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

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Comoros (Ratification: 2004)

Article 2(1) of the Convention. Scope of application; labour inspection. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that the Labour Code of 2012 provides that a child may not be employed as a waged or own-account worker before the age of 15 years (section 129), but that no provision protects children performing an economic activity in the informal economy. Noting the lack of information on this subject, the Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the measures adopted or envisaged to strengthen the capacities of labour inspectors so as to ensure that children working in the informal economy benefit from the protection provided for in the Convention. The Committee also requests the Government to indicate the impact of the measures taken, including by providing statistics on the number and type of violations recorded by the labour inspectorate concerning children engaged in child labour, including in the informal economy, and on the penalties imposed.

Article 2(3). Age of completion of compulsory schooling. The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that Act No. 20-034/AU of 29 December 2020, directing the national education system and promulgated by Decree No. 21-005/PR of 30 January 2021, raises the age of completion of compulsory schooling from 12 to 16 years (section 4). While welcoming the fact that the age of completion of compulsory schooling has been raised to 16 years, the Committee recalls that the minimum age for admission to employment or work is 15 years. The Committee observes that if the minimum age for admission to employment or work is lower than the age of completion of compulsory schooling, children may be encouraged to leave school since the law allows them to work. The Committee therefore encourages the Government to take the necessary steps to raise the general minimum age so that it is linked to the age of completion of compulsory schooling, in accordance with the terms of the Convention.