Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2025, published 114th ILC session (2026)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Belarus (Ratification: 2000)

The Committee notes the observations of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP), received on 31 August 2024.

Articles 1, 3(a) and (d), and 7(1) of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour. Forced or compulsory labour, hazardous work and penalties. The Committee notes the observations provided by the BKDP indicating a widespread State-level practice of Saturday clean-ups performed by students at schools. The BKDP further indicates that children are also widely involved in other work activities, such as harvesting, landscaping, and removing stones from fields, in all regions of the country, especially in small towns and rural areas. The BKDP also indicates that school administrations and education departments often present such activities as a “means of socialization of students”, or as part of the educational process and career guidance. However, according to the BKDP, children engage in this type of work out of fear of receiving low grades and straining their relationships with teachers. The Committee further takes note of the examples provided by the BKDP of the involvement of children in harvesting and agricultural work, including one case that led to the child’s death due to the lack of safety measures.

The Committee recalls that, by virtue of Article 3(a) and (d) of the Convention, forced or compulsory labour and hazardous work are considered worst forms of child labour and that, by virtue of Article 1 of the Convention, Member States are required to take immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, as a matter of urgency. Furthermore, the Committee recalls that, by virtue of Article 7(1) of the Convention, ratifying countries are required to ensure the effective implementation and enforcement of the provisions giving effect to the Convention including through the provision and application of penal sanctions or, as appropriate, other sanctions. The Committee therefore requests the Government to take immediate and effective time-bound measures, as a matter of urgency, to eliminate the forced or compulsory labour of, or hazardous work by, children under 18 years, particularly in harvesting and agriculture. In this regard, it requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that thorough investigations and robust prosecutions of offenders are carried out, and that sufficiently effective and dissuasive sanctions are imposed in practice.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.