Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Mauritania (Ratification: 2001)

Other comments on C138

Observation

Direct Request

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Article 1 of the Convention. National policy and application of the Convention in practice. The Committee previously requested the Government to continue its efforts to ensure the progressive elimination of child labour and to continue providing information on the activities and results of the National Plan of Action on the Elimination of Child Labour (PANETE–RIM).

The Committee notes the information in the Government’s report that the implementation of PANETE-RIM has resulted in the organization of activities to combat child labour, primarily in the wilayas (regions) of Guidimaka and Trarza: first and foremost, tripartite missions coordinated by the Ministry of Public Service and Labour (MFPT), the Ministry of Livestock and the Ministry of Social Affairs, Children and Family; and also regional workshops related to the second and third strategic axes of PANETE-RIM aimed at strengthening the technical and operational capacities of the actors involved and raising awareness and improving knowledge about child labour and its worst forms, particularly in the livestock sector. In addition, the Government indicates that a consultation mechanism has been set up with the social partners for the protection of children and the implementation of the national child protection strategy. The Committee requests the Government to continue its efforts to ensure the progressive elimination of child labour and to continue to provide information on the activities carried out and results achieved in this regard. It also requests the Government to provide information on the activities of the consultation mechanism to combat child labour. Finally, it requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure the availability of updated statistical information on the economic activities of children and young persons, including on the number of children working below the minimum age.

Article 3(1) and (2). Hazardous work. With regard to the adoption of the list of types of hazardous work prohibited for children under the age of 18 years, the Committee refers to its comments in relation to the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182).

Article 5. Limitation of the scope of application of the Convention to certain branches of economic activity. The Committee previously noted that, at the time of ratification of the Convention, Mauritania declared that it was initially limiting the scope of application of the Convention to the branches of economic activity and types of enterprise covered by Article 5(3) of the Convention, namely: mining and quarrying; manufacturing; construction and public works; electricity, gas and water; sanitary services; transport, storage and communications; and plantations and other agricultural undertakings mainly producing for commercial purposes, but excluding family and small-scale holdings producing for local consumption and not regularly employing waged workers. It noted the information provided by the Government that in industries that are excluded from the scope of the provisions of the Convention, child labour is virtually non-existent. However, the Government stated that it intended to extend the scope of the provisions of the Convention to the informal sector, where child labour might still exist.

In this regard, the Committee noted, in its comments on Convention No. 182, the statistics in the September 2018 report on the survey of child labour in agriculture in Mauritania, produced jointly by the Government and the ILO, which indicated that 77.1 per cent of working children who responded to the survey were unpaid family workers. According to that report, more than one third (37.2 per cent) of interviewed child workers between 5 and 17 years of age said that they had been exposed to dangers and hazards connected with agricultural activities, such as injuries from tools and exposure to chemicals.

The Committee notes with concern that the employment of children in informal family enterprises, including in hazardous conditions, appears to be widespread in the country. The Committee emphasizes that, although the scope of the Convention may be limited to certain branches of economic activity, the protection of children from engagement in hazardous work cannot be excluded from the scope of the Convention, especially since the new Order No. 0066 of 17 January 2022 on the list of hazardous work prohibited for children, prohibits the employment of children under 18 years of age in hazardous work harmful to their physical or mental health, in establishments of any kind, including family enterprises. Recalling that Article 5(4) of the Convention allows Member States to extend the scope of the Convention by a declaration addressed to the Director-General of the Office, the Committee strongly encourages the Government to consider the possibility of making use of this Article to ensure the protection of children working in the informal sector, in particular in a family context. In the meantime, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that no child under the age of 18 years is engaged in hazardous work, including those working in a family business, and to provide information on the progress made in this regard and the results achieved.

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