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

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Mauritania (Ratification: 2001)

Article 2(1) of the Convention. Minimum age for admission to employment or work and application of the Convention in practice. The Committee previously noted, from the report on the survey of child labour in agriculture in Mauritania of September 2018, produced jointly by the Government and the ILO, that more than one third of interviewed working children (37.2 per cent) between 5 and 17 years of age said that they had been exposed to dangers and hazards connected with agricultural activities, such as injuries from tools and exposure to chemicals.

The Committee notes the Government’s statement that it will take the necessary measures to ensure that no child under 18 years of age may engage in hazardous work, including those working in a family business.

The Committee notes, from the report of the Government submitted to the United Nations Committee on the Protection of the rights of All Migrant Workers (CMW) that under the National Action Plan to Combat Trafficking in Persons (2020-2022) studies have been carried out showing that 47 per cent of children who were working or were forced to work were aged between 9 and 15 years (CMW/C/MRT/2, 29 July 2024, paras 80 and 82).

Moreover, the Committee notes from the 2024 UNICEF Annual Report that a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) is to be conducted in 2025. The Committee requests the Government to redouble its efforts to ensure the effective elimination of child labour in practice, including in hazardous conditions, and to provide information on the measures taken in this regard. It also requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken to guarantee the availability of updated statistical data on the nature, scope and trends in child labour in the country, including through publication of the MICS results.

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