Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1988, published 75th ILC session (1988)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Germany (Ratification: 1976)

In reply to the Committee's previous direct request, the Government states that there is no scientific evidence to support the statement made in the report of the Anti-Slavery Society for the Protection of Human Rights that about 300,000 children are working in the Federal Republic of Germany. The Government adds that in 1983, a total of 1,165 infractions on the ban on child labour were reported and that neither the authorities in the Länder responsible for enforcing the Young Workers' Act nor the federal Government is able to reach even an approximate figure on the extent to which children are employed illegally.

The Committee takes note of these statements. It also notes the similar reply which was given in 1986 by the Federal Ministry for Family and Youth in the framework of the Parliamentary Inquiry on the living conditions of children in the Federal Republic of Germany.

The Committee requests the Government to indicate in its next report whether special measures have been taken or are envisaged to gather more precise and reliable data on the extent of any violations of the legislative provisions on the employment of children and to draw the attention of the competent authorities of the Länder to the desirability of paying special attention to these provisions in their enforcement activities. It hopes that the next report will contain detailed information on the inspections made, the violations noted and the sanctions imposed, as called for in point V of the report form.