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

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Kazakhstan (Ratification: 2003)

Part V of the report form. Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee previously noted that studies on child labour in Kazakhstan revealed that children were mostly engaged in the informal and agricultural sectors. In agriculture, child labour was mostly identified in tobacco and cotton harvesting, although this agricultural work is prohibited for persons under 18. In this regard, the Committee noted the Government’s indication that investigations in the Almaty province revealed that children from Kyrgyzstan (aged 6–15 years) were working in tobacco fields for approximately 75 hours a week, and that Uzbek children were discovered working in cotton fields in the Maktaaral district of South Kazakhstan. The Committee also noted 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 notes the Government’s detailed information on the various child labour monitoring bodies in the country in addition to the state labour inspectorates and the Procurator’s Office such as the Committee for Control and Social Security; Committee for the Protection of the Rights of the Child (CPRC); the National Coordinating Council on Child Labour (NCCCL); the Confederation of Employers (COE) and the Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Committee notes the Government’s information that following the proposals made by the NCCCL, the Government has adopted Order No. 468 of 2010 ensuring the rights of child migrants to receive access to education.

The Committee also notes the Government’s detailed information on the various seminars and conferences organized in the various districts to introduce to the participants the elements of how to monitor child labour. Accordingly, the Committee notes that a round table conference was conducted in June 2012 in Maktaaral district with the assistance of the CPRC, particularly involving the directors of major cotton receiving plants and stations and non-governmental organizations, on programmes for elimination of the worst forms of child labour in the region during the cotton harvest and on observing the law on compulsory education for all children. Moreover, the Ministry of Labour, with the assistance of the akimat (Mayor) of the Almaty Province and of the Union of commodity producers and exporters of Kazakhstan, held a round table in the city of Almaty which led to the adoption of a resolution on “Working conditions of agricultural workers in the Almaty Province”.

The Committee further notes, from the ILO–IPEC project report of June 2013, that an action programme on “Establishing and piloting a child labour monitoring system (CLMS) in Maktaaral district in South Kazakhstan region” is being implemented. This action programme aims at establishing the CLMS in agriculture, building the capacity of national and local authorities in the CLMS, providing direct services for children involved in or at risk of entering child labour in agriculture, and raising awareness of community members, general public and the media. The Committee, however, expresses its regret at the insufficient data on children working in agriculture, in particular cotton and tobacco plantations. The Committee, therefore, urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that sufficient data on the situation of working children, in particular children working in tobacco and cotton plantations in Kazakhstan, is made available. The Committee also requests the Government to continue taking measures to train the various child labour monitoring bodies in order to enable them to monitor the effective implementation of the national provisions giving effect to the Convention. Lastly, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the number of inspections carried out by the state labour inspectors and the Procurator’s Office, the number of violations detected and penalties applied, related to work performed by children under 18 years, including in cotton and tobacco harvesting.

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