Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Togo (Ratification: 1984)

Article 1 of the Convention and Part V of the report form. National policy and application of the Convention in practice. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that the Government was participating in a project to combat child labour through education that was being implemented with the support of the ILO–IPEC (ILO–IPEC–CECLET project), under which a national survey on child labour in Togo (ENTE) was carried out and completed in 2010. The survey revealed that roughly six out of ten children aged between 5 and 17 years (58.1 per cent, or 1,177,341 children) were economically active at the national level. It also showed that the incidence of children aged 5 to 14 who were engaged in work to be abolished – meaning the performance by a child of prohibited work and, more generally, of types of work that should be eliminated as they are considered socially and morally undesirable under national law – was 54.9 per cent, or 894,360 out of the 1,629,072 Togolese children in that age group. The results further showed that children aged 5 to 14 years tended to work in agriculture (52.2 per cent), domestic work (26.3 per cent) and other sectors. The Committee noted the Government’s statement that a national action plan (NAP) to combat child labour was in the process of adoption as part of the ILO–IPEC–CECLET project.

While noting the Government’s statement that the NAP is currently in the process of being adopted, the Committee must express its concern at the number of children below the minimum age who work in Togo. The Committee urges the Government to pursue its efforts to combat child labour, notably by devoting special attention to children working in agriculture and in the informal economy, and to send information on the results obtained. It again requests the Government to provide information on progress achieved in drafting the NAP and to send it a copy of the plan once it has been validated.

Article 2(1) and Part III of the report form. Scope of application and labour inspection. In its previous comments the Committee noted that section 150 of the 2006 Labour Code provides that children under 15 years of age may not be employed in any enterprise or perform any type of work, even on their own account. The Committee noted with interest that a number of measures had been adopted to strengthen the action of the labour inspection services. The Government also indicated that, with technical and financial support of the ILO, it envisaged establishing an information system on the activities of the labour inspection services so as to draw public attention to the steps taken to ensure compliance with the law. The Committee noted that action had been taken under the ILO–IPEC–CECLET project to strengthen the labour inspectorate, including 24 observation and monitoring missions led by 12 inspectors between 1 October 2011 and 31 March 2012 in the agricultural sector, the informal urban economy, restaurants and sand transport, in the framework of which 293 children (121 girls and 172 boys) were identified as being engaged in child labour.

The Committee notes the Government’s statement that, for lack of logistical and financial resources, it is difficult to continue strengthening the labour inspection services so as to rescue children working in the informal economy or for their own account and, more importantly, to assure their social reinsertion. In this regard, the Committee notes that the Government wishes to prevail itself of ILO technical assistance. The Committee requests the Government to continue taking the necessary measures to strengthen the capacity of the labour inspection services to ensure that all children under the age of 15, including those working for their own account or in the informal economy, benefit from the protection afforded by the Convention, and to inform it of results.

In response to the Government’s request for ILO technical assistance, the Committee asks the Office to see that the Government receives a positive response.

Article 3(3). Admission to hazardous work from the age of 16 years. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that certain provisions of Order No. 1464/MTEFP/DGTLS of 12 November 2007 authorize the employment of children from the age of 16 in work that is liable to harm their health, safety or morals. The Committee also noted that section 12 authorizes children over 15 to carry, pull or push heavy loads – weighing up to 140 kilograms in the case of some 15 year-olds working with wheelbarrows. Furthermore, the Committee observed that there were no provisions that protect them in this type of work. The Committee reminded the Government that Article 3(3) of the Convention provides that national laws or regulations may, after consultation with employers’ and workers’ organizations, authorize the performance of hazardous types of work by young persons from the age of 16 years on condition that their health, safety and morals are fully protected and that they have received adequate specific instruction or vocational training in the relevant sector. In this regard, the Committee has noted the Government’s indication that it was committed to take the necessary measures to have Order No. 1464 amended to bring it into line with the Convention.

The Committee notes the Government’s statement that tripartite discussions are currently under way on the amendment of Order No. 1464/MTEFP/DGTLS. The Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that Order No. 1464/MTEFP/DGTLS is amended in the near future to bring it into line with Article 3(3) of the Convention. It once again requests the Government to provide a copy of the Order, once duly revised.

Article 6. Apprenticeships. The Committee previously noted that, under the ILO–IPEC–CECLET project, a draft code on apprenticeship has been prepared that specifies the conditions to be respected in apprenticeship contracts, under which no such contracts may start before the completion of compulsory schooling and, in any case, not before an apprentice reaches 15 years of age.

The Committee notes the Government’s statement that the Apprenticeship Code has already been approved from the technical standpoint and that it is now currently before the Government awaiting adoption by the Council of Ministers. The Committee hopes that the draft Code will very soon be adopted and again requests the Government to keep it informed of progress in this respect.

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