Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

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

Article 1 of the Convention and Part V of the report form. National policy and application of the Convention in practice. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes with interest the adoption of the “National strategy to prevent and eliminate the worst forms of child labour and protect young workers (2008–15)”, drawn up in cooperation with ILO–IPEC and UNICEF. The implementation of this strategy is based on six guiding principles, namely: the family as a unit of social action; the key cycles in the life of the child; recognition of the rights of the child; education as the best means of combating child labour; good use of resources; and the drawing up of measures resulting in synergy. In order to implement these six guiding principles, programmes of action will be drawn up and implemented. The Committee also notes that, according to the December 2007 evaluation report on the ILO/IPEC project on the elimination of child labour in Latin America, the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (ICBF) has implemented a project to prevent and eliminate child labour in 25 municipalities in the country. In addition, it notes the drawing up of the “National development plan (2006–10)”, which aims in particular to reduce poverty and cut child labour from 7.2 per cent to 5.3 per cent.

The Committee also notes that, according to the information contained in the explanatory notes relating to the national strategy, the percentage of children under 15 years of age who were working in 2005 is as follows: 1.4 per cent of children between 5 and 9 years of age (compared to 3.9 per cent in 2001), 4.9 per cent of children aged 10 or 11 (compared with 10.7 per cent in 2001) and 11.2 per cent of children between 12 and 14 years of age (compared with 16.6 per cent in 2001). Most working children are occupied in agriculture, mainly in harvesting coffee, sugar cane, fruit and vegetables, trade, services and industry. The Committee appreciates the measures taken by the Government to abolish child labour, measures which it considers as the affirmation of a political will to develop strategies to combat this problem. It also notes that these measures have enabled the percentage of working children to be reduced between 2001 and 2005. The Committee therefore strongly encourages the Government to continue its efforts to combat child labour and requests it to provide information on any measures taken in the context of the national strategy, the ICBF project to prevent and eliminate child labour and the National Development Plan for eliminating child labour, indicating in particular the programmes of action to be implemented and the results achieved. It also requests the Government to continue providing information on the application of the Convention in practice, including, for example, statistical data relating to the employment of children and young persons, and extracts of the reports of the inspection services, particularly concerning inspections conducted in the abovementioned sectors.

Article 2, paragraph 1. Scope of application. The Committee noted that section 113 of the Children and Young Persons’ Code lays down the procedure for requesting permission to work for young persons. In this regard, it noted that section 113(1) provides that the permission to work must be requested jointly by the employer and the young person and that section 113(5) requires the employer to obtain a health certificate for the young worker. The Committee indicated that its understanding was that the provisions of the Children and Young Persons’ Code regulating the employment of children and young persons apply in the context of an employment relationship. It asks the Government to supply information on the way in which children and young persons who are not bound by an employment relationship, such as those who are self-employed, enjoy the protection afforded by the Convention.

The Government indicates in its report that, as far as the department of Cundinamarca is concerned, permission to work is also given to young persons working in a context other than an employment relationship. In addition, those young persons must be registered in the social security system. The Committee notes that this information concerns only one department and not the whole of the country. It therefore reminds the Government that the Convention applies to all sectors of economic activity and that it covers all forms of employment and work, whether or not there is an employment contract and whether or not the work is paid. The Committee requests the Government once again to provide information on the way in which children who are not bound by an employment relationship, such as those who are self-employed or work in the informal economy, enjoy the protection afforded by the Convention. In this regard, it requests the Government to consider the possibility of taking steps to adapt and strengthen the labour inspection services in order to ensure this protection.

Article 2, paragraph 2. Raising the initially specified minimum age for admission to work. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes with interest that on 17 April 2008 the Government sent a declaration to the Director-General indicating that it was officially raising the minimum age for admission to employment or work from 14 to 15 years, thus bringing the minimum age fixed by national law into line with that prescribed at international level.

Article 2, paragraph 3. Education. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), in its concluding observations of June 2006 (CRC/C/COL/3, paragraph 76), while noting some improvements in the area of education, expressed its concern that the Government still did not have a national education strategy focusing on the rights of the child, and that the ethnic education policy (bilingual education) for indigenous communities was limited in scope and often applied without the persons concerned being sufficiently consulted. The Committee requested the Government to provide information on the measures taken to increase the school enrolment and attendance rates and invited it to draw up a national education strategy.

The Committee duly notes that, according to the Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report 2008 published by UNESCO, entitled Education for All by 2015: Will we make it?, Colombia is on course to achieve the goal of universal primary education for all by 2015. However, it notes that this report indicates that the country may not achieve the goal of gender parity in secondary education, to the detriment of boys. Furthermore, the Committee notes that, according to data for 2005 from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, the primary school enrolment rate is 90 per cent for both girls and boys and, at secondary level, 64 per cent for girls and 58 per cent for boys. The Committee duly notes the detailed information from the Government on the various action programmes implemented in the country to improve the working of the education system in Colombia, particularly those relating to groups at risk of dropping out of school. Finally, it notes that, in the context of the implementation of the “National Strategy to prevent and eliminate the worst forms of child labour and protect young workers (2008–15)”, educational measures will be adopted, particularly with regard to the most vulnerable groups in the population.

In view of the fact that compulsory education is one of the most effective means of combating child labour, the Committee requests the Government to continue its efforts to improve the working of the education system in the country. In this regard, it requests the Government to supply information on the measures taken, in the context of the “National Strategy to prevent and eliminate the worst forms of child labour and protect young workers”, for increasing the school attendance rate at both primary and secondary levels and for reducing the gender disparity in access to education, particularly at secondary level, by giving special attention to boys and to the most vulnerable groups in the population, such as children in rural areas and displaced, Afro‑Colombian or indigenous children. The Committee also requests the Government to intensify its efforts to combat child labour by strengthening the measures enabling child workers to enrol in the school system, whether formal or informal, or in vocational training, provided that minimum age criteria are respected. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the results achieved.

Article 3, paragraph 2. Determination of types of hazardous work. The Committee notes with interest the adoption of resolution No. 01677 of 20 May 2008 determining the activities considered as the worst forms of child labour or hazardous and those whose working conditions are harmful to the physical and psychological health and safety of persons under 18 years of age (resolution No. 01677 of 20 May 2008). It duly notes that this resolution contains a detailed list of the types of hazardous work prohibited to all young persons under 18 years of age.

Article 3, paragraph 3. Hazardous work. The Committee notes that, under the terms of section 4 of resolution No. 01677 of 20 May 2008, young persons between 15 and 17 years of age who have completed technical training with the National Apprenticeship Service (SENA) or institutes accredited for this purpose may be authorized to work in an activity for which they have been trained and may be able to freely exercise this occupation, art or trade, on condition that the contractor respects the terms of Decree No. 1295 of 1994 and Decree No. 933 of 2003, resolution No. 1016 of 1989 and resolution No. 2346 of 2007, and also Decision No. 584 of 2004 of the Andean Committee for Occupational Safety and Health Authorizations.

The Committee reminds the Government that, under Article 3, paragraph 3, of the Convention, national laws or regulations may, after the organizations of employers and workers concerned have been consulted, authorize hazardous work by young persons aged 16 years or over, provided 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. Even though both conditions laid down by Article 3, paragraph 3, of the Convention are respected by section 4 of resolution No. 01677, the Committee understands that under this provision young persons between 15 and 17 years of age who have completed their apprenticeship or technical training with the SENA or institutes accredited for this purpose may perform the types of hazardous work prohibited by section 2 of the resolution. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the work which may be performed by young persons between 15 and 17 years of age under section 4 of resolution No. 01677 of 20 May 2008. It also requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken or contemplated to guarantee that no young person under 16 years of age will be authorized to perform hazardous work, as prohibited by section 2 of resolution No. 01677 of 20 May 2008.

Article 9, paragraph 1. Penalties. The Committee notes that resolution No. 01677 of 20 May 2008 does not contain any provision providing for penalties for violations of section 2 concerning the prohibition on employing young persons under 18 years of age in hazardous work. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the provisions of national legislation which lay down such penalties and to provide copies of the relevant texts.