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National law and policies on minimum ages – Guyana

 

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/8/Add.47, 6 August 2003

 
Minimum age for the end of compulsory education
105. The amendment to the Education Act has made 15 years the end of compulsory education. This is now a right which is to be enshrined in the 1980 Constitution of Guyana.
288. The minimum age of admission to a primary school is 5 years 9 months. The primary programme is structured to provide literacy and numeracy skills for pupils within the system. It is normally of six years duration.
322. It should be noted that, while primary education is compulsory, the monitoring and enforcement of the law has proved to be exceedingly difficult and this has negatively affected adherence to aspects of this article of the Convention. The reintroduction of the Welfare Division and of welfare officers with responsibility for truancy are now in place to address such issues.
 
Minimum age for admission to employment
104. The Education Act, chapter 39:01, section 17, states that: “No person shall take into his employment or employ any child who is under the age of fourteen years, provided that the service rendered by a child to its parents, being such service as is usually given by children to their parents, shall not constitute a breach of this section unless such service is rendered on a school day during school hours.”
401. In the laws of Guyana, currently the Employment of Women, Young Persons and Children Act (chap. 99:01) establishes the procedure relating to the employment of women, young persons and children.
402. “Child” for the purpose of this act is a person under the age of 14 years. Section 3 of this act stipulates that: “No child shall be employed in any industrial undertaking.”
403. The act also makes comprehensive reference to the prohibition of the employment of children on ships (sect. 4) and the institution of penalties for this offence.
404. It is therefore significant to observe notable exceptions in this act which seem to have its genesis in colonial times and which do not accord with the Convention. Article 2 of Part 1 of the Schedule of this act states that: “Children under the age of 14 years shall not be employed, or work in the public or private industrial undertaking, or in any branch thereof, other than an undertaking in which only members of the same family are employed.” This article was revised in the Children’s Bill where a child is defined as being 15 years or under and is thereby prohibited from working.
407. This law is the principal piece of legislation which provides protection for children and young people. It is, however, recognized that it is outmoded. The review of this act has resulted in article 32 of the CRC being reflected and directly referred to in the Children’s Bill 2002. In a part dedicated to Employment of Young Persons and Children, “child”, “industrial undertaking” and “young person” are defined in conformity with the CRC. Restrictions on employment in industry are stipulated. It is specifically stated that the provisions of the CRC and other related Conventions “shall have effect for the purposes of this part”.
 
Minimum age for marriage
113. Although the legal age of majority is 18, section 31 (1) of the Marriage Act states that: “Where either of the parties not being widower or widow, or a divorced person is under the age of twenty years, no marriage shall take place between them until the consent of the appropriate person or persons specified in the Second Schedule has been first obtained.”
114. Part III of the Marriage Act, 1974 (chap. 45:01) deals with restrictions on marriage:
“(1) A marriage shall be void if the parties or either of them is under the age of sixteen.
“If a female under the age of sixteen years becomes pregnant or is delivered of a child, she may apply by petition to a judge of the High Court for permission to be married under that age to a person under the age of sixteen years, or, if under that age, he admits to being the putative father of the child whether yet delivered or not, or is adjudged by a court of competent jurisdiction to be the father of the child.”
The act states that a marriage thus solemnized would be declared good, valid and effectual as if both parties had been above the age of 18 years.
115. It is relevant to note that the Second Schedule of the Marriage Act details the circumstances and person or persons whose consent is required for the marriage of an infant (as it is legally deemed) by licence without publication of banns. These circumstances and persons are summarized below.
 

Table 1
Consent required for marriage of minor “infant”
Circumstances
 
Person/persons whose consent is required
Where both parents are living; if both parents are living together
 
Both parents
If parents are divorced or separated by order of a court or mutual agreement
The parent to whom the custody of the infant is committed by court order or by agreement, or if the custody of the infant is so committed to one parent during part of the year, and to the other parent during the rest of the year, or to both parents
 
If one parent has been deserted by the other
 
 
The parent who has been deserted
If both parents have been deprived of custody of infant by court order
The person to whose custody the infant is committed by order of the court.

 
 
Minimum age for criminal responsibility
383. Some important interpretations and articles of this act [The Juvenile Offenders Act (chap. 10:03)] are as follows:
- “Child” means a person under 14 years;
- “Juvenile” means a person under 17 years;
- It shall be conclusively presumed that no child under the age of 10 can be guilty of an offence;
- A juvenile court must be held in camera (that is, the court must be cleared of all persons not connected with the matter);
- A “young person” means a person who has attained the age of 14 years and is under the age of 17 years.
 
Source: Initial report: CRC/C/8/Add.47, 6 August 2003