| School-leaving age |
 |
From CRC/C/117/Add.1 of 5 June 2003
198. Under the Compulsory Education Act, children must attend school full-time between their fifth and sixteenth birthdays (although they may attend as soon as they reach the age of 4, and 97 per cent in fact do so). They must continue to attend part time until their seventeenth birthday.[…]
From CRC/C/51/Add. 1 of 24 July 1997
258. Pupils aged 5 to 16 are obliged to attend school by law in the Netherlands. This obligation includes a duty to register at a school and to visit school regularly. The obligation is regulated in the Compulsory Education Act (Leerplichtwet) 1969. The full obligation starts on the first day of the month following that in which a child reaches the age of 5 and generally ends in the school year in which it attains the age of 16. Thereafter there is a partial attendance obligation: namely two days a week. Young people who have concluded an apprenticeship agreement are obliged to attend school one day a week. The partial attendance obligation lasts until the end of the school year in which the pupil reaches the age of 17.
|
 |
| Minimum age of employment |
|
From CRC/C/117/Add.1 of 5 June 2003
261. As announced in the Netherlands initial report, the Working Conditions Decree has now come into effect. The Netherlands also has a new Working Conditions Act. The Decree has fewer prescriptive and proscriptive provisions than the old regulations in the 1919 Factories Act or the Working Conditions Act. It does, however, contain an absolute ban on certain activities for children under 18, besides defining certain kinds of work that 16- and 17-year-olds can only do under expert supervision, and that cannot be done at all by children under 16 years of age.
From CRC/C/51/Add. 1 of 24 July 1997
23. Under the Civil Code a person aged 16 or over has been able to enter into an employment contract without the consent of his or her parents since 1 April 1997. However, a child is obliged by law to attend school until the age of 17. […]
358. In general the forms of labour referred to in article 32 are prohibited in the Netherlands. Indeed, the basic principle of Dutch legislation is that child labour is prohibited. This is evident in section 3:2, subsection 1, of the Working Hours Act (Arbeidstijdenwet) (Act of 23 November 1995 containing provisions regulating work and rest periods). This section provides that the person responsible for a child should ensure that a child under the age of 16 does not perform work. The same Act makes a number of exceptions, which are discussed below. […]
360. The Working Hours Act referred to above took the place of the Factories Act on 1 January 1996. This has brought about a slight relaxation of the rules. The prohibition of child labour is now regulated in section 3:2 of the Working Hours Act. This Act defines a "child" as a person under the age of 16 and defines work as including the activities of a child in performance of a contract. Exceptions to the prohibition of child labour exist. These are:
(a) Work not performed during school time:
(i) Work as part of an alternative sanction imposed by a judge on a child aged 12 or over;
(ii) Non-industrial work of a light nature performed by a child aged 13 or over;
(iii) Work consisting of the delivery of morning papers by a child aged 15 or over.
(b) Work of a light nature performed by a child aged 14 or over in so far as this work is performed in addition to or in connection with education.
362. Under section 3.3 of the Act, exemptions may be granted "in respect of the performance by a child of work consisting of participation in any show of a cultural, scientific, educational or artistic nature, in fashion shows or in audio, visual or audiovisual recordings and other comparable non-industrial work of a light nature". […] The policy rules distinguish between the age categories of under 7 years and 7-13 years. The distinction concerns:
(a) The different work and rest periods for the two age groups and the days on which children may take part in performances, the number of performances per unit of time and the conditions on which they may take part in performances;
(b) The "prior work" (i.e. the rehearsals);
(c) The conditions attached to the exemption.
|
|
| Minimum age for marriage |
|
From CRC/C/51/Add. 1 of 24 July 1997
19. The age at which a person can lawfully enter into a marriage is uniformly fixed at 18 for both men and women. This age requirement, which is the same as the age of legal capacity, does not apply if a man and a woman are both aged 16 or over and the woman lodges a doctor's statement that she is pregnant or if a child has already been born to the parties concerned. In this situation priority is given to the manifest wish of the prospective spouses to raise their child together. It is also possible to obtain a marriage licence at a younger age on "serious grounds". In such cases the main consideration is whether the prospective spouses are actually capable of taking responsibility for raising the child.
|
|
| Minimum age for criminal responsibility |
|
From CRC/C/117/Add.1 of 5 June 2003
245. Children under 12 years of age who commit minor offences such as vandalism, theft, illegally setting off fireworks and rowdy behaviour may be given a brief corrective assignment. Parental consent is required. The aim is to provide a voluntary aid, free of obligations, to help parents and carers correct their child's behaviour. A "Stop" assignment is not a statutory sanction; this would be impossible, since children under 12 years of age cannot be prosecuted. The point of the assignment is to make it clear to the child, in an appropriate manner, that criminal behaviour is unacceptable. The assignment may consist of an interview, writing an essay, answering the questions on a form, or apologizing to the injured party. The assignment
may on no account involve any kind of work. If a child is considered eligible for a "Stop" assignment, the police will suggest it to the parents, making it clear that participation is voluntary.
From CRC/C/51/Add. 1 of 24 July 1997
25. Young people who have not yet reached the age of 12 years when they commit an offence (i.e. a criminal offence) may not be prosecuted. This means that in appropriate circumstances a child may be arrested and asked by an investigating officer to give his or her name. The child may also be questioned and searched and his or her possessions may be confiscated. More far-reaching measures such as police custody and remand in custody are not possible. In such cases the public prosecutor does not have a right of prosecution. If charges should be brought, the court is required to hold that the case is inadmissible.
|
|
|
|