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

Minimum Age (Industry) Convention (Revised), 1937 (No. 59) - Paraguay (Ratification: 1966)

Other comments on C059

Observation

Direct Request

2019
2017
2012

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Article 2(2) of the Convention. Minimum age for admission to employment in industrial undertakings. In its previous comments, the Committee emphasized the need to amend section 120 of the Labour Code, which allows children aged between 12 and 15 years to work in enterprises in which those employed are “preferably” members of the employer’s family. It stressed that this provision is broader than the exception provided for in Article 2(2) of the Convention, which allows children under 15 years of age to be employed in undertakings in which “only” members of the employer’s family are employed. In reply, the Government indicated that section 120 of the Labour Code is no longer in force as section 257 of the Code on Children and Young Persons of 2001 specifies that the provisions of Chapter II, section 1, of the Labour Code, respecting the work of minors, which are contrary to the Code on Children and Young Persons, are repealed. However, the Committee noted that, although sections 52–69 of the Code on Children and Young Persons regulate some aspects of work by young people, none of these provisions specifically concerns the minimum age for admission to employment of children, particularly children employed in family undertakings. The Committee therefore concludes that section 120 of the Labour Code is the only provision governing the minimum age of admission to employment of children employed in family undertakings and, therefore, the repealing provisions set out in section 257 of the Code on Children and Young Persons should not affect section 120 of the Labour Code.

The Committee takes due note of the Government’s report, according to which section 119 of the Labour Code prohibits work by children under 15 years of age, except under the conditions set out in section 120. The Committee notes with regret that section 120 of the Labour Code does not seem to have been amended and allows children aged between 12 and 15 years to work in undertakings in which those employed are “preferably” members of the employer’s family, which is contrary to Article 2(2) of the Convention, which allows children under 15 years of age to be employed in undertakings in which “only” members of the employer’s family are employed. The Committee therefore once again requests that the Government take the necessary steps to ensure that, in accordance with Article 2(2) of the Convention, the employment of children under 15 years of age may be authorized only in undertakings in which “only” members of the employer’s family are employed.