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

Convention (n° 138) sur l'âge minimum, 1973 - Ouganda (Ratification: 2003)

Article 2(1) and (2) of the Convention. Raising the minimum age for admission to employment or work. The Committee recalls that, at the time of ratification of the Convention, Uganda declared 14 years as the minimum age for admission to employment or work. It notes that, while section 32(2) of the Employment Act of 2006 and section 3 of the Employment (Employment of Children Regulations) of 2012, both provide that children under the age of 14 years shall not be employed (except for light work), section 8(2) of the Children (Amendment) Act of 2016 sets the minimum age for employment or work at 16 years.

The Committee observes that there appears to be a discrepancy in Uganda’s national legislation regarding the general minimum age for admission to employment or work. The Committee encourages the Government to address this discrepancy and harmonize its national legislation so that the age of admission to employment or work is unequivocally stipulated. If the minimum age of 16 years is retained,the Committee once again requests the Government to consider the possibility of notifying the ILO Director-General, with a new declaration, that the minimum age specified at the time of ratification of the Convention has been raised to 16 years, in accordance with Article 2(2) of the Convention.

Articles 3(3) and 6. Admission to hazardous work from the age of 16 years and vocational training and apprenticeship. The Committee recalls that, while Uganda’s national legislation prohibits the employment of children under the age of 18 in hazardous work (section 5 of the Employment (Employment of Children) Regulations, 2012) and section 8(1) of the Children (Amendment) Act, 2016), sections 8 and 9 of the Employment (Employment of Children) Regulations, 2012, allow the engagement of a child aged between 12 and 17 years of age in educational training or apprenticeship programmes which are on the list of hazardous work, if first approved by a commissioner who shall issue permits restricting the age, number of hours of work and conditions in which work in this apprenticeship is allowed.

The Committee once again recalls that, under the terms of Article 3(3) of the Convention, the performance of hazardous types of work may be authorized to young persons only from the age of 16 and on 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. In this regard, the Government once again indicates that it is developing a Labour Inspectors Guide to ensure that children below 16 years of age are not permitted to undertake education training or apprenticeships in jobs which are on the list of hazardous work under the first schedule of the Employment (Employment of Children) Regulations, 2012. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any measures taken or envisaged to amend sections 8 and 9 of the Employment (Employment of Children) Regulations, 2012, to only allow apprenticeships in hazardous jobs to be undertaken as of the age of 16, and only on condition that the health, safety and morals of the young persons concerned be fully protected and that they receive the appropriate specific instruction or vocational training in the branch of activity in question. The Committee also once again requests the Government to provide a copy of the Labour Inspectors Guide and requests the Government to provide information on the manner in which the application of this Guide ensures that children under 16 years of age are not permitted to undertake educational training and apprenticeships which are on the list of hazardous work, and that young persons between 16 and 18 years of age who do undertake such educational training or apprenticeships do so under the safeguards laid out in Article 3(3) of the Convention.