The Minimum Age Convention (138) of the International Labour Organization (ILO), which includes the abolition of child labour, was approved on Tuesday.

The convention has 18 articles and aims to effectively abolish child labour, support economic development, and provide job opportunities consistent with the fullest physical and mental development of young people, according to Labour, Immigration and Population Minister U Thein Swe.

But undeveloped countries, including Myanmar, are allowed to lower the age limit to between 12 and 14-year-old.

According to a 2015 government survey, there are about 1.12 million child workers in Myanmar between five and 17-years-old. The minimum age range for child workers under the Minimum Age Convention (138) is from 13 to 15-years-old.

MP Daw Tin Tin Win representing Constituency 5 of Bago Region in the Amyotha Hluttaw (Upper House), said the ratification of the convention is useless if the government does not have the mechanism and resources to implement it.

How can we handle if children between 5 and 13 are being forced to work, who will take charge of monitoring? she asked.

Daw Tin Tin Win said poverty and lack of knowledge are among the reasons while parents forced their children to work as young as 5-years-old.

The parents do not know the bad consequences of forcing to work at an early age, she added.

U Nay Kyaw added that the government has not been able to implement effectively the Convention on the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (No. 182), which it signed in 2013.

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Myanmar parliament approves joining treaty on abolition of child labour - Myanmar Times