Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2019, published 109th ILC session (2021)

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

Article 3 of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour. Clauses (a) and (d). Forced or compulsory labour and hazardous work. Child domestic workers. The Committee previously noted the study entitled “Child domestic workers in Tunisia” (ILO, 2016), according to which many children, in particular young girls, are economically exploited as domestic workers below the minimum age for entry to the labour market of 16 years. All of them work without written contracts and have no social coverage; they work on average for almost ten hours per day. The study underscores that these child domestic workers spend more than two years on average with the same employer. They are victims of health problems related to the arduous nature and long hours of work and to the dangers to which they may be exposed in the performance of various household tasks and other types of work in the employer’s home. The Committee expressed its deep concern at the exploitation of children under 18 years of age performing domestic work in hazardous conditions, which could result in situations of forced labour. It urged the Government to take immediate and effective measures to ensure the protection of children under 18 years of age from exploitation in domestic work under hazardous conditions or conditions amounting to forced labour.

The Government refers in its report to the adoption of Act No. 2017-58 of 11 August 2017 on the elimination of violence against women, which prohibits domestic work by children under 18 years of age. Section 20 of the Act provides that anyone who voluntarily and directly or indirectly employs children as domestic workers or acts as an intermediary to employ children as domestic workers shall be liable to a penalty of between three and six months’ imprisonment and a fine. The penalty is doubled in the event of a repeat offence. The Government further indicates that it intends to study in depth the possibility of ratifying the Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189). The Committee encourages the Government to continue its efforts to prevent the exploitation of children under the age of 18 years in domestic work, performed in hazardous conditions or conditions amounting to forced labour, including by ensuring that the new legislation is effectively implemented, with regard to the prohibition against employing child domestic workers under 18 years of age. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on measures for the identification of violations of the prohibition against the employment of domestic workers under the age of 18 years, as well as on the number of violations detected, persons prosecuted and penalties imposed.

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