"ROUND TABLE" DEDICATED TO THE WORLD DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOUR

Tashkent hosted a "round table" dedicated to the World Day Against Child Labour. It was organized by the Federation Council of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan (FCTU), International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Representation of Children’s Fund of the United Nations (UNICEF) in our country.

Addressing at the meeting Minister of Labour and Social Protection of the Republic of Uzbekistan A.Abduhakimov, chairman of FCTU T.Narbaeva, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce A.Shayhov, head of the UNICEF office in Tashkent R.Fuderich and others noted that in Uzbekistan, upbringing of harmoniously developed, smart and healthy young generation is a priority of state policy. Great attention is paid to education, to the development of which allocated more than 35% of the state budget.
As part of a state policy to prevent the worst forms of child labor in Uzbekistan conducted a large-scale work aimed at creating stronger mechanisms to protect the rights of the child, as well as the improvement of national legislation and practice in line with international conventions.

It was stressed that the country in 2008 ratified the Convention 182 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour and ILO Convention 138 on the minimum age for admission to employment, which are successfully implemented. In order to strengthen the responsibility of economic entities and individuals for violation of the inadmissibility of the use of child labor, as well as for violation of labor legislation in respect of persons who have not attained the age of eighteen, in 2009 adopted the Law "On Amendments to the Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan on administrative responsibility in connection with the improvement of the legislation on the protection of minors".

In accordance with this, this Code is supplemented by new regulations, impose more stringent liability officials and other persons for violation of labor legislation and labor protection of minors for using child labor in work that can harm their health, safety or morals, or for administrative enforcement of the minor to work.
Article 241 of the Labour Code prohibits the employment of persons under eighteen years of age in jobs with poor working conditions, underground and other works that may damage the health, safety or morals of this category of workers. Lifting and moving of loads exceeding the established norms by persons below eighteen years is not allowed.

It was noted that the adoption of appropriate measures for the effective implementation of ILO conventions is an important item on the agenda of collective bargaining between employers and trade unions. General Agreement between the Government of the country, the Federation of Trade Unions and the Chamber of Commerce of the socio-economic issues in the years 2014-2016 contains a direct instruction about the parties’ commitment to full compliance with ILO Conventions. Similar obligations are included in collective bargaining at the industry acts, territorial and local levels.
The ongoing systematic work in this direction provides prevention of child labor. In order to enhance these activities under the leadership of the Trade Union Federation of Uzbekistan the Coordination Council on Child Labour. It is a public body and is formed on a permanent basis from representatives of relevant ministries and agencies, trade unions, employers’ associations and other civil society institutions.

Coordinating Council played a crucial role in the organization and monitoring of child labor in the cotton industry, organized by Uzbekistan and the ILO in 2013, as well as in a national monitoring of child labor in cotton harvesting cotton in 2014.
The monitoring, which took place with the participation and technical support of ILO experts, revealed the absence of the use of forced child labor on a systematic basis in the collection of cotton and small business entities.

As a result of the announcement of the results of monitoring and conclusions of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations at the 103rd session of the International Labour Conference marked by positive progress in cooperation between Uzbekistan and the ILO. To identify cases of the presence of children in the cotton fields of regional groups monitoring drawn up removal of children, and with the help of labor inspections instituted the case on administrative responsibility.

An important preventive measure in the fight against child labor is the organization of summer recreation of children of school age. Every year, children’s camps organized by the trade unions of the Republic of rest and improvement of about 300 thousand children. In particular, in 2015 it organized the work camps in 1149, in which preferential recovery of more than 287 thousand children is planned.
Taking into account the interests of the children activity of several specialized camps has been improved. Their number this year has reached 220, including camps for "Intellectual Development" and "Social adaptation" for children without parental care. More than 23 thousand qualified teachers, heads of clubs, sports instructors have been attracted to work in this area.