Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2024, publiée 113ème session CIT (2025)

Convention (n° 182) sur les pires formes de travail des enfants, 1999 - Royaume-Uni de Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande du Nord (Ratification: 2000)

The Committee takes note of the Government’s report, of the observations of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) received on 30 August 2019 and the updates received on 1 October 2020. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments in this respect.

Article 3 of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour. Clause (a). Sale and trafficking. The Committee takes due note of the Government’s detailed information, in its report, on the measures taken by England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland as regards human trafficking. It notes in particular: (1) the expansion of the Independent Child Trafficking Guardians (ICTG), which were introduced to provide an independent source of advice and advocacy for trafficked children, over two thirds of all local authorities across England and Wales; (2) the launching of Guardianship Scotland in April 2023, a new statutory ICTG service to provide support to unaccompanied children arriving in Scotland who will have undergone an arduous migration alone and may have been a victim of, or may be vulnerable to becoming a victim of, human trafficking; and (3) the implementation by the Child Trafficking Strategy Group (CTSG) of the 18 specific actions of the Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy of Scotland which relate to children who are, or may be, victims of human trafficking and exploitation. The Committee further notes that, as part of a wider National Referral Mechanism (NRM) reform activity, a Pilot test was launched in 2021 devolving responsibility for NRM decisions for child victims of trafficking from the Home Office to Local Authorities. This approach enables decisions about whether a child is a victim of trafficking to be made by those involved in their care, and ensures the decisions made are closely aligned with the provision of local, needs-based support and any law enforcement response. The pilot is now operating in 20 pilot sites, covering 30 Local Authorities across England, Scotland and Wales.

The Committee notes, however, according to the Government’s information, that a total of 621 referrals were made to the NRM in 2022 – only as relates to Scotland – representing an increase of 48 per cent from the previous year, with the largest increase in identification as victims of trafficking and exploitation being children. The Committee further notes, according to the online data of the Home Office for 2023, that the number of referrals to the NRM for potential child victims of trafficking for the United Kingdom were at their highest on record (44 per cent; 7,432).

While taking due note of the measures taken by the Government, the Committee must therefore express its concern at the high number of children identified as victims or potential victims of human trafficking, which appears to be on the increase. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken to address the root causes of child trafficking in order to prevent children under 18 years of age from becoming victims of trafficking, and to supply information on the results achieved in this regard. It also requests the Government to continue to provide information on the measures taken to provide child victims of trafficking with the appropriate services for their rehabilitation and social integration, including the number of child victims of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation who have been referred to the NRM, removed and provided with support and assistance.

On other issues related to human trafficking, the Committee refers to its comments under the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), and the Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930.

Clause (d).Hazardous work in military service. The Committee takes note of the TUC’s observations according to which 16- and 17-year-olds are being recruited into the armed forces. The TUC refers to information which suggests that recruiters intentionally target children from areas of high deprivation. A 2019 study by the Child Rights International Network (CRIN) on the conditions faced by these young recruits, endorsed by the TUC, reveals that, while young persons under 18 cannot be deployed to war zones, military employment introduces multiple psychological and physical risks, as well as exposes recruits to hazardous working conditions. The study indicates, for example: (1) that military training is a psychologically coercive process involving extraordinary exposure to stress, as well as elevated rates of bullying and sexual harassment; (2) that psychological stressors are intentionally applied in order to transform young civilians into soldiers, that stressors of this kind are harmful to mental health and that young persons are more susceptible; (3) that the intensity of physical training puts recruits at risk of musculoskeletal injuries in particular, as well as other conditions such as heat exhaustion, and that there are no limits to the weight a recruit can be instructed to lift; and (4) that children in military training handle and fire live ammunition, and that CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear) training exposes recruits to tear gas. Moreover, the study reveals that the working conditions applied to young persons in the army would be unlawful in civilian employment. For example, young recruits are on duty for ten hours per day, the armed forces are exempt from regulations governing rest periods, and recruits have no right to leave the army in the first six weeks of training. Moreover, after six months, their right to leave is subject to a notice period of up to three months; and absence without leave, including of young persons, is punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment. The Committee further notes the TUC’s information, in its 2020 update, regarding the new data that has come to light supporting concerns that military employment in the United Kingdom exposes children to physical, psychological or sexual abuse and that, in some instances, this has led to suicide. Moreover, the TUC indicates that, in May 2019, a review of the policy of recruiting children under the age of 18 into the armed forces was undertaken by the army, in which non-governmental stakeholders were not permitted to engage and which did not respond to the persistent concerns that the Army’s Junior Entry Policy is incompatible with children’s rights, including those under the Convention.

The Committee further notes that the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its concluding observations of 22 June 2023 (CRC/C/GBR/CO/6-7, paragraph 56), notes with concern reports of the overrepresentation of socioeconomically disadvantaged children in the armed forces. It notably recommends that the United Kingdom consider raising the minimum age for voluntary recruitment into the armed forces to 18 years, take measures to address the reported heavy mental health burden among child recruits, and promptly investigate any reports of sexual abuse, sexual harassment and other forms of violence against children in the armed forces, particularly during armed forces training.

The Committee takes note of all this information with concern. The Committee recalls that, under Article 3(d) of the Convention, work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children, constitutes one of the worst forms of child labour prohibited to children under the age of 18 and that Member States are required to take immediate and effective measures to secure elimination of the worst forms of child labour as a matter of urgency. The Committee therefore urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that young persons under the age of 18 years voluntarily recruited into the armed forces are not engaged in hazardous types of work, and to ensure their protection from any type of abuse or exploitation in the context of their military service. It requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken in this regard and the results achieved.