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National law and policies on minimum ages – Denmark

 

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:
3rd periodic report: CRC/C/129/Add.3, 30 March 2005
2nd periodic report: CRC/C/70/Add. 6, 31 March 2000
Initial report: CRC/C/8/Add.8, 12 October 1993
 
Minimum age for the end of compulsory education
From initial report
36. All children in Denmark have a right to receive free education in the primary and lower secondary school (Folkeskolen). Education is compulsory in Denmark, but there is no compulsory school attendance. Compulsory education may thus be performed through education in the Folkeskole, in a private school or as private instruction in the pupil's home. Education is compulsory for children from the 1 August of the calendar year in which the child attains the age of 7 years until the 31 July after the child has received regular education for a period of nine years.
248. […] Compulsory education ends, however, at the latest on 31 July of the year of the child's seventeenth birthday, or upon completion of primary school or equivalent education.
 
Minimum age for admission to employment
From 3rd report
74. On 22 June 1996, Act No. 458 of 12 June 1996 to amend the Working Environment Act (Lov om arbejdsmiljø) (on young persons’ work) came into force. According to this act, the general age limit for the admission to occupational work was raised from 10 to 13 years.
From 2nd report
224. National regulation of the work of children and young people is based on a 1994 directive of the European Union on the protection of young people in the workplace. This directive was implemented in Danish law by amendment of the Working Environment Act (arbejdsmiljøloven) in 1996. In addition, Denmark has ratified ILO Convention No. 138 on minimum age for access to employment.
225. Accordingly, children under the age of 13 cannot lawfully take on work except for performances in cultural contexts. This may be participation in plays or commercials. Employment requires permission from the local police, who must determine whether the performance in question is appropriate.
227. The point of departure is thus that children have to be 15 years old and to have fulfilled their statutory duty to receive instruction to be able to take on work. The duty to receive instruction in Denmark is satisfied by nine years of school. The work that young people can take on is limited. Thus,young people are not allowed to work with dangerous machines, dangerous substances or materials or in other ways be exposed to major strain until they have attained the age of 18.
228. The Danish Government thus endeavours to ensure that as a main rule children and young people have completed their statutory education before they take on paid work.
 
Minimum age for marriage
From initial report
35. A minor may not contract marriage without the consent of the parents and the authorities. The authorities may permit a child under the age of 18 years to contract marriage. As a rule, permission will not be granted if the child is under the age of 15 years, or if both man and woman are under the age of 18 years.
 
Minimum age for criminal responsibility
From initial report
37. Under the Criminal Code, children under the age of 15 years who commit criminal acts cannot be punished. Children under the age of 15 years cannot be deprived of liberty under the rules of the Danish Administration of Justice Act on arrest or remand in custody, nor may they be sentenced to imprisonment as these measures imply a charge or a conviction for a criminal offence. In the case of young persons aged 15-18, the Administration of Justice Act further provides for the possibility of withdrawing the charge of a criminal offence.
306. The general rules of criminal procedure are found in volume IV of the Administration of Justice Act (cf. (Consolidated) Act No. 905 of 10 November 1992). These rules apply -- unless there are special exemptions – to children between the ages of 15 and 17 years. Under section 15 of the Criminal Code, acts committed by children under the age of 15 years are not punishable (cf. chapter III).
 
Sources:
3rd periodic report: CRC/C/129/Add.3, 30 March 2005
2nd periodic report: CRC/C/70/Add. 6, 31 March 2000
Initial report: CRC/C/8/Add.8, 12 October 1993