Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Cabo Verde (Ratification: 2011)

Article 3(1) and 3(2) of the Convention. Minimum age for admission to, and determination of, hazardous work. The Committee previously noted with regret that the list of hazardous types of work prohibited for children in different industries and which was adopted by Act No. 113/VIII/2016 on 10 March 2016 only applies to children under 16 years of age. The Committee takes note of the Government’s indication, in its report, that the list of hazardous types of work does not fully comply with the requirements of the Convention. The Committee notes that, in the framework of the EU-funded Trade for Decent Work (T4DW) project, the review of the list of hazardous types of work is intended.

The Committee once again reminds the Government that, by virtue of Article 3(1) of the Convention, the minimum age for admission to any type of employment or work which by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out is likely to jeopardize the health, safety or morals of young persons shall not be less than 18 years. It once again emphasizes that the authorization to undertake hazardous work from the age of 16 years is a limited exception to the general rule on the prohibition of young persons under 18 years performing hazardous work, and that it does not constitute an unqualified authorization to engage in hazardous work as from the age of 16 years (2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 379). The Committee therefore urges the Government to take the necessary measures, in the framework of the T4DW project, to ensure that the review of the list of hazardous types of work raise the general minimum age for admission to hazardous work to 18 years, and to ensure that no child under the age of 18 shall be authorized to engage in hazardous work, other than in the exceptional cases allowed by Article 3(3) of the Convention. It requests the Government to provide detailed information on the progress made in this regard.

Article 3(3). Admission to types of hazardous work from the age of 16 years. The Committee, once again observing that Act No. 113/VIII/2016 does not require any conditions to be met prior to authorizing the employment of young persons from 16 to 18 years of age in hazardous work, recalls that, under the terms of Article 3(3) of the Convention, national laws or regulations or the competent authority may, after consultation with the organizations of employers and workers concerned, authorize the employment of young persons between 16 and 18 years of age in hazardous work provided that their health, safety and morals are fully protected and that they have received adequate specific instruction or vocational training in the relevant branch of activity. The Committee therefore urges the Government to take the necessary measures, in the framework of the review of the hazardous work list intended by the T4DW project, to ensure that the performance of hazardous tasks by young persons aged from 16 to 18 years is authorized only as prescribed by Article 3(3) of the Convention. It requests the Government to provide detailed information on the progress made in this regard.

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