«The Permanent Mission of the People’s
Republic of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Other
International Organizations in Switzerland presents its compliments to the
International Labor Office (ILO) and has the honor to forward herewith China’s
Instrument of Ratification of the ILO Convention No. 182 concerning the
Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of
Child Labor adopted by the 87th Session of the International Labor Conference
on 17 June 1999. The Permanent Mission would like to declare meanwhile that the
ILO Convention No. 182 concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the
Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor shall also apply to the Hong Kong
Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China and the Macao
Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China.».
Convention concerning the Prohibition and
Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour
(ILO No. 182)
(Adopted at Geneva on 17
June 1999)
The General
Conference of the International Labour Organization,
Having been
convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office,
and having met in its 87th Session on 1 June 1999, and
Considering the
need to adopt new instruments for the prohibition and elimination of the worst
forms of child labour, as the main priority for national and international
action, including international cooperation and assistance, to complement the
Convention and the Recommendation concerning Minimum Age for Admission to
Employment, 1973, which remain fundamental instruments on child labour, and
Considering that
the effective elimination of the worst forms of child labour requires immediate
and comprehensive action, taking into account the importance of free basic
education and the need to remove the children concerned from all such work and
to provide for their rehabilitation and social integration while addressing the
needs of their families, and
Recalling the
resolution concerning the elimination of child labour adopted by the
International Labour Conference at its 83rd Session in 1996, and
Recognizing that
child labour is to a great extent caused by poverty and that the long-term solution
lies in sustained economic growth leading to social progress, in particular
poverty alleviation and universal education, and
Recalling the
Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted by the United Nations General
Assembly on 20 November 1989, and
Recalling the ILO
Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up,
adopted by the International Labour Conference at its 86th Session in 1998, and
Recalling that some
of the worst forms of child labour are covered by other international
instruments, in particular the Forced Labour Convention, 1930, and the United
Nations Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade,
and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery, 1956, and
Having decided upon
the adoption of certain proposals with regard to child labour, which is the
fourth item on the agenda of the session, and
Having determined
that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention;
adopts this
seventeenth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine
the following Convention, which may be cited as the Worst Forms of Child Labour
Convention, 1999.
Article 1
Each Member which
ratifies this Convention shall take immediate and effective measures to secure
the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour as a matter
of urgency.
Article 2
For the purposes of
this Convention, the term child shall apply to all persons under
the age of 18.
Article 3
For the purposes of
this Convention, the term the worst forms of child labour comprises:
(a) all forms of
slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of
children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including
forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;
(b) the use,
procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of
pornography or for pornographic performances;
(c) the use,
procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the
production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international
treaties;
(d) work which, by
its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm
the health, safety or morals of children.
Article 4
1. The types of
work referred to under Article 3(d) shall be determined by national laws or
regulations or by the competent authority, after consultation with the
organizations of employers and workers concerned, taking into consideration
relevant international standards, in particular Paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Worst
Forms of Child Labour Recommendation, 1999.
2. The competent
authority, after consultation with the organizations of employers and workers
concerned, shall identify where the types of work so determined exist.
3. The list of the
types of work determined under paragraph 1 of this Article shall be
periodically examined and revised as necessary, in consultation with the
organizations of employers and workers concerned.
Article 5
Each Member shall,
after consultation with employers' and workers' organizations, establish or
designate appropriate mechanisms to monitor the implementation of the
provisions giving effect to this Convention.
Article 6
1. Each Member
shall design and implement programmes of action to eliminate as a priority the
worst forms of child labour.
2. Such programmes
of action shall be designed and implemented in consultation with relevant
government institutions and employers' and workers' organizations, taking into
consideration the views of other concerned groups as appropriate.
Article 7
1. Each Member
shall take all necessary measures to ensure the effective implementation and
enforcement of the provisions giving effect to this Convention including the
provision and application of penal sanctions or, as appropriate, other
sanctions.
2. Each Member
shall, taking into account the importance of education in eliminating child
labour, take effective and time-bound measures to:
(a) prevent the
engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour;
(b) provide the
necessary and appropriate direct assistance for the removal of children from
the worst forms of child labour and for their rehabilitation and social
integration;
(c) ensure access
to free basic education, and, wherever possible and appropriate, vocational
training, for all children removed from the worst forms of child labour;
(d) identify and
reach out to children at special risk; and
(e) take account of
the special situation of girls.
3. Each Member
shall designate the competent authority responsible for the implementation of
the provisions giving effect to this Convention.
Article 8
Members shall take
appropriate steps to assist one another in giving effect to the provisions of
this Convention through enhanced international cooperation and/or assistance
including support for social and economic development, poverty eradication
programmes and universal education.
Article 9
The formal
ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the Director-General
of the International Labour Office for registration.
Article 10
1. This Convention
shall be binding only upon those Members of the International Labour
Organization whose ratifications have been registered with the Director-General
of the International Labour Office.
2. It shall come
into force 12 months after the date on which the ratifications of two Members
have been registered with the Director-General.
3. Thereafter, this
Convention shall come into force for any Member 12 months after the date on
which its ratification has been registered.
Article 11
1. A Member which
has ratified this Convention may denounce it after the expiration of ten years
from the date on which the Convention first comes into force, by an act
communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office for
registration. Such denunciation shall not take effect until one year after the
date on which it is registered.
2. Each Member
which has ratified this Convention and which does not, within the year
following the expiration of the period of ten years mentioned in the preceding
paragraph, exercise the right of denunciation provided for in this Article,
will be bound for another period of ten years and, thereafter, may denounce
this Convention at the expiration of each period of ten years under the terms
provided for in this Article.
Article 12
1. The
Director-General of the International Labour Office shall notify all Members of
the International Labour Organization of the registration of all ratifications
and acts of denunciation communicated by the Members of the Organization.
2. When notifying
the Members of the Organization of the registration of the second ratification,
the Director-General shall draw the attention of the Members of the
Organization to the date upon which the Convention shall come into force.
Article 13
The
Director-General of the International Labour Office shall communicate to the
Secretary-General of the United Nations, for registration in accordance with
article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations, full particulars of all
ratifications and acts of denunciation registered by the Director-General in
accordance with the provisions of the preceding Articles.
Article 14
At such times as it
may consider necessary, the Governing Body of the International Labour Office
shall present to the General Conference a report on the working of this
Convention and shall examine the desirability of placing on the agenda of the
Conference the question of its revision in whole or in part.
Article 15
1. Should the
Conference adopt a new Convention revising this Convention in whole or in part,
then, unless the new Convention otherwise provides --
(a) the
ratification by a Member of the new revising Convention shall ipso jure involve
the immediate denunciation of this Convention, notwithstanding the provisions
of Article 11 above, if and when the new revising Convention shall have come
into force;
(b) as from the
date when the new revising Convention comes into force, this Convention shall
cease to be open to ratification by the Members.
2. This Convention
shall in any case remain in force in its actual form and content for those
Members which have ratified it but have not ratified the revising Convention.
Article 16
The English and
French versions of the text of this Convention are equally authoritative.