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

Convention (n° 138) sur l'âge minimum, 1973 - Ouzbékistan (Ratification: 2009)

The Committee notes the observations of the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Associations (IUF), received on 31 August 2023.

Article 2(1) of the Convention. Minimum age for admission to work, labour inspection and application in practice. The Committee notes, from the Government’s report, the adoption of the new Labour Code in 2022, which further restricts the employment of persons under the age of 18 years and continues to prohibit their employment in hazardous work (section 412).

The Committee notes the Government’s indication, in its report on the application of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182), that it has held training seminars to strengthen the capacities of labour inspectors working on child labour. In particular, 117 state labour inspectors upgraded their skills through the national advanced training courses of the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations. The Committee further notes that: (1) in 2022, the State Labour Inspectorate received more than 19,000 communications on labour relations in all sectors, with labour inspectors examining 24,200 organizations and enterprises, and identifying 89,800 cases of labour-related violations; (2) during the course of the examinations, around 10,000 written instructions and 2,675 submissions were sent to employers in order to remedy violations; and (3) for 2022–23, no criminal case of child labour was investigated by investigative units. However, the Committee notes, from the observations of the IUF that: (1) during 2020–23, instances of children working in cotton harvesting and other related activities were reported; (2) complainants are not always willing to speak with labour inspectors, for fear of reprisals from their superiors; and (3) some farmers have admitted to utilizing their children for work in their farms.

The Committee notes that the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), in its concluding observations: (1) noted the persisting reports of child labour cases, in particular in the construction and cotton industries; and (2) recommended that the Government pursue its efforts to eliminate the use of child labour, including through the use of regular labour inspections and continuous capacity-building of employers, farmers, local authorities and other relevant stakeholders (CRC/C/UZB/CO/5, 27 October 2022, paragraph 45). The Committee requests the Government to strengthen its efforts towards the effective elimination of child labour, including in construction and agriculture. In this regard, it requests the Government to continue to provide information on: (i) the measures taken to this end; (ii) any further capacity-building of the labour inspection services to allow them to monitor child labour in all sectors, including in construction, agriculture and the informal economy; (iii) the number of inspections carried out in relation to child labour, if possible disaggregated by region and sector of the economy; (iv) the number and nature of violations detected and the types of sanctions imposed; and (v) the number of children below the minimum working age who are engaged in child labour in the country, disaggregated by sex and sector of activity.