Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Zambia (Ratification: 1976)

Articles 1 and 2(1) of the Convention. National policy and scope of application. The Committee previously noted the International Trade Union Confederation’s (ITUC) allegation that children were reported to be working in the unregulated economy. According to the ITUC, children were mostly found in agriculture, domestic service, small-scale mining operations, stone crushing and pottery.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that the launch of the National Action Plan on Child Labour (NAPCL) and the National Child Labour Policy (NCLP) in 2011 provided a comprehensive framework and approach for the elimination of child labour in the country. It also notes the Government’s statement that the NAPCL which will be implemented within the 2012–15 Decent Work Country Programme, cuts across all economic sectors, including the informal economy and provides a roadmap for implementing partners to adequately address child labour issues. A consultative workshop for social partners and implementing partners was held to solicit inputs from all the ten provinces into the draft monitoring and evaluation framework and resource mobilization strategies for the NAPCL. The Committee notes, however, that according to the joint ILO–IPEC, UNICEF and World Bank report on Understanding Children’s Work (UCW) in Zambia of 2012, although there has been a substantial reduction in the incidence of child labour, over one third of children aged 7–14 years, some 950,000 children, were working in 2008, of which nearly 92 per cent worked in the agricultural sector. The Committee takes due note of the measures taken by the Government to combat child labour. However, it observes with concern that there remain a significant number of children under the minimum age of 15 years engaged in child labour in the country. The Committee therefore urges the Government to pursue its efforts to ensure that, in practice, children under the minimum age of 15 years are not engaged in child labour. The Committee also requests the Government to provide detailed information on the implementation of the NAPCL and the NCLP and their impact on effectively eliminating child labour, especially in the informal economy.

Article 3(2). Determination of hazardous work. The Committee previously noted the Government’s statement that the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, working in consultation with the Ministry of Justice, had taken steps to finalize a Statutory Instrument on Hazardous Work before the end of 2011. It also noted that this statutory instrument prohibits work in a covered site in any of the following types of occupations: excavation/drilling; stone crushing; block/brick-making; building; roofing; painting; tour guiding; selling/serving in bars; animal herding; fishing; working in tobacco and cotton fields; spraying of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers; handling farm machinery; and processing in industries.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that the draft Statutory Instrument on the List of Hazardous Work is in the process of being approved by the Minister of Justice. Noting that the Government has been referring to the adoption of this instrument since 2005, the Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures to adopt the Statutory Instrument on Hazardous Work containing the list of types of hazardous work, in the near future. It requests the Government to supply a copy thereof, as soon as it has been adopted.

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