Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2017, published 107th ILC session (2018)

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

Article 3 of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour. Clauses (b) and (c). Use, procuring or offering a child for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances and for illicit activities. The Committee previously urged the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that the Children’s Act, 2012, was proclaimed in order to prohibit the use, procuring or offering of children under 18 years of age for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances and for the production and trafficking of drugs.

The Committee notes with satisfaction that the Children’s Act, 2012, was proclaimed on 15 May 2015. Section 40 thereof provides that a person who makes, or permits any child pornography to be made, or publishes, distributes, possesses, purchases or exchanges child pornography, commits an offence and is liable upon conviction to a fine of 30,000 Trinidad and Tobago dollars (TTD) (approximately US$4,400) and to imprisonment for ten years. Section 37 of the same Act provides that a person who uses a child or causes a child to be used as a courier, in order to sell, buy or deliver a dangerous drug or substance commits an offence and is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine of TTD50,000 (approximately US$7,400) and imprisonment for ten years, or on conviction on indictment, to a fine of TTD100,000 (approximately US$14,800) and to imprisonment for 20 years. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application in practice of sections 37 and 40 of the Children’s Act, 2012, including the number of investigations conducted, prosecutions, convictions and penal sanctions applied.

Article 4(1). Determination of hazardous work. The Committee previously noted the Government’s statement that work had begun to create a list of hazardous occupations. The Committee noted the Government’s statement that a governmental delegation attended the ILO Sub regional Workshop on the Elimination of Hazardous Child Labour for Select Caribbean Countries in October 2011. It noted that the report of this delegation would contain recommendations to assist in the development of a list of occupations deemed hazardous.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that it recognizes that the list of hazardous occupations as outlined in Convention No. 182 requires consultation with its stakeholders, including social partners, in particular in light of the recent proclamation of the Children’s Act, 2012. In this regard, it will continue its work on the development of the list of hazardous occupations. Recalling that, pursuant to Article 1 of the Convention, each member that ratifies the Convention shall take immediate measures to ensure the prohibition of the worst forms of child labour as a matter of urgency, and noting that work on the list of occupations deemed hazardous to children has been ongoing since 2004, the Committee once again urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure the adoption of this list in the very near future, following consultation with the social partners. It once again requests the Government to provide a copy of this list once it has been adopted.

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