Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Suriname (Ratification: 2018)

Article 1 of the Convention. National policy for the effective abolition of child labour. The Committee previously noted the adoption of a National Action Plan on Child Labour for the period 2019–24 and requested the Government to provide information on its implementation.

The Committee notes that the Government has not provided the information requested on the measures taken under its National Action Plan. At the same time, it notes that the ILO Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP) for Suriname 2023–2026 refers to the development of an accelerated action plan on child labour, for focused implementation during the 2023–26 period, with a view to achieving the priorities set up in the National Action Plan on Child Labour. An accelerated action plan aims at joining efforts at local, national, and regional levels to influence the structural causes that promote the incorporation of children into work (Regional Initiative, 2022). Moreover, the DWCP refers to the development of a national referral system on child labour, activities to promote operational collaboration among key actors for the prevention of child labour, and the implementation of a sustainable approach to data collection and analysis on child labour in high-risk geographical areas. The Committee once again requests the Government to continue to take measures, including within the framework of the National Action Plan on Child Labour, to ensure the progressive elimination of child labour and to provide information on the results achieved. The Committee also requests the Government to provide updated statistical information (where possible disaggregated by age and sex), on the nature, extent, and trends of child labour in the country, including in the informal economy.

Article 2(3). Age of completion of compulsory education. In relation to the Committee’s request to raise the age of completion of compulsory education (12 years) to the age for admission to employment (16 years), the Committee takes due note that the Government indicates that the draft Primary Education and Supervision Act, which establishes compulsory education from the age of 4 to the age of 16, has been submitted to the National Assembly in December 2019. The Committee expresses the firm hope that the legislative proposals, aimed at raising the age of completion of compulsory education to the minimum age for admission to employment, will be adopted without delay.

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