Observación (CEACR) - Adopción: 2024, Publicación: 113ª reunión CIT (2025)

Convenio sobre la edad mínima, 1973 (núm. 138) - Tailandia (Ratificación : 2004)

Article 1 of the Convention. National Policy, labour inspection and application of the Convention in practice.The Committee notes, from the Government’s report on the application of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No. 182), 1999, the adoption of the National Policy for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (2021–22), and its Action Plan 2023–27. It further notes the Government’s indication, in its report, that it is taking various measures to eliminate child labour, namely that: (1) it organizes an annual campaign for the World Day Against Child Labour to foster knowledge and understanding of child labour and address this issue among various stakeholders, including children, employers, workers, and the public; (2) the Department of Labour Protection and Welfare (DLPW) prepared and published Guidelines on Good Labour Practices for business establishments which specifically recall the prohibition of employment of children under the age of 15 years and of children under the age of 18 years in hazardous types of work (including shrimp farms and for home-based work); (3) it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in March 2021, with representative agencies in the shrimp, fish, sugarcane, and textile industries and civil society, to cooperate in preventing and addressing child labour and forced labour issues in relevant sectors; and (4) it appointed a subcommittee to monitor and collect information on preventing and addressing child labour in the shrimp, fish, sugarcane and garment industries, with the aim of compiling fundamental information about working children and child labour within these sectors, to enhance the effectiveness of measures taken to prevent and address child labour.

Among the measures taken by the Government to strengthen the capacity of labour inspectors, the Committee notes that: (1) the Ministry of Labour organized a workshop for labour inspectors to address child labour and forced labour with the objective of promoting knowledge and enhancing the capabilities of officials; (2) in June 2022, the DLPW organized a training session to better equip labour inspectors with the knowledge, understanding, and legal practices which are necessary to become experts in the agricultural sector and better detect child labour; (3) in July 2023, the Department of Fisheries organized a capacity-building seminar for officials to better prosecute cases of child labour in this sector; (4) since 2016, in order to strengthen the potential of labour inspectors, the DLPW created a network in 34 provinces to protect labour rights; (5) there are a total of 2,782 members of the Labour Protection Network, whose role is to report cases to a hotline service; and (6) since 2016, 224 cases involving violations of child labour laws were reported, most of which (185 cases) related to the absence of notification of employment of working children between 15 and17 years of age.

The Committee further takes note of the detailed data provided by the Government on the number of inspections undertaken in business establishments, in agricultural business establishments and home-based employers, as well as the number of violations found and the fines imposed. More specifically, for the period 2019–22, it notes that: (1) legal proceedings were initiated against 38 establishments and 89 individuals for the illegal employment of children under 15 years of age, in breach of section 44 of the Labour Protection Act, 1998. Among these, 17 fines were issued for a total amount of 800,000 Thai baht (approximately US$20,000 dollars); (2) 32 legal proceedings were initiated against 74 establishments and 167 individuals for failure to notify the employment or termination of employment of a child employee, in breach of section 45 of the Labour Protection Act, 1998. Among these, 47 fines were issued, for a total amount of 252,333 baht (approximately US$7,000 dollars); (3) no case was found relating to the employment of a child under the age of 18 years in prohibited work, in accordance with section 49 of the Labour Protection Act; and (4) legal proceedings were initiated against 20 establishments and 44 individuals for the employment of a child under the age of 18 years in prohibited places and establishments, including slaughterhouses, gambling places, and service establishments, in breach of section 50 of the Labour Protection Act, 1998. Fines were imposed in 13 of these cases for an unspecified amount. The Committee requests the Government to pursue its efforts to identify and combat child labour, and to continue to provide information on: (i) the measures taken by the subcommittee to monitor and collect information on preventing and addressing child labour; (ii) the measures taken, and results achieved, following the signature of the MOU in 2021; (iii) the number and nature of violations detected by the labour inspectorate and the penalties applied; and (iv) statistical data on the nature, extent, and trends of child labour, indicating the sectors of economic activity where child labour is more prevalent.

Articles 2(1) and 3(1). Scope of application and hazardous work. The Committee previously observed that self-employed children and children working in the informal economy did not benefit from the protection of the Labour Protection Act,1998, including provisions relating to minimum age and hazardous work. In this regard, it noted that section 21 of the Home Workers Protection Act, 2010, provides protection for informal workers in the industrial sector and lists four types of work prohibited to all homeworkers, including children under the age of 18 years, such as: (1) works involving hazardous materials; (2) works carried out with the use of tools or machines, the vibration of which may be hazardous to the persons performing the works; (3) works involving extreme heat or cold; and (4) other works which may affect the health and safety of the worker or quality of the environment. The Committee had also noted that the nature or types of works referred to under section 21 shall be prescribed by ministerial regulation and had asked the Government to provide information on the adoption of this Regulation.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that it adopted, in April 2021, the Ministerial Regulation on Prohibited Work for Home Workers, B.E. 2564 (2021), pursuant to section 21 of the Home Workers Protection Act. The Ministerial Regulation outlines two types of works that employers are prohibited from contracting individuals to perform at home: (1) works involving extreme heat, including works that cause or involve temperatures exceeding an average of 34 degrees Celsius during a consecutive two-hour period; and (2) works that may affect health, safety, or environmental quality, including work involving bandsaws and work that generates loud noise level exceeding 85 decibels over an eight-hour work period.

The Committee further recalls that the National Children Working Survey of 2018 highlighted that a majority of children are involved in child labour in the agricultural sector or in own-account work. In this regard, it notes that the Government does not provide information on the measures taken to ensure that children engaged in informal sectors or in own-account work benefit from the protection of the Convention. The Committee therefore requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that all children working in the informal economy, including in the agricultural sector or in own-account work, benefit from the protection provided by the Convention. It also requests the Government to provide information on the application in practice of the Ministerial Regulation on Prohibited Work for Home Workers, B.E. 2564 (2021), more particularly on the number of violations detected relating to the engagement of children under the age of 18 years for home-based work in the prohibited types of works listed above, and the penalties imposed.

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