Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2015, published 105th ILC session (2016)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Lebanon (Ratification: 2003)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It hopes that the next report will contain full information on the matters raised in its previous comments.

Repetition

Article 1 of the Convention. National policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labour. In previous comments, the Committee noted the Government’s information that in 2000 a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Ministry of Labour (MoL) and ILO–IPEC aimed at formulating policies and programmes for the eradication of child labour and the protection of working children, especially from hazardous work. It noted the Government’s information that, following the MoU, the MoL established a National Committee to Combat Child Labour (NCCL) whose task was to prepare and follow up on the implementation of programmes aimed at combating child labour in collaboration with the ILO–IPEC, international organizations and non governmental organizations (NGOs), and that a Special Unit to Combat Child Labour had been constituted within the MoL.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that a new MoU was signed between the MoL and the ILO in 2010, the aim of which is to increase the capacities of the Government with a view to progressively eliminating child labour and abolishing the worst forms of child labour. The Government indicates that, following the signing of the MoU, cooperation agreements were signed between the MoL, the social partners, and a variety of NGOs, with a view to implementing the activities and programmes contained therein. Moreover, the Committee notes the Government’s information, in its report communicated under the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), that the NCCL has been reactivated by virtue of Decree No. 5137 of 1 November 2010, and that since its reactivation, the NCCL has held several meetings in consultation with all the relevant parties and has prepared and undertaken several activities with regard to combating child labour. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on national policy measures designed to ensure the effective elimination of child labour, and the results attained.

Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee notes the Government’s information under Convention No. 182 that the MoL, in collaboration and in coordination with the ILO, is currently preparing a comprehensive survey of working children in Lebanon, in support of the national programmes and projects related to child labour. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide information on the manner in which the Convention is applied, including, for example, statistical data on the employment of children and young persons by age group, extracts from the reports of inspection services, and information on the number and nature of contraventions reported.