249 Children Withdrawn from Child Labour During Ministry’s Inspection
Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today
Atotal of 249 children were withdrawn from child labour from 2011 to date.
This was highlighted by Minister for Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations Youth and Sports, Parveen Bala, during the 2022 World Day against Child Labour at the Nadi Civic Center on Friday.
The celebration theme: Universal social protection to end child labour.
Mr Bala said it was possible through the Ministry of Employment’s strong commitment - the Fijian Government’s commitment towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Target 8.7 in collaboration with key stakeholders, employers, workers and civil society organisations.
“This ensures they meet the targeted approach towards the eradication of child labour from our society. These children have been assisted through the Fijian government’s programmes and have been returned to school,” he said.
“We are continuing with our on-the-spot labour inspections to ensure that we withdraw children from child labour.”
The Ministry of Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relations through its Labour Compliance unit has conducted over 2000 on the spot inspections and child labour checks between August 2021 to May 2022.
Mr Bala encouraged parents, guardians, teachers, communities, faith-based leaders, and the general public to create open, empowering and safe conversations with children in the area of child protection and child labour to ensure that correct and reliable information is presented to our children in a way that they understand.
Ten schools have been given tablets through the government’s digitisation process ensuring students get access to better ICT tools.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) Suva office provided each of the schools with a computer tablet with a child labour information package to ensure that the process of teaching and learning what child labour is becoming easier.
ILO director for South Pacific Island Countries, Matin Karimli, said child labour is a violation of every child’s right to a childhood and a breach of every government’s most fundamental duty to protect its children.
“Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today,” Mr Karimli said.