Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2012, published 102nd ILC session (2013)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Kazakhstan (Ratification: 2001)

Parts III and V of the report form. Labour inspection and the application of the Convention in practice. 1. General application. The Committee previously noted that, according to the 2006 Multiple Clusters Indicator Survey approximately 3.2 per cent of all children aged 5–14 (approximately 79,515 children) engage in some form of economic activity. The Committee also noted that the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), in its concluding observations of 19 June 2007, expressed concern at the large number of socially vulnerable children engaged in labour (CRC/C/KAZ/CO/3, paragraph 63).

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that, as part of a nationwide campaign against child labour, planned and comprehensive investigations of cases of child labour were carried out in various sectors of the economy. The Government indicates that these inspections revealed that child labour was used in car washes (in wet and cold conditions); in city markets (in the transport of goods in handcarts and in unloading goods); in private retail outlets; in agriculture; and as attendants in petrol stations, including at night. The Committee also notes that the Committee on Economic and Social Rights (CESCR), in its concluding observations of 7 June 2010, expressed concern regarding the persistence of child labour in the country (E/C.12/KAZ/CO/1, paragraph 27). Lastly, the Committee notes the information from the ILO–IPEC that Kazakhstan is one of the countries participating in a project to collect national child labour statistics through the ILO–IPEC’s Statistical information and monitoring programme on child labour (SIMPOC). Through this project, a child labour survey is planned for the spring of 2013 by the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, the Agency of Statistics and SIMPOC. The Committee strongly encourages the Government to pursue its efforts, in collaboration with the ILO–IPEC, to ensure that sufficient data on the situation of working children in Kazakhstan is made available. It requests the Government to provide a copy of the child labour survey planned for 2013, once completed. The Committee also urges the Government to strengthen its efforts to effectively monitor and combat child labour in the country, and requests the Government to provide information on the number of inspections carried out, violations detected and penalties imposed in this regard.

2. Tobacco and cotton plantations. The Committee previously noted the Government’s statement that it is prohibited to employ minors on tobacco and cotton plantations, and that the List of Works in which it is prohibited to employ workers under the age of 18 (of June 2007) includes both work in cotton and tobacco. However, the Committee noted that the CRC, in its concluding observations of 19 June 2007, expressed concern at the large number of children engaged in labour within the tobacco and cotton industries (CRC/C/KAZ/CO/3, paragraph 63).

The Committee notes the information in the Government’s report that, in the course of inspections carried out within the framework of the national campaign against child labour, child labour was identified in the agriculture sector, particularly in the cultivation of tobacco and cotton. The Committee also notes the information in the Government’s report submitted under the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), that, following the fifth session of the Government’s Inter-departmental Commission for Juvenile Affairs and the Protection of Minors’ Rights, recommendations were adopted to address the socio-economic problems faced by rural households engaged in cotton growing and the elimination of child labour in South Kazakhstan province. The Government also indicates that the Department on the Protection of Children’s Rights in the Almaty province, in cooperation with a private tobacco enterprise, carried out a “Prevention of Child Labour Programme”.

The Committee notes, however, that the CESCR, in its concluding observations of 7 June 2010, expressed concern about child labour in Kazakhstan performed by children of migrant workers in tobacco and cotton farms, and that these children did not attend school during farming periods (E/C.12/KAZ/CO/1, paragraph 27). Moreover, the Committee notes that the Human Rights Committee, in its concluding observations of 19 August 2011, expressed regret at the increase in the number of children employed in cotton and tobacco fields (CCPR/C/KAZ/CO/1, paragraph 16). The Committee must therefore, once again, express its concern at reports of a large number of children working in the cotton and tobacco industries, despite legislative prohibitions. The Committee urges the Government to intensify its efforts to ensure the effective enforcement of the relevant legislation in these sectors, including through the strengthening of labour inspection in cotton and tobacco plantations. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on measures taken in this regard, and on the results achieved.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2013.]