Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2008, publiée 98ème session CIT (2009)

Convention (n° 138) sur l'âge minimum, 1973 - Argentine (Ratification: 1996)

Article 1 of the Convention and Part V of the report form. National policy and application of the Convention in practice. In its previous comments, the Committee noted a study entitled “Childhood and adolescence: Work and other economic activities”, carried out by ILO–IPEC, the National Statistics and Census Institute of Argentina and the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, published in 2006. According to this study, out of a total of 193,095 children aged between 5 and 13 years who were engaged in work when the study was undertaken in 2004, 116,990 worked for their parents or other family members, 61,074 worked on their own account, 11,694 worked for an employer and 3,337 were engaged in another activity. The study also demonstrated that the scale of child labour is greater in rural than in urban areas and that girls, particularly adolescent girls, are engaged in “intense domestic work”. The sectors most concerned were commerce, agriculture, stock rearing, hotels, catering, construction, furniture manufacturing and domestic work. The Committee noted that a new National Plan for the Prevention and Elimination of Child Labour had been formulated.

The Committee notes with interest the detailed information provided by the Government on the measures taken to implement the National Plan for the Prevention and Elimination of Child Labour. It particularly took note of the following information:

–      the signing of an agreement between the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology with a view to implementing the National Programme for Educational Integration, which provides for measures to enable boys and girls at work to leave their work and rejoin or remain within the school system, including remedial courses and economic assistance;

–      the establishment of the network of enterprises against child labour on 27 June 2007;

–      the increased participation of workers’ organizations in efforts to combat child labour, which led to the signing of a Memorandum of Intent for the prevention and elimination of child labour in the agricultural sector on 12 June 2007;

–      training workshops for labour inspectors and tobacco producers in Salta and Jujuy; and

–      campaigns to make the population, teachers and health officials aware of child labour, especially in tobacco plantations.

The Committee also notes the Government’s statement that monitoring centres for child labour will be set up in the country. The aim of these centres is to gather and analyse of information on child labour, and promote cooperation between the players at government level and NGOs. The Committee also takes due note of the Government’s statement that a survey on the work of boys, girls and young persons aged between 5 and 17 years of age in the provinces of Córdoba and Misiones was carried out at the end of 2006. The findings of this survey are currently being verified.

The Committee appreciates the measures made by the Government to abolish child labour, which demonstrate its political will to develop strategies to combat this problem. It requests the Government to continue its efforts to eliminate child labour. In this respect, the Committee requests the Government to continue providing information on the measures that will be adopted in the context of the National Plan for the Prevention and Elimination of Child Labour and on the results achieved. The Committee also invites the Government to send information on the application of the Convention in practice by giving, for example, statistical data on the employment of children and young people and extracts from reports of the inspection services. Finally, it requests the Government to provide a copy of the findings of the survey on the work of boys, girls and young persons aged between 5 and 17 years of age in the provinces of Córdoba and Misiones, once they have been verified.

Article 2, paragraph 1. Scope of application. The Committee previously pointed out that the national legislation governing the admission of children to employment or work did not apply to non-contractual employment relations, such as work carried out by children on their own account. In this regard, the Government indicated that the activities undertaken by young persons outside the context of the law were not exercised on their own account, but as a survival strategy. The Committee noted that, according to the study entitled “Childhood and adolescence: Work and other economic activities”, it was increasingly frequent for children under 14 years of age to be engaged in activities on their own account or for survival in the country. It stressed that children who carried out an economic activity without a contractual employment relationship, particularly on their own account or as part of a survival strategy, must benefit the protection afforded by the Convention.

The Committee notes with satisfaction that section 2(3), of Act No. 26.390 of 25 June 2008 on the prohibition of child labour and protection of young workers (Act on the prohibition of child labour and protection of young workers), provides that work involving children under 16 years of age is prohibited in all its forms, irrespective of whether or not there is a contractual employment relationship or whether or not the work is remunerated. It also notes that, under section 2(5), the labour inspection services must exercise their role to enforce this prohibition.

Article 2, paragraphs 2 and 5. Raising the minimum age for admission to employment or work. Referring to its previous comments, the Committee notes with interest that the Act on the prohibition of child labour and protection of young workers raises the minimum age of admission to employment or to work initially specified. Under sections 7 and 23 of this Act, the minimum age of admission to employment provided under section 189 of Act No. 20.744 on labour contracts (Act on labour contracts) is raised from 14 to 15 years, until 25 May 2010, and, after that date, the age will be raised from 15 to 16 years. The Committee also notes that the Act on the prohibition of child labour and protection of young workers also raises the minimum age of employment from 14 to 15 years, in an initial stage, and then from 15 to 16 years, in the following legislation: Legislative Decree No. 326/56 of 20 January 1956 on domestic service; Act No. 22.248 of 10 July 1989 on the national scheme of agricultural work (Act on the national scheme of agricultural work); Act No. 23.551 of 22 April 1988 on trade union associations; and Act No. 25.013 of 2 September 1998 on labour reform, including apprenticeship contracts. The Committee takes the opportunity to draw the Government’s attention to the provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 2 of the Convention, which provides that any Member having ratified this Convention may subsequently notify the Director-General of the International Labour Office, by a new declaration, that it has raised the minimum age that it had previously specified. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would consider the possibility of sending a declaration of this nature to the Office.

Article 7. Light work. In its previous comments, the Committee had noted that neither section 189 of the Act on labour contracts nor section 107 of the Act on the national scheme of  agricultural work established an age for admission to employment in the case of light work. The Committee notes with satisfaction that section 189bis(1) of the Act on labour contracts, as added by the Act on the prohibition of child labour and protection of young workers, established that young persons aged more than 14 years and less than 16 years may be employed in enterprises belonging to their father, mother or tutor, for a period not exceeding three hours per day and 15 hours per week, provided that these activities are not dangerous or harmful and prevent them from going to school. The family enterprises in which the minor is working must request authorization from the administrative labour authority in the district concerned. Under section 189bis(2), this authorization cannot be requested if the family enterprise is economically dependent upon another enterprise. Furthermore, the Committee notes that section 107 of the Act on the national scheme of agricultural work, as amended by the Act on the prohibition of child labour and protection of young workers, provides the same regulation as that contained in section 189bis of the Act on labour contracts.