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National law and policies on minimum ages – Burkina Faso

 

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.

Sources:

2nd periodic report: CRC/C/65/Add.18, 13 February 2002
Initial report: CRC/C/3/Add.19, 15 July 1993
 
Minimum age for the end of compulsory education
From 2nd report
36. The Education Act sets forth an obligation to enrol children in school from the age of 6 through 16 years (art. 2). Legally speaking, this is a step forward. Practically, however, its implementation is thwarted by lack of school infrastructure, human resources, teaching materials, logistical means for follow-up and by poverty.
37. Thus the scope of this provision appears to be limited. It affected only 37.7 per cent of the school-age population in 1996, and destroyed the previously-existing balance between the ages of compulsory schooling and of employment (14 years). Harmonization is needed.
 
Minimum age for admission to employment
From 2nd report
21. The minimum age of employment (14) no longer corresponds to the maximum age of compulsory education (16). Harsh living conditions lead parents to send their children out to work early, especially in the agricultural and informal sectors.
456. Children generally operate in the informal economy, where there is a real risk of their being exploited, especially as there is no appropriate legislation or regulations to protect them.
 
Minimum age for marriage
From initial report
11. Article 238 of the Code on the Individual and the Family sets the minimum age for marriage at 20 for boys and 19 for girls. However, derogations may be made by the judge in certain cases in which the age is 18 for boys and 15 for girls. The Code on the Individual and the Family stipulates that there must be mutual consent to the marriage, which brings an end to forced marriages.
 
Minimum age for criminal responsibility
From 2nd report
417. Children under the age of 13 are presumed to lack the capacity to infringe criminal law (Penal Code, art. 74) and are presumed not to be responsible for their actions. These children are either returned to their parents or placed in care; they are subject to educational measures only.
 
Sources:
2nd periodic report: CRC/C/65/Add.14, 13 February 2002
Initial report: CRC/C/3/Add. 19, 15 July 1993.