Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1997, published 86th ILC session (1998)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Mauritius (Ratification: 1990)

With reference to its observation, the Committee requests the Government to supply further information on the following points.

Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention. Further to its previous comment, the Committee requests the Government to supply information on the availability of school education, and also any development in the Master Plan of Education that would extend compulsory education up to the age of 16 years, as well as on their effect on the application of the Convention.

Article 3. The Committee notes that the Government refers again, in reply to its previous direct request, to the Merchant Shipping Act which sets the minimum age for admission to work on board ship at 18 years except for an apprentice working under supervision. However, the Committee has pointed out in its previous direct request, that the minimum age of 18 under section 49 of the Act does not apply when there is the written consent of the parent or guardian, and that the only particular work prohibited to persons under 18 is that in the engine room. In the absence of information in the Government's report, the Committee again requests the Government to supply information on conditions under which a person under 18 with the written consent of the parent or guardian is allowed to work (e.g. what type of work from what age). It asks the Government also to supply information on consultations with employers' and workers' organizations concerning any other dangerous work to be prohibited for a person under the age of 18 years.

The Committee also notes the Government's indication that the amendment of the Occupational Safety, Health and Welfare Act is under consideration. It hopes that section 28 of this Act will be brought into conformity with Article 3(3) of the Convention in the near future, and asks the Government to indicate any progress made in this regard.

Article 4. Regarding export processing zones (EPZs), the Committee notes the statement made by the Government delegation to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child at its Thirteenth Session (October 1996), which examined its initial report. The Government recognized that the Labour Act was not in fact applicable to EPZs (paragraph 24 of CRC/C/SR. 333). The Committee recalls that the Government indicated in its first report that no use was made of the possibility of excluding limited categories of employment or work from the application of the Convention under Article 4 of the Convention, and asks the Government to supply information on the application of the Convention in EPZs, including any rules or regulations concerning child labour applicable in EPZs.

Article 9, paragraph 3. The Committee notes the Government's indication that the report made by the Technical Committee on the review of the Labour Act has already been submitted to the Government and is now under consideration by the Government and also that the tripartite Labour Advisory Board is called upon to advise on the amendments to be made to the Act. It hopes that the amendments will be completed so as to fulfil the requirements of Article 9, paragraph 3, of the Convention in the near future.

Point V of the report form. Further to the observation it is making, the Committee notes with interest the ample information on the practical application of the Convention supplied in the report. It also notes the initial report submitted to the United Nation's Committee on the Rights of the Child, in which the Government states that child labour is common in the island of Rodrigues (paragraph 157 of CRC/C/3/Add. 36). Therefore, the Committee asks the Government to continue to supply information on the application of the Convention in practice, in particular, that of the island of Rodrigues.