Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2017, published 107th ILC session (2018)

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

Other comments on C138

Observation

Direct Request

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Article 1 of the Convention. National policy and application of the Convention in practice. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the adoption of the “roadmap” to make Nicaragua a country free of child labour and its worst forms in order to reach the objective of the elimination of all forms of child labour by 2020. However, it also noted that, unlike in other countries in the region, the Government had still not adopted any programmatic measures or assigned any resources for implementation of the roadmap. The Committee observed that 15 per cent of children under 14 years of age were still engaged in child labour. Lastly, the Committee observed that the Government was in the process of analysing surveys undertaken in households for a national study on child labour.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that a total of 6,937 agreements were signed with employers in all departments of the country covering the various sectors of the economy (such as mining, fishing and agriculture) containing the commitment to refrain from using child labour and to uphold the labour rights of young workers. In response to the Committee’s request to provide statistical information on the extent of child labour, the Government states that the labour of children under 14 years of age is strictly prohibited. The Committee recalls that the existence of legislation prohibiting child labour is often insufficient and it is necessary to collect up-to-date data on the situation of working children to be able to evaluate the application of the Convention in practice (see General Survey of 2012 on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 419). However, the Committee notes the Ministry of Labour paper of September 2016 entitled “Fundamental aspects of the migration phenomenon in Nicaragua, particularly the migration of children and child labour”. This paper, produced in collaboration with the ILO, discusses the impact of the migration of unaccompanied minors on child labour and aims to share information with a view to ongoing action to combat child labour. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the action taken as follow-up to the recommendations of the abovementioned paper. The Committee also requests the Government to provide information on the implementation of the roadmap to abolish child labour in all its forms by 2020 and to ensure the allocation of the necessary resources and programmatic measures for such implementation. The Committee further requests the Government once again to provide statistical information on the nature, extent and trends of the employment of children under 14 years of age. All information provided should, as far as possible, be disaggregated by sex and by age.

Article 2(1). Scope of application of the Convention. The Committee previously noted the comments of the Trade Union Unification Confederation (CUS) reporting that children were working in limestone quarries in San Rafael del Sur, in coffee harvesting in the north of the country and as itinerant traders on the streets of Managua. It also noted that special inspection services had focused on the protection of children working in limestone quarries in San Rafael del Sur. The Committee noted the Government’s indications that as part of the “Coffee harvesting without child labour” programme, a number of tripartite cooperation agreements had been signed between the Ministries of Labour, Education and Health, coffee producers and key actors in the agricultural sector and that a total of 1,371 children had benefited from the programme in the departments of Jinotega, Matagalpa and Carazo. The Committee further noted the measures taken to give effect to Ministerial Decision JCHG-08-06-10 of 19 August 2010, which prohibits hazardous work for children and young persons under 18 years of age and contains a detailed list of hazardous types of work.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the Ministry of Labour continues to implement the special inspection programme in the coffee harvesting sector and in limestone quarries. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the results achieved by the special inspection programme to remove children from hazardous work in limestone quarries and in coffee harvesting, indicating the number of inspections carried out, the number and nature of violations reported and the penalties imposed. Noting the absence of information on this point in the Government’s report, the Committee again requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken to ensure that children working as itinerant traders on the streets of Managua benefit from the protection provided for by the Convention.