PROHIBITION CONVENTION

OF WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOR

AND IMMEDIATE ACTION FOR REMOVAL

The General Conference of the International Labour Organization:

Convened in Geneva by the Board of Directors of the International Labour Office and gathered in that city on 1. June 1999 at its October 7th Meeting;

Considering the need to adopt new instruments for the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, the main priority of national and international action, including cooperation and international assistance, in addition to the Convention and the Recommendation on the minimum age for admission to employment, 1973, which remain fundamental instruments on child labour;

Whereas the effective elimination of the worst forms of child labour requires immediate and comprehensive action that takes into account the importance of free basic education and the need to deliver these forms of work for the affected children and ensure their rehabilitation and social insertion while addressing the needs of their families;

Remembering the resolution on the elimination of child labour, adopted by the International Labour Conference in its 83a. meeting, held in 1996;

Recognising that child labour is largely due to poverty, and that the long-term solution lies in sustained economic growth conducive to social progress, in particular to poverty alleviation and universal education;

Remembering the Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 November 1989;

Remembering the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its follow-up, adopted by the International Labour Conference in its 86a. meeting, held in 1998;

Remembering that some of the worst forms of child labour are the subject of other international instruments, in particular the Convention on Forced Labour, 1930, and the United Nations Additional Convention on the abolition of slavery, the slave trade and the institutions and practices analogous to slavery, 1956;

Having decided to adopt several proposals concerning child labour, which is the fourth item on the agenda of the meeting, and

After having determined that these proposals are in the form of an international convention, it adopts, with the date of seventeen of June a thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine, the following Convention, which may be cited as the Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, 1999:

ARTICLE 1. Any Member ratifying this Convention shall take immediate and effective measures to achieve the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of work. children as a matter of urgency.

ARTICLE 2. For the purposes of this Convention, the term "child" means any person under the age of 18.

ARTICLE 3. For the purposes of this Convention, the expression "the worst forms of child labour" covers:

a) All forms of slavery or practices analogous to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and the status of a servant, and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict;

(b) The use, recruitment or supply of children for prostitution, the production of pornography or pornographic performances;

c) The use, recruitment or supply of children for the performance of illicit activities, in particular the production and trafficking of narcotic drugs, as defined in international treaties relevant, and

d) The work that, by its nature or the conditions in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morality of children.

ARTICLE 4.

1. The types of work referred to in Article 3, (d) shall be determined by national law or by the competent authority, after consultation with employers 'and workers' organisations. taking into account international standards in the field, in particular paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Recommendation on the worst forms of child labour, 1999.

2. The competent authority shall, after consultation with the employers 'and workers' organisations concerned, locate where the particular types of work referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article are practised.

3. The list of the types of work determined within the meaning of paragraph 1 of this Article should be reviewed regularly and, if necessary, in consultation with employers 'and workers' organisations.

ARTICLE 5. Each Member, after consultation with employers 'and workers' organizations, shall establish or designate appropriate mechanisms to monitor the implementation of the provisions for which this Convention is to be effective.

ARTICLE 6.

1. Every Member shall develop and implement action programmes to eliminate, as a priority, the worst forms of child labour.

2. Such action programmes shall be drawn up and implemented in consultation with the competent governmental institutions and employers 'and workers' organisations, taking into account the views of other interested groups, as applicable.

ARTICLE 7.

1. Any Member shall take all necessary measures to ensure that the provisions implementing and implementing this Convention, including the establishment and enforcement of criminal sanctions, are implemented and enforced. as appropriate, of a different nature.

2. Each Member shall adopt, taking into account the importance of education for the elimination of child labour, effective measures and within a specified time limit for the purpose of:

a) Prevent the occupation of children in the worst forms of child labour;

b) To provide the necessary and appropriate direct assistance to rid children of the worst forms of child labour and to ensure their rehabilitation and social insertion;

c) Ensure that all children have been spared from the worst forms of child labour access to free basic education and, where possible and appropriate, to vocational training;

d) Identify children who are particularly exposed to risks and come into direct contact with them, and

e) Taking into account the particular situation of girls.

3. Each Member shall designate the competent authority responsible for the implementation of the provisions implementing this Convention.

ARTICLE 8. Members shall take appropriate measures to assist each other in order to implement the provisions of this Convention by means of increased cooperation and/or international assistance, including support for social and economic development, poverty eradication and universal education programmes.

ARTICLE 9. The formal ratifications of this Convention shall be communicated to the Director General of the International Labour Office.

ARTICLE 10.

1. This Convention shall bind only those Members of the International Labour Organization whose ratifications have been registered by the Director-General of the International Labour Office.

2. It shall enter into force 12 months after the date on which the ratifications of two Members have been registered by the Director General.

3. From that point on, this Convention shall enter into force for each Member 12 months after the date of its ratification.

ARTICLE 11.

1. Any Member who has ratified this Convention may denounce it at the end of a period of 10 years from the date on which it was initially put into effect, by means of an act communicated to the Director-General of the International Labour Office. The complaint shall not take effect until one year after the date on which it was registered.

2. Any Member who has ratified this Convention and who, within one year of the expiry of the ten-year period referred to in the preceding paragraph, does not make use of the right of denunciation provided for in this Article shall be obliged to a further period of 10 years, and may subsequently denounce this Convention at the end of each 10-year period, subject to the conditions laid down in this Article.

ARTICLE 12.

1. The Director General of the International Labour Office shall notify all Members of the International Labour Organization of the registration of all ratifications, declarations and reports of denunciation by the Members of the International Labour Organization. Organization.

2. Upon notifying the Members of the Organization of the registration of the second ratification which has been communicated to it, the Director General shall draw the attention of the Members of the Organization on the date of entry into force of this Convention.

ARTICLE 13. The Director General of the International Labour Office shall communicate to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, for the purposes of registration and in accordance with the Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations, complete information on all ratifications, declarations and reports of denunciation that you have recorded in accordance with the preceding articles.

ARTICLE 14. Each time you deem it necessary, the Board of Directors of the International Labour Office will present to the Conference a report on the implementation of the Convention, and consider whether to include in the agenda of the Conference the question of its total or partial revision.

ARTICLE 15.

1. Should the Conference adopt a new convention involving a total or partial revision of the present, and unless the new convention contains provisions to the contrary:

a) The ratification, by a Member, of the new revising convention will involve ipso jure the immediate denunciation of this Convention, notwithstanding the provisions contained in the article 11, provided the new reviewer convention has entered into force;

(b) As of the date of the entry into force of the new revising Convention, this Convention shall cease to be open for ratification by the Members.

2. This Convention shall remain in force in any event, in its present form and content, for Members who have ratified it and do not ratify the Convention.

ARTICLE 16. The English and French versions of the text of this Convention are equally authentic.

Full and compliant certified copy of the Spanish text.

By the Director General of the International Labour Office,

DOMINICK DEVLIN,

Legal Counsel International Labour Office.

EXECUTIVE BRANCH OF PUBLIC POWER

REPUBLIC OF THE REPUBLIC

Santa Fe de Bogota, D. C., February 16, 2000.

Approved. Submit to the consideration of the honorable National Congress for Constitutional Effects

(Fdo.) ANDRES PASTRANA ARANGO

The Foreign Minister,

(Fdo.) GUILLERMO FERNANDEZ DE SOTO

DECRETA:

ARTICLE 1o. Approve "Convention 182 on the Prohibition of the Worst Forms of Child Labour and Immediate Action for Disposal", adopted by the Seventh Seventh (87a.) Meeting of the General Conference of the International Labour Organization-ILO.-Geneva, Switzerland, seventeen (17) of June 1, 000 nine hundred and ninety-nine (1999).

ARTICLE 2o. In accordance with the provisions of Article 1o. of Law 7a. of 1944, the

"Convention 182 on the Prohibition of the Worst Forms of Child Labour and Immediate Action for Disposal", adopted by the Seventh Seventh (87a.) Meeting of the General Conference of the Organization International Labor-ILO.-, Geneva, Switzerland, seventeen (17) of June of a thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine (1999), which by the first article of this law is approved, will force the country from the date on which the link is perfected international regarding the same.

ARTICLE 3o. This law governs from the date of its publication.

The President of the honorable Senate of the Republic,

CARLOS GARCIA ORJUELA.

The Secretary General of the honorable Senate of the Republic,

MANUEL ENRIQUEZ ROSERO.

The President of the honorable House of Representatives,

GUILLERMO GAVIRIA ZAPATA.

The Secretary General of the honorable House of Representatives,

ANGELINO LIZANO RIVERA.

COLOMBIA-NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

COMMUNICATE AND COMPLY.

Execute, upon revision of the Constitutional Court, pursuant to article 241-10 of the Political Constitution.

Dada in Bogotá, D. C., on November 21, 2001.

ANDRES PASTRANA ARANGO

The Foreign Minister,

GUILLERMO FERNANDEZ DE SOTO.

The Minister of Labour and Social Security,

ANGELINO GARZON.