Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2009, publiée 99ème session CIT (2010)

The Committee notes with regret that, for the fifth consecutive year, the Government has not provided a report on the application of the Convention. However, the Government provided information orally to the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards (98th Session, June 2009), which is noted by the Committee of Experts.

Articles 1, paragraph 1, and 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention. Child labour in domestic service and apprenticeship under conditions similar to forced labour. In its previous comments, the Committee noted a communication dated 6 July 2006 from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), now the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and the World Confederation of Labour (WCL), containing observations on the existence of situations similar to forced labour affecting children in domestic service and in the context of apprenticeship. According to the information contained in this communication, many children from rural areas are employed as domestic workers in urban areas. These children work long days (often from 4 a.m. to 11 p.m.) seven days a week, and carry out their work under the constant threat of physical violence and dismissal. The communication also reported the exploitation of apprentices working in the informal economy under conditions amounting to debt bondage. The apprentices are entrusted by their parents to an employer with the objective of learning a trade. During their apprenticeship, they are subjected to the menial tasks of fetching water, washing and housework. In certain mechanical and woodworking workshops, they act as night guards under conditions described as being deplorable. The very high fee for apprenticeship demanded by certain employers prevent apprentices from freeing themselves at the end of their contracts, thereby obliging them to work for free for long periods. One year of free work is sometimes required from apprentices as a gesture of gratitude. During holiday periods, apprentices often work until the early hours of the morning without financial compensation, particularly in clothes-making workshops and hairdressing establishments.

The Committee notes that the Government has made no comment on this communication, which was forwarded to it on 20 July 2006. In the context of the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards in June 2009, the Government confined itself to indicating that two Bills were to be submitted to the National Council on Labour and Social Legislation in August 2009: a draft Code of apprenticeship clarifying the role, responsibilities and obligations of the various actors, and a draft order determining the conditions for the use of domestic work.

The Committee requests the Government to take all the necessary measures in law and practice on an urgent basis to bring an end to the situations of exploitation experienced by certain children in domestic service and apprenticeship, which are similar to forced labour within the meaning of the Convention, as their work is imposed under the menace of a penalty (ill-treatment) and they cannot validly give their consent to the performance of such work as, in view of the conditions under which it is carried out, it is likely to harm their health, safety and development. It also requests the Government to provide information on the progress made concerning the two Bills respecting apprenticeship and domestic work and to provide a copy of these texts to the Office once they have been adopted.

The Committee refers to its comments concerning the application of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182). Since the Government has not provided the information requested in reply to its comments made both under Convention No. 182 and under Convention No. 29, the Committee reiterates its comments on the application of Convention No. 29. In the future, these issues will be examined exclusively and more specifically under Convention No. 182, since the latter Convention provides that forced labour is one of the worst forms of child labour.

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