Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1996, published 85th ILC session (1997)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Equatorial Guinea (Ratification: 1985)

The Committee notes that the Government's report has not been received. It hopes that a report will be supplied for examination by the Committee at its next session and that it will contain full information on the following matters raised in its previous direct request:

Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee recalls that the minimum age for admission to employment or work applies to all kinds of employment, including self-employment. It notes that the provisions of section 11, in conjunction with sections 2 and 3 of the General Labour Act, No. 2/1990, of 4 January, prohibiting work by young persons under the age of 14, applies only to work performed for, and under the direction of, an employer. The Committee asks the Government to indicate the measures taken or under consideration to ensure that no person under the specified minimum age shall be admitted to employment or work in any occupation whatsoever.

Article 2, paragraph 5. The Committee draws the Government's attention to the information that it must provide under Article 2, paragraph 5(a) or (b), of the Convention and asks it to supply this information in its future reports.

Article 3, paragraphs 1 and 3. Section 11, subsection 4, of the above-mentioned Act, provides that the minimum age for admission to employment 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 be 16 years. In addition to providing for prior consultations with organizations of employers and workers, the same subsection provides that the competent labour authorities are responsible for guaranteeing full protection for young persons of over 16 years of age and ensuring that they receive adequate specific vocational training in the relevant branch of activity before taking up employment. The Committee asks the Government to indicate the measures taken to ensure that the labour authorities exercise supervision in this respect.

Article 6. The Committee asks the Government to indicate the minimum age for admission to apprenticeship.

Article 9, paragraph 3. The Committee asks the Government to indicate the provisions under which registers or other documents containing the ages or dates of birth of persons employed in the enterprise who are less than 18 years of age, must be kept and made available by the employer. It asks the Government to provide copies of these registers or documents.