Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Kiribati (Ratification: 2009)

Article 1 of the Convention. National policy for the effective abolition of child labour and application of the Convention in practice. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that a statistical database on the employment of children and young persons, based on Employment Return Forms, was being set up, and that a child labour survey and report, carried out with the ILO-IPEC, were being finalized. The Committee requested the Government to pursue its efforts to both develop a national child labour policy and ensure that sufficient data on the situation of working children in Kiribati was made available.

The Government indicates in its report that it takes note of the Committee’s previous comments regarding the development of a child labour policy and that it will further discuss it with the Decent Work Advisory Board and related technical offices. The Government will provide updated information in its next report.

The Government also indicates that the statistical database on the employment of children and young persons, based on Employment Return Forms, has not been set up due to high turnover within the Ministry, particularly in the Work Relations Unit that deals specifically with the implementation and monitoring of the Employment and Industrial Relations Code, 2015 (EIRC).

The Government indicates that the rapid assessment conducted in Tarawa in 2012 with the ILO-IPEC through its TACKLE programme in Fiji confirms that there are children under the age of 14 working in the informal economy. It specifies that measures or procedures that could accurately describe the situation of children engaged in child labour in Kiribati are still being developed. The Committee notes that the rapid assessment, annexed to the Government’s report, states that there is a clear indication that some children of 12 years of age and below are involved in child labour.

The Committee also notes that according to the Kiribati Social Development Indicator Survey (KSDIS) carried out in 2018–19 by the Kiribati National Statistics Office in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and other government ministries, 28.3 per cent of children aged 5 to 14 years were engaged in child labour. Given the high percentage of children under 14 years of age engaged in child labour, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to develop and adopt a national policy to ensure the progressive elimination of child labour, including in the informal economy. Furthermore, it encourages the Government to pursue its efforts to develop a statistical database including information on the number of children below the minimum age engaged in child labour, and requests the Government to continue to provide information on the number of children engaged in child labour in the country.

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