Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2006, published 96th ILC session (2007)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Egypt (Ratification: 1999)

The Committee notes the Government’s report. It requests it to supply further information on the following points.

Article 1 of the Convention. National Policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labour. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s statement that two training sessions were organized for 50 labour inspectors through the ILO/IPEC for the purpose of changing the concepts held by such inspectors, and for combining the concept of preventing inspection with the monitoring inspection concept. Furthermore, 22 committees were set up to reduce child labour in 22 Egyptian governorates which include members from various executive bodies and relevant NGOs in order to carry out a plan to combat child labour and to eliminate its worst forms, based on monitoring dropouts from compulsory education. The aim is to assess the reasons for such dropouts and to return such dropouts back to school, by providing financial assistance to families whose children return to school. The Committee notes with interest the Government’s information that the above committees succeeded in returning 800 children to school. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on national policies designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labour and on the results attained.

Article 3, paragraph 3. Authorization to work from the age of 16 years. The Committee had previously requested the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that young persons who have completed the age of 16 years and perform hazardous work receive adequate specific instruction or vocational training in the relevant branch of activity, as required by Article 3, paragraph 3, of the Convention. It notes the Government’s information that section 6 of Ministerial Order No. 118 of 2003, which regulates the system governing the employment of children, specifies that an employer shall be required to inform the child worker, before undertaking to work with him/her, of the occupation’s hazards and the importance of his/her commitment to observe the means for personal protection specified for his/her occupation, whilst providing the means for personal protection, suitable to the nature of work, age and training on its use, as well as verify that the child uses them and that he/she shall follow the instructions in order to safeguard his/her health and protection for occupational accidents whilst authorizing them to take food in places at work designed for this purpose. The Committee takes due note of this information.

Article 4. Exclusion of limited categories of employment or work from the application of the Convention. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s information that the following practices and laws apply with regard to the categories excluded from the scope of application of the Convention: (a) Act No. 47 of 1978 applies to employees working in the State including local administration units and public bodies (children are not included); (b) no legislation applies to domestic workers, due to the difficulty of monitoring and inspecting them; (c) Book III, Chapter V of the Labour Code regarding “occupational safety and health” and “vocational promotion” applies to an employer’s family who are his/her dependants. The Committee also notes the Government’s statement that, in spite of the exclusion of children working in pure agricultural work from the chapter of the Labour Code dealing with child labour, they are provided for in the chapters dealing with “vocational promotion” and with “occupational safety and health” and they are liable to inspection with respect to conditions of work so as to verify whether they work in bad or dangerous environmental conditions.

Article 6. Apprenticeship. The Committee had previously requested the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that no one under 14 years of age carries out an apprenticeship and to provide practical information on apprenticeship programmes. The Committee notes the Government’s information that apprenticeship programmes are provided through the following: (a) a programme of technical education within the Ministry of Education (Moubarak Kohl system), which links between theoretical studies and practical training in a factory; (b) a programme of industrial apprenticeship within the Ministry of Industry. It notes the Government’s statement that both programmes may only be undertaken after 15 years of age (after having completed the second part of primary school and obtained the nine years’ certificate). The Committee takes due note of this information.

Part IV of the report form. Labour inspection. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s information that coordination was achieved with civil society organizations in the governorates in which monitoring and follow-up systems were set up to check on children employed in agriculture. Inspection is generally carried out on large plantations with a huge agricultural production. The Committee also notes that, according to the information available at the Office, the Ministry of Manpower and Migration and the Ministry of Agriculture are cooperating to prevent underage children from working in the cotton harvesting sector and to provide children working legally with the necessary protection while engaging in agricultural activities. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that, according to the inspection reports for the years 2003 and 2005, the number of undertakings inspected doubled in 2005: 566,487 undertakings were inspected from January until end of December 2005 compared to 21,883 undertakings from January 2003 until end of March 2003. Moreover, the number of minutes (procès verbaux) taken for undertakings decreased in 2005 by about 34 per cent out of the overall number of minutes taken in 2003. While observing the number of inspections that were carried out concerning children working in the agricultural sector, the Committee notes that no information is contained in the inspection reports with regard to such children. It therefore requests the Government to provide information on the violations, including violations of the prohibition of hazardous work, detected by inspectors with regard to children working in the agricultural sector.

Part V of the report form. The Committee notes that, according to the ICFTU’s report for the World Trade Organization General Council on the trade policies of Egypt of 26 and 28 July 2005 titled “Internationally-recognized core labour standards in Egypt”, 6 per cent of children aged 5 to 14 are involved in labour activities, 78 per cent of which are in the agricultural sector. In the rural sector, children are employed in commercial as well as subsistence agriculture. Moreover, children often work in repair and craft shops, in heavier industries as brick making and textiles, and as workers in leather and carpet-making factories. The ICFTU adds that, even if the fines that child offenders have to pay in child labour cases were increased, there is still clear evidence of employers who abuse, overwork and many times endanger many child workers. The ICFTU concludes that child labour is employed extensively in Egypt, in both the rural and the urban sectors and, despite recent legislative improvements combined with some governmental programmes to tackle this issue, it remains a serious case for concern and further improvements are needed both in labour and in practice. The Committee once again expresses its deep concern at the situation of children working in Egypt and encourages the Government to renew its efforts to improve the situation gradually. It requests the Government to continue providing information on the application of the Convention in practice.