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National law and policies on minimum ages – Brunei Darussalam

 

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/61/Add.5, 13 March 2003
 
Minimum age for the end of compulsory education
246. This Education (Non-Government Schools) Act (cap. 55) does not have a provision concerning the right of a child to education […]
253. Although education is not compulsory, it is estimated over 99 per cent of the children in Brunei Darussalam attend primary schools.
 
Minimum age for admission to employment
33. Under the Labour Act (cap. 93) a child is defined as being under 14 years old and a young person is defined as any person who has ceased to be a child but who is under 18 years old. The difference here is that young persons may be employed in any industrial undertaking as long as it is not done between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. The act further makes provisions prohibiting the employment of children and young persons less than 18 years in ships or in underground work. […]
319. The law prohibits the employment of people under the age of 16. The Employment of those below 14 is considered as child labour. The Labour Act (cap. 93, sect. 24 (1)) prohibits the employment of children in any industrial undertaking. Under this law a child is defined as a person under the age of 14 years old.
321. Most job-seekers are above the age of 18; there are also a small number of young job-seekers. Parents may apply for the consent of the Commissioner of Labour to allow their under-age children to work. In exercising his discretion, the Commissioner would act on the best interests of the children. Consent is only given if the type of work is not physically and mentally taxing and jeopardizes their safety. […]
 
Minimum age for marriage
34. The Marriage Act (cap. 76) provides for the solemnization and registration of church and civil marriages. Under this law, minor is defined as a person not being a widow or a widower who is under the age of 18 years. The age for marriage is 14 years old. Where there is a solemnization of marriage and one of the parties to the marriage is a minor, consent of the father or the guardian or the mother of the minor is necessary. The act provides that it is an offence to solemnize the marriage of a minor where the requisite consent is absent. This is an offence punishable by a term of three years’ imprisonment and a fine. This act does not apply to Muslim marriages, as such marriages are governed by the Shariah laws. Despite these provisions, according to the Registry of Marriages the number of marriages among minors are small and are usually between people in the rural areas or among the indigenous groups.
35. The Religious Council and Kadi’s Court Act (cap. 77) does not limit the minimal age for a Muslim to get married and as outlined by Shariah law such marriage may be registered under the provisions of section 137 (3) of the act.
 
Minimum age for criminal responsibility

292. Section 2 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code confines the definition of youthful offender to those between the ages of 7 and 18. By this definition a child below the age of 7 commits no offence. This is also specifically provided by section 82 of the Penal Code (cap. 22). Under section 82 of the Penal Code, nothing is an offence, which is done by a child under 7 years of age. By section 83 of the same, nothing is an offence that is done by a child above 7 years of age and under 12, who has not attained sufficient maturity of understanding to judge the nature and consequences of his conduct on that occasion.

 

Source: Initial report: CRC/C/61/Add.5, 13 March 2003