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C138 - Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138)
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Preamble
The General Conference of the International Labour Organisation,
Having been convened at Geneva by the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, and having met in its Fifty-eighth Session on 6
June 1973, and
Having decided upon the adoption of certain proposals with regard to minimum age for admission to employment, which is the fourth item
on the agenda of the session, and
Noting the terms of the Minimum Age (Industry) Convention, 1919, the Minimum Age (Sea) Convention, 1920, the Minimum Age
(Agriculture) Convention, 1921, the Minimum Age (Trimmers and Stokers) Convention, 1921, the Minimum Age (Non-Industrial
Employment) Convention, 1932, the Minimum Age (Sea) Convention (Revised), 1936, the Minimum Age (Industry) Convention (Revised),
1937, the Minimum Age (Non-Industrial Employment) Convention (Revised), 1937, the Minimum Age (Fishermen) Convention, 1959, and
the Minimum Age (Underground Work) Convention, 1965, and
Considering that the time has come to establish a general instrument on the subject, which would gradually replace the existing ones
applicable to limited economic sectors, with a view to achieving the total abolition of child labour, and
Having determined that these proposals shall take the form of an international Convention,
adopts this twenty-sixth day of June of the year one thousand nine hundred and seventy-three the following Convention, which may be cited
as the Minimum Age Convention, 1973:
Article 1
Each Member for which this Convention is in force undertakes 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 to a level consistent with the fullest physical and mental
development of young persons.
Article 2
1. Each Member which ratifies this Convention shall specify, in a declaration appended to its ratification, a minimum age for admission to
employment or work within its territory and on means of transport registered in its territory; subject to Articles 4 to 8 of this Convention, no one
under that age shall be admitted to employment or work in any occupation.
2. Each Member which has ratified this Convention may subsequently notify the Director-General of the International Labour Office, by further
declarations, that it specifies a minimum age higher than that previously specified.
3. The minimum age specified in pursuance of paragraph 1 of this Article shall not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling and,
in any case, shall not be less than 15 years.
4. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 3 of this Article, a Member whose economy and educational facilities are insufficiently developed
may, after consultation with the organisations of employers and workers concerned, where such exist, initially specify a minimum age of 14 years.
5. Each Member which has specified a minimum age of 14 years in pursuance of the provisions of the preceding paragraph shall include in its
reports on the application of this Convention submitted under article 22 of the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation a statement-