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Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Kyrgyzstan (RATIFICATION: 2004)

Other comments on C182

Observation

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The Committee notes the observations of the Kyrgyzstan Federation of Trade Unions (FPK), received on 1 November 2022.

Article 6 of the Convention. Programmes of action to eliminate the worst forms of child labour. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report regarding the elaboration of a draft Program for Protection of Children for 2023–26 and a plan for its implementation. The Committee further notes that the draft plan envisages measures to ensure the identification of children involved in the worst forms of child labour and to provide them with social support. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the adoption and implementation of the Programme for Protection of Children for 2023–26, including the concrete measures taken and the results achieved with respect to the elimination of the worst forms of child labour.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clauses (a) and (d). Preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour and children at special risk. Children from poor families. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that in 2021, 1,308 children and their families living in difficult circumstances received State social support services. The Government further indicates that the territorial subdivisions of the Ministry of Labour, Social Security and Migration regularly monitor children not attending compulsory school and take measures to return them to school based on the 2015 Regulations on the Procedure for Identifying Children and Families Living in Difficult Circumstances. In particular, it was identified that 163 children did not attend school in the first half of 2022 and 85 children out of 163 were subsequently returned to school.

The Committee observes that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, in his statement of 3 June 2022, pointed out the existing financial, physical and administrative obstacles that prevent the poorest children from accessing schooling. Furthermore, according to the statement of 15 April 2022 of the United Nations Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, children who are at risk of dropping out from school come from socially disadvantaged families. The Committee also observes the increase in the child poverty rate from 25.7 per cent (660,800 children) in 2019 to 31.8 per cent (833,900 children) in 2020 according to the 2022 UNICEF report “Situation of Children in Kyrgyzstan”. The Committee requests the Government to continue to take effective and time-bound measures to prevent children from poor socio-economic families from being engaged in the worst forms of child labour and to facilitate access to free basic education to these children. It further requests the Government to provide information on the results achieved in this regard, including statistical data on school attendance, completion and drop-out rates.

Children in street situations. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government that 121 children in street situations were identified in the first half of 2022. The Government further indicates that children in street situations receive necessary State social support services in accordance with the individual protection plan elaborated for such children. The Committee also notes that according to the FPK, 238,339 visits were carried out by the joint commissions consisting of representatives of educational and social service agencies, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and local authorities to identify children left without parental care. In this respect, the Committee observes from the report of the Ombudsman of Kyrgyzstan on the observance of human rights and freedoms in 2021 that children whose parents have moved either inside the country or abroad for work constitute the majority of children in the streets and are at an increased risk of experiencing violence, abuse, and child labour due to lack of care. The Committee requests the Government to continue to take effective and time-bound measures to protect children in street situations from the worst forms of child labour. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the specific measures taken in this regard and the results achieved, including the number of identified children and the types of social assistance provided.