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National law and policies on minimum ages – Czech Republic

 

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/83/Add.4, 17 June 2002
Initial report: CRC/C/11/Add.11, 17 June 1996
 
Minimum age for the end of compulsory education
From 2nd report
41. Under section 34 of the Schools Act (Act No. 29/1984 Coll. on elementary schools, secondary schools, and post-secondary occupational schools) compulsory education begins at the beginning of the school year following the day when a child reaches the age of six. Compulsory education lasts nine years, and students fulfil the requirement by completing the school year in which they reach the last year of compulsory education.
 
Minimum age for admission to employment
From 2nd report
42. According to section 11 (1) of the Labour Code (Law No. 65/1965 Coll.) the age limit at which a child can be employed is 15 years. According to section 11 (2), a person, who completes compulsory school education in a remedial school before reaching the age of 15 can be employed as of the day when she/he completes the compulsory education; however, she/he must be at least 14 years old. The Labour Code governs conditions for employing minors (that is, persons aged 15-18 years of age) in part three, sections 163 to 168. The legal regulation states that an employer is required to ask for the legal representative's consent to conclude an agreement with a minor employee. The employer may not assign minor employees overtime work and night work. In exceptional cases minors aged 16 or more may perform night work not exceeding one hour, if it is necessary for their professional training. Minors may not be given work underground mining minerals or digging tunnels and shafts; minors also may not be given work which, taking into account the anatomical, physiological and psychological features at that age are disproportionate, dangerous, or damaging to their health. 
316. […] the provision of the Labour Code, under which natural persons who complete compulsory education in a remedial school before reaching the age of 15 acquire capacity for labour law purposes on the day they complete compulsory education, but no earlier than upon reaching the age of 14, cannot be used in practice at present. The 1990 amendment to the Schools Act (Act No. 522/1990 Coll.) repealed the provision under which compulsory education in a remedial school lasted eight years. Under sections 33 and 34 of the Schools Act, compulsory education lasts a minimum of nine years. […]
From initial report
35. Section 11 of the Labour Code stipulates that natural persons acquire the capacity to have rights and duties in labour relations and the capacity, by their own legal acts, to acquire these rights and take on these duties on the day they reach the age of 15. However, employers must not make an agreement with them that their employment will start on a day which precedes the day when that person completes the compulsory school attendance.
36. The provisions of section 70 (b) of the Labour Code apply to the age requirements for subsidiary (part-time) employment which cannot be agreed with a minor. Contracts for work performed outside normal employment may be concluded with minors only if it does not infringe their health and development, or for vocational training.
 
Minimum age for marriage
From 2nd report
33. Also related to reaching majority are the provisions of section 13 of the Act on the Family (Act No. 94/1963 Coll., as amended by Act No. 91/1998 Coll.), which states that a minor cannot enter into marriage; however, exceptionally, if it is in accordance with the social purpose of marriage, the court may, for important reasons, permit a minor over the age of 16 to enter into marriage. Without such permission the marriage is invalid and marriage cannot take place with a minor under the age of 16 at all.
From initial report
34. Under section 13 of the Family Act a marriage can be concluded on attaining majority, i.e. upon reaching the age of 18. Minors older than 16 may get married only with the consent of a court.
 
Minimum age for criminal responsibility
From 2nd report
38. Under section 11, of the Criminal Code (Act No. 140/1961, as amended by later regulations) a person who has not reached the age of 15 at the time of committing a crime is not criminally liable. […]
From initial report
232. From the point of criminal offence and their share in the structure of offenders, juvenile offenders are divided into two categories: children aged less than 15 years, and juveniles aged between 15 and 18 years.
239. Under section 11 of the Penal Code a person who had not attained 15 years of age at the time of committing a crime cannot be held liable for it. However, in compliance with the conditions set by law, this person can be placed in protective custody. On attaining 18 years of age, a person becomes fully liable for his/her acts. Under section 33 of the Penal Code, infringement of penal law at an age close to the age of adolescence is generally considered as a mitigating circumstance.
 

 

Sources:

2nd periodic report: CRC/C/83/Add.4, 17 June 2002

Initial report: CRC/C/11/Add.11, 17 June 1996