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National law and policies on minimum ages – Belgium

 

According to the CRC, laws and policies must be directed to the best interest of the child. This is especially so in provisions that aim to safeguard the child against exploitation or an early end to childhood, i.e. in the instances where children are most vulnerable and at risk. Yet such safeguards are often ignored and different areas of legislation found to clash with each other. What happens if the age for the end of compulsory education is 14 but the minimum age of employment is 12? Or vice versa? What if a girl can be married before school leaving age - will she then return to school? And who ensures schooling in prisons, when in reality education should protect children from incarceration?

 

 

 

 

With 192 parties to it, the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) is the most widely ratified UN treaty. Each State Party must submit periodic reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which uses this process to monitor State compliance with the treaty. The vast majority of the information on minimum ages presented on these pages is taken directly from such reports (occasionally, if these failed to include relevant information concerning minimum ages, other components of the reporting process - such as the Committee’s Concluding Observations - were consulted). States Parties’ reports constitute self-assessment by governments and are therefore authoritative sources, emanating directly from those empowered to make decisions. Using this type of sources also permits a range of actors to hold governments accountable for the standards which they report under the CRC. The sections of these reports have been reproduced faithfully, and readers are encouraged to make use of the full original text, available here.

 

Individual country reports are often written by diverse parts of the government, and frequently run to more than 100 pages. Moreover, within some states’ legal systems there are various recognised sources of law, which frequently generate conflicting minimum ages. Distilling precise numbers out of such documents is therefore a precarious task. While we would encourage cross-country comparison, we would also stress the danger that those countries with a more honest engagement with the reporting process might come off worse when compared with those which would mis-represent the degree of compliance, whether wilfully or not. For a full explanation of the principles that guided us in our analysis, please visit the introductory pages here.

Source: Initial report: CRC/C/11/Add.4, 6 September 1994
 
Minimum age for the end of compulsory education
50. Under the Act of 29 June 1983, full-time education is compulsory from the age of 6 to 15. From his sixteenth to his eighteenth birthday, a young person is obliged to pursue at least part-time education; he thus has a choice between full-time or part-time education.
 
Minimum age for admission to employment
51. From the age of 15, a young person engaged in part-time education can enter into a contract for part-time ordinary work. In such cases, the young person is normally covered by all aspects of the social security system, except the pension fund, to which he accordingly does not contribute. In addition, a working pupil can be recruited part-time under a practical training contract on condition that he is registered as seeking part-time work.
52. Under article 7.1.1 of the Labour Act of 16 March 1971 it is forbidden to employ minors who are still covered by the full-time education requirement or to employ them on work that is outside the framework of their education or training. It is thus only from the age of 18 that a young worker can enter into a full-time employment contract.
 
Minimum age for marriage
55. The age at which a person can lawfully enter into marriage was changed under the Act of 19 January 1990. New article 144 of the Civil Code states that the minimum age for marriage, both for young men and for young women, is uniformly fixed at 18. As things now stand, the age of legal capacity is the same as the age for marriage: a young person of 18, being of age, can marry without needing parental consent. It is possible to obtain permission for marriage at a younger age “on serious grounds”. The juvenile court is competent to give such permission.
 
Minimum age for criminal responsibility
61. A person under the age of 18 at the time when he committed an “act characterized as an offence” is not dealt with under the criminal law, but, at the federal level, under the Protection of Young Persons Act of 8 April 1965. This Act has been amended and supplemented by decrees by the Communities, which are now competent in the matter of protection of young persons.
63. Under article 38 of the Act of 8 April 1965, a minor brought before the juvenile court can nevertheless be tried as an adult if he was over the age of 16 at the time of the offence and if the court considers that any custodial, preventive or educational measure would be inadequate. In that case, the juvenile court may, giving reasons for its decision, relinquish jurisdiction and refer the case to the Procurator's Office with a view to proceedings before the competent court. In the eyes of the law, however, such relinquishment of jurisdiction should remain an exception. A minor under the age of 16 can never be prosecuted before an ordinary criminal court.
 
Source: Initial report: CRC/C/11/Add.4, 6 September 1994