10-fold increase in fines for child labour

New Bill also includes five-year jail term for those caught hiring youths below 15

DEWAN Rakyat has approved the Children and Young Persons (Employment) (Amendment) Bill, which will see a ten-fold increase in fines for those employing youths below 15 years old or getting them to do hazardous work.

They may now also spend up to five years behind bars.

Under the Bill, the minimum fines have been increased from RM5,000 to RM50,000 while the maximum penalty is now RM100,000, up from RM10,000.

Jail terms have also been enhanced, from the previous minimum of one year to two years and up to five years.

The Bill was tabled by Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran, who said that the amendments were in line with Malaysia’s ratification of the Minimum Age Convention 1973 and the Worst Form of Child Labour Convention 1999 as well as International Labour Organisation standards.

“The amendments will increase protection to children and young people in employment, particularly from discrimination and exploitation by irresponsible parties,” he said.

The Bill also defines hazardous work to mean the handling of machinery and working environment. It covers against exposing children to hazardous chemicals, dusty conditions, extreme temperature, noise and vibration.

However, a young person may be engaged in hazardous work under personal supervision if he or she is under apprenticeship or undergoing vocational training.

Earlier, when tabling the Bill, Kulasegaran said the Manpower Department’s statistics showed that there were 440,500 workers between the age of 15 and 19.