Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

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

Article 1 of the Convention. National policy on the effective elimination of child labour. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes the following information provided by the Government in its report on the various measures taken to combat child labour:

• -the “Road to School” initiative, which was designed to reach all school-age children and to provide assistance and material support to socially disadvantaged children, was extended to all regions. Overall, this initiative reached 486,948 children in 2014;
• -programmes, including training, seminars and awareness-raising programmes against child labour, were conducted under the National Information Campaign Initiatives, which covered around 1.4 million children;
• -several programmes were implemented in 2014 within the new social policy on improving children’s quality of life, set out in the Kazakhstan 2050 Strategy, which covered 186,948 children (an increase by 18 per cent covered in 2013) from low-income families who received assistance and sponsorship totalling an amount of 861,239,000 Kazakhistani tenge (KZT) (approximately US$2,543,413).

However, the Committee notes that the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), in its concluding observations of 30 October 2015, expressed concern about the reports of child labour in vegetable plantations, in car washing, and places of entertainment and trade (CRC/C/KAZ/CO/4, paragraph 56). While taking due note of the measures taken by the Government, the Committee encourages the Government to strengthen its efforts to eliminate child labour in all sectors and requests that it continue to provide information on the measures taken in this regard.

Labour inspection and the application of the Convention in practice. General application. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the Government’s information that along with state monitoring, there was also public monitoring of labour law in the enterprises or organizations by the public safety and health inspector appointed by the trade union committee of the enterprise/organizations. It also noted the various measures taken by the Government to monitor and combat child labour, including through cooperation with ILO–IPEC.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that amendments were introduced to the Labour Code and to the Act on state supervision and monitoring, in 2015, with the aim of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the work of state labour inspectors in taking preventive and warning measures against child labour and its worst forms. The Committee also notes the information provided by the Government with regard to the inspections conducted by the state labour inspectorate and various other agencies, such as education authorities together with representatives from the agencies of internal affairs and health care, civil society organizations, children’s and young people’s organizations and parents group, to detect child labour. Accordingly, in 2014, a total of 4,062 inspections were conducted in 4,557 premises (including markets, petrol stations and construction sites) during which, 6,837 minors were detected as engaged in economic activities. Out of these, 185 minors were engaged in child labour. The Committee encourages the Government to continue its efforts to effectively monitor and combat child labour in the country, including in the informal economy. In this regard, it requests that the Government provide information on the measures taken to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the state labour inspectorate, pursuant to amendments to the Labour Code and the Act on state supervision and monitoring. The Committee also requests that the Government continue to provide information on the number of inspections on child labour carried out by the state labour inspectors as well as by other agencies and on the number of violations detected and penalties imposed in this regard.

Tobacco and cotton plantations. With regard to the issue related to child labour on tobacco and cotton plantations, the Committee requests that the Government refer to its detailed comments under the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182).