Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1992, published 79th ILC session (1992)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Nicaragua (Ratification: 1981)

The Committee notes the information communicated by the Government in response to the general direct request 1990. It also notes that, according to the Government's report, a draft Labour Code drawn up with the assistance of the International Labour Office should give full effect to the Convention. With that in view, the Committee reiterates the following points from previous comments:

Article 2, paragraph 1, and Article 5, paragraph 3, of the Convention. The Committee has asked the Government to indicate the measures taken or contemplated to fix a minimum age of 14 years for admission to any employment or work, including work done by the worker on his own account in accordance with Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention and in all the sectors covered by Article 5, paragraph 3.

Article 3, paragraphs 1 and 2. The Committee has asked the Government to indicate the measures taken or contemplated to prohibit the employment of young persons under the age of 18 years in activities which by their nature or the circumstances in which they are carried out are likely to jeopardise their health, safety or morals. In this connection, it points out that the types of employment or work concerned should be determined by national laws or by the competent authority after consultation with employers' and workers' organisations.

Article 3, paragraph 3. The Committee has pointed out that, in a case where work is authorised for adolescents as from the age of 16 years in the types of employment or work referred to in that Article, measures should be taken to ensure that their health, safety and morals are fully protected and that they have received adequate specific instruction or vocational training.

Article 7, paragraphs 1 and 4. The Committee has expressed the hope that the provisions of the new Labour Code will specify that children 12 to 14 years of age may be permitted only to perform light work which is not likely to be harmful to their health or development and not such as to prejudice their attendance at school or their capacity to benefit from the instruction received.

The Committee hopes that the Government will be in a position to indicate what measures have been taken to bring the laws into conformity with the Convention on these points.