Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Hungary (Ratification: 2000)

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 matters raised in its previous direct request, which read as follows:

Article 3 of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour. Clause (b). Use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution. The Committee noted the information contained in the Government’s report that the Criminal Code was amended in 2007 to comply with the European Council framework Decision 2004/68/JHA on combating the sexual exploitation of children and child pornography. The Committee noted the Government’s statement that section 7 of Act XXVII on the Modification of Act IV of 1978 on the Criminal Code (Act XXVII) incorporated a new section into the Criminal Code, section 202/A. Pursuant to that amendment, any person who has sexual intercourse or fornicates with a person under the age of 18 in exchange for money or other forms of remuneration is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for between one and three years. The Committee also noted that section 8 of Act XXVII incorporated a new section, section 204, on the offering, possession, distribution or production of pornographic images of persons under 18, into the Criminal Code. The Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of the Criminal Code, as amended in 2007.

Article 5. Monitoring mechanisms. Police. The Committee previously noted the Government’s statement that Measure No. 4/2006 (I.23) of the ORFK on the Implementation of Police Tasks in Connection with the Violation of Law Regarding Prostitution and Human Trafficking pays special attention to the tasks of the police in the prevention of trafficking in children. The Committee further noted that, within the National Investigating Bureau, there is an Internet monitoring group which constantly screens and monitors the Internet for preparations for or traces of criminal offences, especially child pornography. The Committee also noted that the head of the Criminal Department of the National Police Headquarters issued a methodology guide regarding the investigation of affairs relating to trafficking in human beings, including trafficking in children. The Committee noted the Government’s information that three people were convicted of child trafficking in 2006, five in 2007 and zero in the first five months of 2008. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the number of investigations carried out by the police and the findings with regard to trafficking in children.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures.  Clause (d). Identifying and reaching out to children at special risk. Roma children. The Committee noted that the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), in its concluding observation on the second periodic report of Hungary of 17 March 2006, expressed concern that Roma children have a high drop-out rate from school, despite the fact that education is compulsory and free until the age of 18 (CRC/C/HUN/CO/2, paragraph 62). The CRC noted “that many Roma children leave the school system before graduation, although the Government has established programmes and scholarships in order to further the learning performance of Roma” (paragraph 48). The Committee also noted that, according to the Trafficking in Persons Report of 2008 for Hungary, available on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees web site (www.unchr.org), Roma women and children as a group are particularly vulnerable to trafficking for the purpose of prostitution. The Committee recalled that, pursuant to Article 7(2) of the Convention, education is one of the most effective means of combating the worst forms of child labour. Noting that children from minority groups are often victims of exploitation, which may take on very different forms, and are at risk of being engaged in the worst forms of child labour, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on measures adopted to address this issue. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the results achieved through the programmes and scholarships that aim to decrease the drop-out rate among Roma children.

Parts IV and V of the report form. Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee noted the Government’s information that the Hungarian Occupational Safety and Health and Labour Inspectorate found two employers employing a total of three employees aged under 15. The Committee noted that the employees were prohibited from performing the given work and their cases were referred to the competent guardianship authority. The Committee further noted that, in the period under review, the Hungarian Occupational Safety and Health and Labour inspectorate took measures in 13 cases involving 27 employees aged under 15.

The Committee noted the statistics provided by the Government on the number of criminal offences committed against minors under 18 years of age. According to this data, the number of criminal offences for child trafficking was three in 2006 and five in 2007; for the violation of personal freedom the number of offences was 110 in 2006, 104 in 2007 and 33 in the first five months of 2008; for procuring the number of offences was 16 in 2006, 11 in 2007 and 44 in the first five months of 2008; for pornography the number of offences was 951 in 2006, 422 in 2007 and 182 in the first five months of 2008; and for drug abuse the number of offences was four in 2006 and six in 2007. The Committee requests the Government to continue to provide information on the worst forms of child labour including, for example, copies or extracts from official documents, including inspection reports, studies and inquiries and to provide information on the nature, extent and trends of those forms of child labour, and the number of children covered by the measures giving effect to the Convention, the number and nature of infringements reported, investigations, prosecutions and convictions. To the extent possible, all information provided should be disaggregated by sex.