Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Liberia (Ratification: 2003)

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Article 4(1) of the Convention. Determination of hazardous work. The Committee notes with satisfaction the adoption, on 15 June 2022, of the Hazardous Work List for Children in Liberia, adopted pursuant to section 21.4(b) of the Decent Work Act, 2015. This comprehensive list defines the sectors and tasks in which children under 18 years of age may not be engaged in, and the tasks in which children aged 16 and 17 years may engage in, provided safety measures are in place including adequate training and supervision. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the implementation of the Regulation setting the Hazardous Work List for Children, including the number and nature of violations regarding young persons engaged in hazardous work.

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 with concern, from the 2022 Education Sector Analysis, published by the Government in collaboration with UNESCO, that both overall enrolment and the proportion of learners in public schools have decreased. The Education Sector Analysis highlights that net enrolment: (1) decreased at the primary level from 49 per cent in 2015 to 43 per cent in 2020; and (2) stayed the same for the lower secondary level, at 14 per cent. The Committee notes, from the 2021 United Nations Entity for Gender Equality’s (UN Women) Country Profile on Gender Equality, 2021, that: (1) the civil wars and consequent economic crises (specifically the Ebola crisis in 2014 and the COVID-19 pandemic) have led to the persistence of obstacles for girls and women’s access and participation in education; (2) in 2019, one-third of the population had no access to education, 31 per cent of the population attained primary education, and 36 per cent attained secondary and tertiary education, a gap which deepens in relation to geographic location (urban versus rural areas) and gender. In 2019–20, 52 per cent of children in urban areas and 32 per cent of children in rural areas were attending primary school. For secondary school, 34 per cent of children were attending in urban areas compared to 12 per cent in rural areas; (3) when working in rural areas, teachers endure challenging working conditions and limited support that is reflected in the lack of infrastructure and teaching materials, as well as disproportionate student-teacher ratios and multi-age and multi-level learners; and (4) the long distances required for children to attend schools in rural areas is a hindering factor that prevents them from accessing education.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that it has experimented with partnership schools as a way of improving school enrolment and attendance. The partnership schools have given attention to digitization and standardization, while raising external funds to help bolster teacher salaries in the schools they run. The Committee also notes, from the Government’s report to the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, that the Ministry of Education provided hot meals to 280,709 school children in 1,316 pre-primary, primary, and community schools across the 15 counties (A/HRC/WG.6/36/LBR/1, 24 August 2020, para. 58). The Committee also notes the 2022 Annual Reports of the United Nations Development Programme and UNICEF, from which it notes that: (1) the Government launched in October 2022 the Accelerated Community Development Programme (ACDP) to help reduce poverty and inequalities by creating employment opportunities for persons helping to build or repair basic infrastructures such as schools and health centres. The ACDP will help reduce inequalities that exist between urban and rural areas by improving access to basic social and economic infrastructures such as health and education; (2) following the Transforming Education Summit (TES) and a follow-up conference on national education in December 2022, the Government expressed its commitment to increase the budget for education; and (3) a new Education Sector Plan (ESP 2022-2025) was developed. While noting certain measures taken by the Government, the Committee once again strongly encourages the Government to intensify its efforts to improve the functioning of the education system and to facilitate access of all children to free basic education. It requests the Government to provide: (i) information on the concrete measures taken or envisaged in this regard, aimed, in particular at increasing the school enrolment and attendance rates at the primary and lower secondary levels, and reducing school drop-out rates; (ii) information on the impact of the new Education Sector Plan 2022-2025; and (iii) updated statistical information on the results obtained, disaggregated by age and gender.

Application of the Convention in practice. The Committee notes from the 2019-2020 Demographic and Health Survey of the Liberian Institute of Statistics and Geo-information Services, that 32 per cent of children aged 5 to 17 years were engaged in economic activities or domestic work, at or above the threshold defined for their age group. Among those, 30 per cent of children worked in dangerous conditions. The most frequently reported hazardous condition was carrying heavy loads (15 per cent), followed by working with dangerous tools or operating heavy machinery (7 per cent). The Survey indicates that the percentage of children engaged in hazardous work grows with the age of the child, from 21 per cent among those aged 5 to 11 years to 48 per cent among those aged 15 to 17 years. The Government indicates that, through partnerships, including with the United States Department of Labour ATLAS Project, the number of children engaged in child labour, including in hazardous work, is expected to decrease. Considering the large number of children under 18 years of age who are engaged in hazardous work, the Committee once again urges the Government to intensify its efforts to protect children from these worst forms of child labour. It requests the Government to continue to provide up-to-date statistics and other information on the nature, extent, and trends of the worst forms of child labour. Noting that the Government does not provide information in this regard, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the number and nature of reported violations, investigations, prosecutions, convictions and penalties imposed. To the extent possible, all information should be disaggregated by age and gender.

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