• is not likely to be harmful to their health or development; and • will not prejudice their attendance at school, their participation in vocational orientation or training programmes or their capacity to benefit from the instruction received.97 The CRC and ICESCR also contain provisions relating to the interplay between the right to education and employment. These treaties establish that children must be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to their health or development.98 In particular, States must provide for minimum ages for admission to employment and provide remedies for any breach of these obligations. Minimum age of marriage The minimum age for marriage should be set.99 The Special Rapporteur has observed that “[p]atriarchal practices that limit female autonomy and keep young and teenage girls away from education usually involve early or unwanted marriages, pregnancies and motherhood.”100 The African Protocol on Women’s Rights is more specific, establishing that the minimum age of marriage for women is 18. Minimum age of criminal responsibility States should establish a minimum age below which children are presumed incapable of violating penal law.101 Any child above this age accused or found guilty of a criminal offence should be treated with dignity and in a manner which reinforces the child’s respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of others. The child’s age and the desirability of promoting the child’s reintegration into society must be taken into account. In particular, 97 Article 7(1) of the ILO Minimum Age Convention. The State authority is required to determine the activities in which such employment or work may be permitted and to prescribe the number of hours during which and the conditions in which such employment or work may be undertaken. 98 Article 32 of the CRC and article 10(3) of the ICESCR. 99 The CEDAW has stated that restrictions may be placed on a woman’s right to marry based on her youth. See CEDAW General Recommendation No. 21: Equality in marriage and family relations (13th session, 1994) at para 16. 100 In practice, young women and girls that choose or are forced to marry discontinue their education. See Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education Girls’ right to Education E/CN.4/2006/45 8 February 2006 at para 71. 101 Article 40(3)(a) of the CRC. 61