specify a minimum age of 14 years.

National laws or regulations may permit the employment or work of persons 13 or 15 years of age on light work which is not likely to be harmful to their health or development and not as such to prejudice their attendance at school, their participation in vocational orientation and training programmes or their capacity to benefit from the instruction received. The minimum age for admission to any type of employment or work which by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out is likely to jeopardize the health, safety or morals of young persons shall not be less than 18 years.

Early this year Uzbekistan also adopted a Law on the guarantees of rights of the child that has already entered into force. The law stipulates basic provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Source: Jenmin Jibao