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

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

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It must therefore repeat its previous observation which read as follows:

Repetition

Article 1 of the Convention and Part V of the report form. National policy on the effective abolition of child labour and the application of the Convention in practice. The Committee previously noted that a draft National Five-Year Action Plan for the Elimination of Child Labour (NAP) was first developed in 2007, but had not been adopted. It also noted that, according to the National Child Labour Survey (NCLS) of 2008, approximately 6.1 per cent of children between the ages of 5 and 14 in the country (approximately 142,570 children) were involved in economic activity. The NCLS also indicated that the majority of these working children (4.9 per cent of children in the age group) combined both school and economic activity. The NCLS further indicated that the overwhelming majority of working children (85 per cent) were in the agricultural sector.

The Committee noted the Government’s statement that the revision of the NAP is in the final process of consultation. The Committee also noted the information from ILO–IPEC of April 2012 that the revised NAP should include recent data on child labour and, in this regard, an ILO technical team travelled to Kigali in the spring of 2012. The Committee further noted that Rwanda is one of several countries participating in the ILO–IPEC project entitled “Project Development, Awareness Raising and Support for the Implementation of the Global Action Plan on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour by 2016”. Information from ILO–IPEC indicates that implementation of the Project in Rwanda was extended until June 2013. Noting that the NAP was first developed in 2007, the Committee urges the Government to ensure the elaboration, adoption and implementation of the NAP in the near future. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on progress made in this regard, and on the results achieved.

Article 2(2). Raising the initially specified minimum age for admission to work. The Committee previously noted the adoption of the Law Regulating Labour (2009), which prohibits employing a child even as apprentice, before the age of 16. Observing that, upon ratification the Government specified the minimum age of 14 years, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the fact that Article 2(2) of the Convention provides that any Member having ratified the Convention may subsequently notify the Director-General of the International Labour Office, by a new declaration, that it has raised the minimum age from that which it had initially specified. To allow the age fixed by national legislation (of 16 years) to be harmonized with that provided for at the international level, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would consider the possibility of sending a declaration of this nature to the Office.

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

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the near future.