Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Nicaragua (Ratification: 2000)

Articles 3(d) and 7(2)(b) of the Convention. Hazardous work. Direct assistance for the removal of children from the worst forms of child labour and for their rehabilitation and social integration. The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report under the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) that, between 2018 and the first quarter of 2022, 7,395 special child labour inspections were conducted, 927 of which in the agricultural sector and 36 in quarry and salt mines. As a result of those inspections, 12 boys and 4 girls were ordered to be immediately removed from their workplace. The Committee requests the Government to continue taking measures to detect and penalize situations where children under 18 years are working in hazardous occupations, including in the agricultural and mining sectors. In this respect, it requests the Government to continue providing information on the number of inspections carried out, infringements detected and penalties imposed. Lastly, it requests the Government to continue taking measures to remove and rehabilitate children from this worst form of child labour, and provide information on the results achieved in this respect.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (a). Preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour. Access to free basic education. The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that in order to improve children’s access to education, distance learning modalities have been implemented for primary and secondary levels, and that school kits have been provided. It notes that one of the objectives of the National Plan against Poverty for Human Development 2022–2026 is to have, by 2026, 94 per cent of children in school and 96.9 per cent completing school at primary level (6 to 12 years old); and 93 per cent of children in school and 95.6 per cent completing school at secondary level (12 to 17 years old). It also sets out training for 20,000 schoolteachers and headteachers in the proper use of educational technology, and for 260,000 students, teachers and parents through counselling measures among educational communities. The Committee also notes that the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in its 2021 concluding observations concerning Nicaragua, expressed its concern about shortcomings in the quality of school infrastructure and materials and in the content of curricula and the training of teachers, particularly in rural areas and on the Caribbean coast (E/C.12/NIC/CO/5 paragraph 46). Recalling that education is key in preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour, the Committee requests the Government to pursue its efforts to improve the functioning of the education system and to facilitate access to free, quality basic education, to all children. In this respect, it requests the Government to provide information on the results of the National Plan against Poverty for Human Development relating to primary and secondary education, including updated statistics on rates of enrolment, attendance and completion in school.

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