At what age?
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All information on this page and the following pages is taken from At What Age?...are school-children employed, married and taken to court? This major study was written by Angela Melchiorre uniquely on the basis of States Parties’ Reports submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child from January 1997 to January 2004. Because of this specific choice of sources and the backlog in the reporting procedure, information concerning some countries may not reflect the most recent developments. The study, nonetheless, derives from authoritative information, as explained in the methodology. It is currently being updated to include information submitted in the years 2004 to 2010.
We encourage all to visit the publication in its entirety (just click on the book title). This will also enable you to compare different countries, a major part of understanding why this information is important. However, an overview comparative table is also available.
In at least 25 countries of the world there is no specified age for compulsory education; at least 33 States have no minimum age of employment and in 44 girls can be married earlier than boys. In at least 125 countries children may be taken to court and risk imprisonment for criminal acts at an age between 7 and 15, often the age range for compulsory education. Moreover, in the same country, it is not rare to find that children are legally obliged to go to school until they are 14 or 15 years old but a different law allows them to work at an earlier age or to be married at the age of 12 or to be criminally responsible from the age of 7.
Being aware of the legal situation of children around the world is necessary for designing effective measures to improve it. Based on States Parties' reports under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and therefore reflecting States' representations of their own practice, At what age? brings to light problems that should be - but currently are not - effectively addressed: at what age do children become adults and lose their protection under the Convention on the Rights of the Child? Children's right to education is currently under threat from early marriage, child labour and imprisonment: states have not adapted their legislation in favour of the right to education, and they do not have agreed standards for the transition from childhood to adulthood either internationally or nationally.
Often taken as the guarantor of childhood until 18, the Convention on the Rights of the Child in fact states in article 1 that: "a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier". The latter element, a limitation, substantially weakens the operative part of the article and provides justification for differing interpretations and practice. It is an acknowledgement that not even the age of majority is the same in all countries.
The key question is concordance or discord among different ages at which children should be - or can be - in school, at work, married, or taken before a court and/or imprisoned. The relationship between school, work, marriage and criminal responsibility should be addressed within child-rights policy in individual countries. However, few countries have elaborated this as yet. Moreover, minimum and maximum ages tend to be set by different laws and are often contradictory. Inconsistency between compulsory education and the full range of children's rights risks jeopardising the full development of the child's personality, the key aim of education in human rights law.
For more information:
School leaving age
Age of criminal responsibility
Methodology
This publication summarises results of a great deal of research, based on an analysis of States Parties' reports to the Committee on the Rights of the Child. It was first published in 2002 and included State reports presented from January 1997 to August 2002. The current text is a revision/update of the previous findings with the addition of State reports from August 2002 to January 2004. Whilst it would be possible to supplement, or contrast this source with non-governmental or academic material, this has not been done here. States Parties' reports constitute self-assessment by governments and presenting them here, in an easily comparable format, allows inter-national comparison and permits a range of actors to hold governments accountable for the standards which they report under the CRC.
The first part of the publication displays a summary table listing all reporting States. Four different entries are given: minimum school-leaving age, minimum age of employment, minimum age for marriage and minimum age for criminal responsibility. The year of report and the page number are also noted for ease of consultation. The second part contains excerpts from the relevant States Parties' reports presented in alphabetical order, with direct reference to document and paragraph numbers. The source can be the initial report to the Committee, the periodic report or both where the latter is silent on minimum ages or presents unclear or incomplete information. The sections of these reports herein have been reproduced faithfully, and where information has been omitted as it was judged irrelevant this is clearly indicated in the following manner: […]. For a fully authoritative record, readers are encouraged to make use of the original text following document symbols and paragraph references given for each report.
Comparing different ages in different countries or even within the same country is a difficult task, and inferring a precise number from a general description is a dangerous exercise. Collecting, collating, analysing and interpreting State reports requires a great deal of care, thought and patience. Individual country reports are often more than a hundred pages long, and written by different parts of the government. Moreover, a variety of legal sources may exist. They may thus present different minimum ages for the same issue and even when a precise age is mentioned the language can lead one to question its enforceability. In order to maintain coherence, an analytical framework has been developed and followed uniformly to arrive at the interpretations presented in the summary table.
Where no information is provided, this is indicated by a cross (X); where the information is available but not sufficiently clear, or is self-contradictory, a question mark (?) is used. Where the information indicates a change in legislation or a division of competence in federal States or a particular situation or exception that begs closer scrutiny, a star (*) is placed beside the number. Otherwise, the information provided in the reports is translated into a precise number or "No minimum", according to each specific case. In most situations the age defined by a precise number is the lowest legally permissible for completing compulsory education, entering employment, contracting marriage and being attributed criminal responsibility. In many other cases the figure has been inferred following close consideration of the four main areas according to the principles outlined below.
