The USA Journals Volume 03 Issue 06-2021
141
The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
–
2693-0803)
Published:
June 30, 2021 |
Pages:
141-146
Doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajpslc/Volume03Issue06-21
I
MPACT
F
ACTOR
2021:
5.
952
‘
ABSTRACT
The article analyzes international standards for appropriate and decent work for young people and
children, as well as the prohibition of forced labour. The legal nature of major international
agreements on child labour adopted by the UN and the ILO has been studied.
KEYWORDS
Child labour, decent work, forced labour, international standards, Convention, Recommendation,
ILO.
INTRODUCTION
According to the International Labour
Organization (ILO) [1], while the global youth
workforce decreased by 34.9 million from
1997 to 2017, the number of young people
increased by 139 million, now accounting for
almost half of the world's children aged 15 to
24 are in labour activities. There are 190 million
unemployed people in the world, of which
64.7 million are young people [2].
Today, child labour can be observed in almost
all countries. According to Korshunova, this is
a relatively common practice in poor and
developing countries [3]. According to the
ILO, children work twice as harder in
agriculture than in other sectors of the
economy. The ILO recognizes that child labour
is largely the result of poverty, and that long-
term solutions to these problems depend on
sustainable economic growth that leads to
social development, in particular poverty
eradication and universal education [4].
Researcher A.Rakhmanalieva also rightly
acknowledges that the main reason for the
problem of child labour is poverty [5].
International Standards For The Prohibition Of Forced And
Child Labour
Kent V. Mayer
Doctor Of International Law, Professor Of California State Sacramento University, Uzbekistan
Jurabek Rasulov
Lecturer At The Department Of International Law And Human Rights, Tashkent State University
Of Law, Uzbekistan
Journal
Website:
http://theamericanjour
nals.com/index.php/taj
pslc
Copyright:
Original
content from this work
may be used under the
terms of the creative
commons
attributes
4.0 licence.
The USA Journals Volume 03 Issue 06-2021
142
The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
–
2693-0803)
Published:
June 30, 2021 |
Pages:
141-146
Doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajpslc/Volume03Issue06-21
I
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2021:
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The need to provide special legal protection
for children is primarily related to the fact that
they have not reached physical and mental
maturity and, consequently, the need to
provide conditions for their education and full
development.
THE MAIN PART
One of the important tasks facing the
international community is to establish the
necessary standards regarding the active
involvement of children in labour, which
protects the rights and interests of this
vulnerable group, as well as any kind of work
that may harm their health, safety or
spirituality. The United Nations General
Assembly's Sustainable Development Summit
in September 2015 set specific goals until the
2030 UN Global Agenda for Sustainable
Development, including the creation of decent
jobs for young people, the prohibition and
elimination of the worst forms of child labour
[6].
M. Vlasenko noted that the separation of
youth and children as a special subject of
labour relations is in line with international
labour standards governing the termination of
child labour, the establishment of a minimum
age for employment, the prohibition of child
labour in hazardous and harmful work, the
establishment of special state bodies [7]. The
International Covenant on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights of 1966 provides all
children and adolescents with special
protection
and
assistance
without
discrimination. The mentioned agreement also
provides protection from economic and social
exploitation, protection of children and
adolescents in areas harmful to their morals
and health or life-threatening or their normal
growth establishes penalties for use in areas
that may cause harm to children, sets a
minimum age for employment, and prohibits
the use of child labour by minors [8].
Article 32 of the United Nations Convention on
the Rights of the Child 1989 states that
“States Parties shall recognize that any child
who is at risk of economic exploitation and
endangering his or her health or of his or her
health, physical, mental, spiritual, moral or
social development. In addition, it points out
that States Parties shall take all necessary
measures at the national, bilateral and
multilateral levels to prevent the abduction,
sale or smuggling of children for any purpose
and in any form [9].
The United Nations Protocol to Prevent,
Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons
Especially
Women
and
Children,
supplementing the United Nations Convention
against Transnational Organized Crime 2000,
requires member states to punish those
involved in trafficking. According to the
protocol, the use of human beings meant, at
the very least, the use of other persons'
prostitution or other forms of sexual
exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery
or slavery-like habits, involuntary status or
segregation of human organs or tissues [10].
The Protocol sets out an important provision
on child trafficking, which states that the
recruitment, transport, transfer, concealment
or acceptance of a child for use is considered
"trafficking in human beings" even if it is not
related to the use of coercive means specified
in Article 1 of the current Protocol.
The
adoption
of
most
international
instruments on child safety and protection is
related to the activities of the ILO. The ILO has
The USA Journals Volume 03 Issue 06-2021
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The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
–
2693-0803)
Published:
June 30, 2021 |
Pages:
141-146
Doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajpslc/Volume03Issue06-21
I
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2021:
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952
established a system of rules to regulate the
working conditions of young people and
children. The report of the ILO Global
Commission on Labour Perspectives on
January 22, 2019 states that the problem of
labour relations with young people is one of
the most important issues, and young people
are recognized as a huge opportunity. In its
turn, failure to use this opportunity properly
and
effectively
can
have
negative
consequences for the future development of
the state and society. The report notes that
the integration of young people into the
labour market needs strong support to make
them active members of society, and
recommends expanding opportunities for
decent employment for young people through
employment programs. The work of young
people must be encouraged on the basis of
the principle of equal pay for equal work.
Special attention is paid to providing
opportunities for unemployed youth to
receive education and vocational training, as
well as the problems of their social integration
[2].
According to the ILO Employment Policy
Convention No.122, member states should
prioritize the availability of jobs for all willing
and job-seekers, the most productive of such
jobs, and the implementation of policies
aimed at ensuring freedom of choice of
employment
[11].
The
effective
implementation of this policy is especially
important for countries where the majority of
the working population is young, including
Uzbekistan.
ILO Special Youth Schemes Recommendation
of 1970 addresses the issues of youth
employment and vocational training related to
the application of the ILO Forced Labour
Convention No.29. The recommendation
states that participation in special youth
programs, activities aimed at the economic
and social development of young people in
their countries, as well as programs aimed at
acquiring education, skills and experience that
facilitate their future economic activity and
promote their participation in society, should
be voluntary. Exceptions may be granted only
in accordance with the law and subject to full
compliance
with
the
provisions
of
international conventions on the policy of
forced labour and employment [12].
The
ILO
Declaration
on
Fundamental
Principles and Rights at Work, adopted in June
1998, identified the principle of a strict ban on
child labour as one of the four most important
fundamental principles in the field of labour.
The peculiarity of this Declaration is that,
although not all member states of the ILO
have ratified the relevant conventions, due to
their membership in the Organization, the
most important principles in the field of
labour, including the abolition of all forms of
coercion or forced labor, should be accepted
to implementation [13].
The ILO's oversight bodies have considered
that children under the age of eighteen can
freely consent to work or the provision of
services, and that parental consent is
required. ILO Minimum Age Convention
No.138 and Worst Forms of Child Labour
Convention No.182 prohibit the employment
of children in occupations that may endanger
the health, safety and morals of children. In
conclusion, that neither the child nor the adult
with parental authority can give real consent
to this type of employment.
The USA Journals Volume 03 Issue 06-2021
144
The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
–
2693-0803)
Published:
June 30, 2021 |
Pages:
141-146
Doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajpslc/Volume03Issue06-21
I
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2021:
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952
ILO Minimum Age Convention No.138,
adopted in 1973, stipulates that the minimum
age allowed for employed or hiring in vehicles
registered within its territory and is not less
than the age required to graduate compulsory
schooling or not less than fifteen years of age
[14]. Moreover, an important requirement of
this international document is that the
minimum age for admission to any type of
work or type of hired work that may endanger
the health, safety or morale of the adolescent
should not be less than eighteen years. In
total, the ILO has adopted nine conventions
on the minimum age for the employment of
children in various fields.
Forced labour of children under the age of 18
is one of the worst forms of child labour
defined in Worst Forms of Child Labour
Convention No.182. Child labour applies not
only to the fact that they perform work under
the threat of punishment by third parties, but
also to cases of forced labor that exist in cases
where the whole family is forced to work.
Article 3 (a) of the Worst Forms of Child
Labour Convention provides that the worst
forms of child labour are “all forms of slavery
or slavery-like practices, such as the sale of
children and their trafficking, debt addiction
and serfdom, as well as forced or coerced
labour. In its turn, this includes forcing or
coercing children into use in armed conflict”
[15].
It should be noted that Convention No.182
does not provide for any definition of forced
labour, the definition given in Article 2 of the
ILO Convention on Forced Labour No.29 is
also valid for the purposes of Convention
No.182. The Convention stipulates that each
State Party that has ratified it shall not allow
children to be subjected to the worst forms of
child labour and shall not allow children to
engage in the worst forms of child labour. It
also requires the adoption of effective
measures aimed at directly assisting them in
rehabilitation and social integration at the
level of need and demand.
ILO
Worst
Forms
of
Child
Labour
Recommendation, 1999, states that children
who are subjected to physical, psychological
or sexual abuse should be included in
determining the type of work. To illustrate,
the list includes children are particularly at
risk; work performed underground, under
water, at dangerous heights, or indoors; work
performed
with
hazardous
machinery,
equipment and devices, or work that requires
manual lifting or moving of heavy loads; work
in conditions harmful to health and work
performed in particularly severe conditions
[16]. An example of this is work where the
duration of working hours is long or night
work, including work involving the child being
unjustifiably detained in a building belonging
to the employer.
The Republic of Uzbekistan has ratified the
main documents of the ILO regulating child
labour. Two of these, Minimum Age
Convention No.138 and Worst Forms of Child
Labour Convention No.182, are fundamental
conventions.
In conclusion, it should be noted that a strong
system of international law has been formed
to create decent working conditions for young
people and children, to prohibit their forced
labour and to completely eliminate the worst
forms of child labour. At the same time, it is
important to take urgent measures by
member states to meet the requirements set
The USA Journals Volume 03 Issue 06-2021
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The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
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2693-0803)
Published:
June 30, 2021 |
Pages:
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Doi:
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by international standards, to adopt action
plans at the national level and to monitor their
implementation.
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The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
(ISSN
–
2693-0803)
Published:
June 30, 2021 |
Pages:
141-146
Doi:
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajpslc/Volume03Issue06-21
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