Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Congo (Ratification: 1999)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It is therefore bound to repeat its previous comments.

Repetition

Article 1 of the Convention. National policy and application of the Convention in practice. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that a large number of children were involved in economic activity but that no national policy had been adopted in this regard. It noted the Government’s indication that there were no inspection reports providing any information on the presumed or actual employment of children in enterprises in Congo during the reporting period. However, the Committee noted that 25 per cent of Congolese children were involved in child labour, according to UNICEF statistics.

The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report still does not contain any information on the adoption of a national policy for ensuring the effective abolition of child labour. The Committee also observes that the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), in its concluding observations of 2014, noted that child labour and the economic exploitation of children remain widespread, particularly in the big cities (CRC/C/COG/CO/2-4, paragraph 74). Expressing its deep concern at the large number of children working below the minimum age in the country, and given the lack of a national policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labour, the Committee once again urges the Government to take the necessary steps to ensure the adoption and implementation of such a policy as soon as possible. It requests that the Government provide detailed information in its next report on the measures taken in this respect.

Article 3(2) and (3). Determination of hazardous types of work and age of admission to hazardous work. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that section 4 of Order No. 2224 of 24 October 1953, which establishes employment exemptions for young workers, determines the types of work and the categories of enterprises prohibited for young persons and sets the age limit for the prohibition, prohibits the employment of young persons under 18 years of age in certain hazardous types of work, and includes a list of such types of work.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that Order No. 2224 is no longer in force. The Committee also notes that section 68(d) of Act No. 4-2010 of 14 June 2010 concerning child protection (Child Protection Act) provides that any work which, by its nature or the conditions in which it is performed, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of the child is prohibited. It also provides that a decree issued further to the opinion of the National Labour Advisory Committee shall determine the list and the types of work and the categories of enterprises prohibited for children and the age limit for the prohibition. The Committee requests that the Government take the necessary steps to ensure the adoption as soon as possible of the decree determining the list of hazardous types of work, in accordance with section 68(d) of the Child Protection Act.

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

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the near future.