The Fijian Government’s efforts to eradicate child labour has seen the successful withdrawal of 24 children from the clutches of child labour in the first five months of this year.
This was revealed today at the World Day Against Child Labour celebrations at the Civic Centre in Suva.
The Ministry Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment has referred all these children to school with the assistance from the Ministry of Social Welfare and Ministry of Education.
Speaking at the celebrations, ministry acting permanent secretary Samuela Namosimalua said the attention to the phenomenon of children working has probably never been greater than it is today.
“Children employed during school hours either in domestic work or any other duty deprive them of education and it infringes on their basic rights,” Mr Namosimalua said.
“Many people agree that some type of work done by children do not harm their lives and are considered as part of the moral development of the child. However, there are certain situations which our children should never be employed in where these types of situation destroy the future and the development of our children.”
Mr Namosimalua said the celebration signifies serious concerns and commitments to ensure that all stakeholders join hands in the fight against child labour.
The theme for this year’s celebrations is ‘No to Child Labour in Domestic Work’ which throws light on the many children employed in domestic work who are deprived of the basic fundamental rights of education.
“In any situation at home where a child is deprived of education due to a family commitment, such as crop harvesting, looking after younger siblings, selling produce, attending to traditional and religious commitments to name a few, is child labour. These are examples of child labour in domestic work and is real in Fiji. These domestic activities deprive a child from attaining education,” Mr Namosimalua stressed.
The preliminary findings of child labour school based survey conducted in 2012 in collaboration with the Ministry of Education that involved 79 schools, both primary and secondary in the four Divisions, confirmed the existence of child labour.
The final report of that survey will be released soon.
Mr Namosimalua said Government’s commitment to eradicating child labour is enunciated in the provisions of The Employment Relations Promulgation (ERP) which came into effect on 2nd April, 2008.
“The ERP defines the issues of the worst forms of child labour, minimum age of employment, the rights of a child, condition on restriction of employment of children, hours and type of work that the child can perform if the child is above the age of 15 years which is the minimum employment age in Fiji,” Mr Namosimalua said.
“It also sets out the conditions under which a child can be employed; taking into consideration that the employment should not in any way affect the child’s educational participation.”
Fiji has also recently gazetted a list of hazardous occupation prohibited to children below 18 years of age.
“This legal notice came into effect on 28th May 2013. This hazardous list basically defines that there are certain type of work children cannot be employed in. This is the first list for Fiji and we are proud of our Government’s commitment in ensuring that we work towards a goal of eradicating the problem of child Labour and ensuring that we provide the right environment for our children to grow and attain the necessary educational training, and competencies for their future employability and creativity,” Mr Namosimalua said.
The ERP 2007 legal framework gives Labour officers and Labour inspectors the legal powers to enforce the minimum age of employment and other conditions of employment for children who are above 15 years.
“Those who violate this law can face a fine from $10,000 for individuals to a maximum of $50,000 for corporations.”
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