Minimum Age Convention, 1973

Template:Use dmy dates Template:More footnotes Template:Infobox treaty The Convention concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, is an Convention adopted in 1973 by the International Labour Organization. It requires ratifying states to pursue a national policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labour and to raise progressively the minimum age for admission to employment or work. The convention (number C138 of ILO) replaces several similar ILO conventions in specific fields of labour.

Minimum ages

Countries are free to specify a minimum age for labour, with a minimum of 15 years. A declaration of 14 years is also possible when for a specified period of time. Laws may also permit light work for children aged 13–15 (not harming their health or school work). The minimum age of 18 years is specified for work which "is likely to jeopardise the health, safety or morals of young persons". Definitions of the type of work and derogations are only possible after tripartite consultations (if such a system exists in the ratifying country).

Effect on other conventions

The convention is a revision of several conventions for workers in specific areas. Upon entry into force, some of these conventions were closed for ratification and becoming a party to this convention automatically resulted in denunciation of the older ones. An overview of older minimum age conventions of ILO is shown below:

ILO code	Field	conclusion date	entry into force	closure for signature	Parties (April 2011)	Denunciations (September 2011)	revising convention(s)	text and ratifications
C5	Industry	28 November 1919	13 June 1921	N.A.	2	70	C59, this convention	Text, ratifications
C7	Sea	7 July 1920	27 September 1921	N.A.	3	50	C58, this convention, MLC	Text, ratifications
C10	Agriculture	16 November 1921	31 August 1923	N.A.	4	51	this convention	Text, ratifications
C15	trimmers and stokers	11 November 1921	20 November 1922	N.A.	9	60	this convention	Text, ratifications
C33	Non-Industrial Employment (revised)	30 April 1932	6 June 1935	29 December 1950	2	23	C60, this convention	Text, ratifications
C58	Sea (revised)	24 October 1936	11 April 1939	N.A.	15	36	this convention, MLC	Text, ratifications
C59	Industry (revised)	22 June 1937	21 February 1941	19 June 1976	9	27	this convention	Text, ratifications
C60	Non-Industrial Employment	22 June 1937	29 December 1950	N.A.	0	11	this convention	Text, ratifications
C112	Fishermen	19 June 1959	7 November 1961	N.A.	8	21	this convention, Work in Fishing Convention	Text, ratifications
C123	Underground Work	22 June 1965	10 November 1967	N.A.	22	19	this convention	Text, ratifications

Ratifications

Template:Pie chartEntry into force of the treaty occurred one year after deposition of two first ratifications (Cuba and Libya). As of June 2014, 168 countries have ratified the treaty. The treaty enters for a ratifying country into force one year after ratification. The treaty can be denounced every 10 years in the year after 10 years have passed (e.g. Template:Nowrap – Template:Nowrap).

The following countries have ratified this convention:

Country	Date	Minimum age (years)
Afghanistan	Template:Nowrap	14
Albania	Template:Nowrap	16
Algeria	Template:Nowrap	16
Angola	Template:Nowrap	14
Antigua and Barbuda	Template:Nowrap	16
Argentina	Template:Nowrap	14
Armenia	Template:Nowrap	16
Austria	Template:Nowrap	15
Azerbaijan	Template:Nowrap	16
Bahamas	Template:Nowrap	14
Bahrain	Template:Nowrap	15
Barbados	Template:Nowrap	15
Belarus (as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic)	Template:Nowrap	16
Belgium	Template:Nowrap	15
Belize	Template:Nowrap	14
Benin	Template:Nowrap	14
Bolivia	Template:Nowrap	14
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Template:Nowrap	15
Botswana	Template:Nowrap	14
Brazil	Template:Nowrap	16
Brunei	Template:Nowrap	16
Bulgaria	Template:Nowrap	16
Burkina Faso	Template:Nowrap	15
Burundi	Template:Nowrap	16
Cambodia	Template:Nowrap	14
Cameroon	Template:Nowrap	14
Cape Verde	Template:Nowrap	15
Central African Republic	Template:Nowrap	14
Chad	Template:Nowrap	14
Chile	Template:Nowrap	15
China	Template:Nowrap	16
Colombia	Template:Nowrap	14
Comoros	Template:Nowrap	15
Congo	Template:Nowrap	14
Costa Rica	Template:Nowrap	15
Côte d'Ivoire	Template:Nowrap	14
Croatia	Template:Nowrap	15
Cuba	Template:Nowrap	15
Cyprus	Template:Nowrap	15
Czech Republic	Template:Nowrap	15
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Template:Nowrap	14
Denmark	Template:Nowrap	15
Djibouti	Template:Nowrap	16
Dominica	Template:Nowrap	15
Dominican Republic	Template:Nowrap	14
Ecuador	Template:Nowrap	14
Egypt	Template:Nowrap	14
El Salvador	Template:Nowrap	14
Equatorial Guinea	Template:Nowrap	14
Eritrea	Template:Nowrap	14
Estonia	Template:Nowrap	15
Ethiopia	Template:Nowrap	14
Fiji	Template:Nowrap	15
Finland	Template:Nowrap	15
France	Template:Nowrap	16
Gabon	Template:Nowrap	16
Gambia	Template:Nowrap	14
Ghana	Template:Nowrap	15
Georgia	Template:Nowrap	15
Germany	Template:Nowrap	15
Greece	Template:Nowrap	15
Grenada	Template:Nowrap	16
Guatemala	Template:Nowrap	14
Guinea	Template:Nowrap	16
Guinea-Bissau	Template:Nowrap	14
Guyana	Template:Nowrap	15
Haiti	Template:Nowrap	14
Honduras	Template:Nowrap	14
Hungary	Template:Nowrap	16
Iceland	Template:Nowrap	15
Indonesia	Template:Nowrap	15
Iraq	Template:Nowrap	15
Ireland	Template:Nowrap	16
Israel	Template:Nowrap	15
Italy	Template:Nowrap	15
Jamaica	Template:Nowrap	15
Japan	Template:Nowrap	15
Jordan	Template:Nowrap	16
Kazakhstan	Template:Nowrap	16
Kenya	Template:Nowrap	16
Kiribati	Template:Nowrap	14
South Korea	Template:Nowrap	15
Kuwait	Template:Nowrap	15
Kyrgyzstan	Template:Nowrap	16
Laos	Template:Nowrap	14
Latvia	Template:Nowrap	15
Lebanon	Template:Nowrap	14
Lesotho	Template:Nowrap	15
Libya	Template:Nowrap	15
Lithuania	Template:Nowrap	16
Luxembourg	Template:Nowrap	15
Macedonia	Template:Nowrap	15
Madagascar	Template:Nowrap	15
Malawi	Template:Nowrap	14
Malaysia	Template:Nowrap	15
Maldives	Template:Nowrap	16
Mali	Template:Nowrap	15
Malta	Template:Nowrap	16
Mauritania	Template:Nowrap	14
Mauritius	Template:Nowrap	15
Mexico	Template:Nowrap	15
Moldova	Template:Nowrap	16
Montenegro	Template:Nowrap	15
Mongolia	Template:Nowrap	15
Morocco	Template:Nowrap	15
Mozambique	Template:Nowrap	15
Namibia	Template:Nowrap	14
Nepal	Template:Nowrap	14
Netherlands (European territory)	Template:Nowrap	15
Netherlands (Aruba)	Template:Nowrap	15
Nicaragua	Template:Nowrap	14
Niger	Template:Nowrap	14
Nigeria	Template:Nowrap	15
Norway	Template:Nowrap	15
Oman	Template:Nowrap	15
Pakistan	Template:Nowrap	14
Panama	Template:Nowrap	14
Papua New Guinea	Template:Nowrap	16
Paraguay	Template:Nowrap	14
Peru	Template:Nowrap	14
Philippines	Template:Nowrap	15
Poland	Template:Nowrap	15
Portugal	Template:Nowrap	16
Qatar	Template:Nowrap	16
Romania	Template:Nowrap	16
Russia (as the Soviet Union)	Template:Nowrap	16
Rwanda	Template:Nowrap	14
Saint Kitts and Nevis	Template:Nowrap	16
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Template:Nowrap	14
Samoa	Template:Nowrap	15
San Marino	Template:Nowrap	16
São Tomé and Príncipe	Template:Nowrap	14
Saudi Arabia	Template:Nowrap	15
Senegal	Template:Nowrap	15
Serbia (as Serbia and Montenegro)	Template:Nowrap	15
Seychelles	Template:Nowrap	15
Sierra Leone	Template:Nowrap	16
Singapore	Template:Nowrap	15
Slovakia	Template:Nowrap	15
Slovenia	Template:Nowrap	15
Solomon Islands	Template:Nowrap	14
South Africa	Template:Nowrap	16
South Sudan	Template:Nowrap	14
Spain	Template:Nowrap	16
Sri Lanka	Template:Nowrap	14
Sudan	Template:Nowrap	14
Swaziland	Template:Nowrap	15
Sweden	Template:Nowrap	15
Switzerland	Template:Nowrap	15
Syria	Template:Nowrap	15
Tajikistan	Template:Nowrap	16
Tanzania	Template:Nowrap	14
Thailand	Template:Nowrap	15
Togo	Template:Nowrap	14
Trinidad and Tobago	Template:Nowrap	16
Tunisia	Template:Nowrap	16
Turkey	Template:Nowrap	15
Turkmenistan	Template:Nowrap	16
Uganda	Template:Nowrap	14
Ukraine (as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic)	Template:Nowrap	16
United Arab Emirates	Template:Nowrap	15
United Kingdom	Template:Nowrap	16
Uruguay	Template:Nowrap	15
Uzbekistan	Template:Nowrap	15
Venezuela	Template:Nowrap	14
Vietnam	Template:Nowrap	15
Yemen	Template:Nowrap	14
Zambia	Template:Nowrap	15
Zimbabwe	Template:Nowrap	14

External links

• Minimum Age Convention
• List of Ratifications
• General description of ILO Conventions
• Text of the Convention at the Center for a World in Balance