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

Convenio sobre la edad mínima, 1973 (núm. 138) - República Dominicana (Ratificación : 1999)

Article 2(3) of the Convention. Age of completion of compulsory schooling. The Committee notes the Government’s information, in its report, regarding the following measures to promote school attendance: (1) the education development and guidance programmes implemented by the Psychology and Counselling Department of the Ministry of Education (MINERD), in which families participate through the School Association of Parents, Carers and Friends (APMAE) and “Parents School”, which includes initiatives such as “Changing families through school”, “Epiphany” and “Parent skills”; and (2) school meal schemes, which include breakfast, lunch, snacks and school meal vouchers.

The Committee also notes the statistics of the Integrated System for Strategic Intelligence (SIIE) for the 2022–23 academic year, showing that: (1) the number of pupils enrolled was 2,587,965 (1,302,557 boys and 1,285,408 girls), mainly from urban areas (2,211,277 pupils) and the remainder in rural areas (376,688 pupils); and (2) of the overall enrolment rate, 202,936 pupils are in adult education. The Committee further notes that, over the same period, for full school days, the dropout rate in primary school was 2.6 per cent, and for pupils who went to school only in the mornings, the rate was 2.62 per cent.

The Committee also notes that, according to the 2023 annual report of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 16 per cent of young people do not go to secondary school. Considering that compulsory education is one of the most effective means of combating child labour, the Committee requests the Government to continue to adopt measures to ensure, in practice, access to compulsory education for all children up to 14 years, paying special attention to regions in the country with a high level of absenteeism. The Committee also requests the Government to continue to provide updated statistical information on the rates of school enrolment, attendance and dropout, disaggregated by sex and age.

Article 3. Hazardous work and admission to hazardous types of work from the age of 16 years. The Committee notes the adoption of Resolution No. 10-2023 amending the list of hazardous and unhealthy types of work for persons under 18 years of age of 2023, and of the derogating Resolution No. 52-04 of 2004. The Committee notes that Resolution No. 10-2023 extends the list of hazardous work prohibited to persons under 18 years. It notes, however, that section 3(1) of the Resolution authorizes persons under 18 years (without specifying a minimum age) to carry out certain prohibited activities where they are related to training programmes and internships, provided that: (1) safety and health protection is ensured; and (2) the work is performed under the management and supervision of a competent person from the training centre involved. The Committee recalls that Article 3(3) of the Convention allows young persons to carry out hazardous types of work from the age of 16 years only on the condition 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.

Furthermore, the Committee notes the Government’s information regarding the organization of 471 awareness-raising workshops on this topic in 2023. It also notes that, in its concluding observations, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed its concern about the high number of children aged 14 to 17 who are engaged in hazardous work (CRC/C/DOM/CO/6, 18 October 2023, paragraph 40). The Committee therefore requests the Government to continue to take the necessary measures to ensure that the minimum age for exceptions to the prohibition of admission of young persons to hazardous work, established in section 3(1) of Resolution No. 10-23, is set at a minimum of 16 years, in order to comply with Article 3(3) of the Convention. The Committee also once again requests the Government to provide information on the application of Resolution No. 52-04 and its subsequent Resolution No. 10-23, including on the number and nature of violations concerning young persons in hazardous work and on the corresponding penalties imposed.

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