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

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Liberia (Ratification: 2003)

Article 4. Hazardous work. With reference to the implementation of the Regulations setting the Hazardous Work List for Children, including the number and nature of violations regarding young persons engaged in hazardous work, the Committee refers to its detailed comments under the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138).

Article 6. Programmes of action. National Action Plan against Trafficking of Human Beings. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that the review of the Second National Action Plan (NAP) on Trafficking in Persons 2019–24 was carried out as part of the preparation for the Third NAP on Trafficking in Persons, and that the results are expected to be included in the new Plan. The Committee requests the Government to: (i) inform on the adoption of the Third National Action Plan (NAP) on Trafficking in Persons and to provide a copy once adopted; and (ii) provide information on the measures taken, within the framework of the Second and Third NAPs on Trafficking in Persons to combat trafficking in children, as well as on the results achieved.

National Action Plan for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour. The Committee previously noted the adoption of the National Action Plan on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour 2020–30. It notes the Government’s indication that programmes against child labour have been adversely affected by reduction in donor funding, coupled with other challenges, but that it is in the process of drafting a Child Labour Law which will codify and consolidate relevant provisions into a single legal instrument. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any efforts envisaged or undertaken to ensure that the National Action Plan on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour is effectively implemented. It also requests the Government to inform on any developments towards the adoption of a Child Labour Law.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (d). Identifying and reaching out to children at special risk. Child orphans of armed conflict, HIV/AIDS and Ebola. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that orphans continue to be cared for in institutions, communities and foster families. It notes that according to the UNAIDS estimates of 2024, there are around 28,000 children aged 0 to 17 years who are orphans due to HIV/AIDS. The Committee requests the Government to provide more detailed information on the effective and time-bound measures taken or envisaged to ensure that child orphans are protected from the worst forms of child labour, including by increasing their access to education and vocational training. It requests the Government to provide information on the results achieved in this regard, including by indicating the number of children reached by these measures.

Children engaged in domestic work. The Committee notes, from the 2025 Report of the Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children that, in practice, children are living in domestic households and engaged in domestic work through informal kinship care arrangements and that there is an absence of inspection or monitoring of child protection obligations. The Special Rapporteur highlights, with concern, that children, mostly girls, are trafficked through informal networks, often involving family members, from rural to urban areas and that children remain out of school and are instead exploited in domestic households, where risks of sexual exploitation are high (A/HRC/59/56/Add.2, paras 11, 25 and 30). Recalling that children in domestic service are particularly vulnerable to the worst forms of child labour, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on any effective and time-bound measures taken to protect these children from exploitation and to ensure that they have access to free basic education.