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Night Work of Young Persons (Non-Industrial Occupations) Convention, 1946 (No. 79) - Paraguay (RATIFICATION: 1966)

Article 3 of the Convention. Period during which it is forbidden to work at night. In its previous comments, the Committee asked the Government to amend the provisions of section 58 of the Children’s and Young Persons’ Code, which prohibits night work for children aged 14 to 18 years for a period of ten hours including the interval between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m, in order to align them with the Convention and with section 2 of Decree No. 4951 of 22 March 2005 which considers night work exerted between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m, a period of 12 hours, as hazardous work prohibited to children under 18 years of age.

In its report, the Government indicates that the National Secretariat for children and young persons submitted a formal request to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security to begin the adoption procedure of the amendment of section 58 of the Children’s and Young Persons’ Code. The Secretariat indicated its willingness to carry out the necessary actions together with the Ministry to this end. The Committee also notes that, following the technical assistance mission of the Office which took place in Paraguay in September 2014, a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the tripartite constituents and the Office under the terms of which the tripartite advisory board to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security will cooperate with the ILO to examine and, if necessary, present to Congress the necessary legislative amendments to align the legislation with the ratified ILO Conventions. In this context, the Committee trusts that the Government will be in a position to refer in its next report to the adoption of a text amending section 58 of the Children’s and Young Persons’ Code so as to prohibit night work for children for a period of 12 hours.