The Minister for Labour, Industrial Relations & Employment Mr Jone Usamate has confirmed that the Ministry’s Child Labour Unit and relevant authorities involved in tackling child labour are working around the clock to help address child labour issues in the country.

The Minister highlighted that one of the reasons for the existence of child labour in Fiji and other countries is the need to assist in the daily living by generating income for their families’ livelihood and this has resulted in children abstaining from having proper education and training.

“In tackling child labour, the People’s Community Network (PCN) today confirmed that they have successfully put a 10 year old girl back to school who had been selling fruits and vegetables around her neighborhood and a 7 year old brother who also had been involved in collecting copper for scrap metal business,” Mr Usamate said.

He adds that PCN is one of the dedicated relevant authorities in Fiji funded by the International Labour Organization and the European Union to help children who are in child labour in the informal sector to go back to school as part of their principle duties assigned in the project.

Mr Usamate further added that the Child Labour Unit of Labour Ministry has also been involved in the withdrawal of children from child labour and with the assistance of the Social Welfare Department, the Ministry of Education and the Foundation for Education of Needy Children, have referred these children to the school system.  

“Just recently the Unit identified two children who were involved in child labour in the streets of Suva and successfully readmitted them into the school system,” he said.

“He highlighted that the Unit has also formed a network and trained the inter-agency committee around the country on the withdrawal process of children and these committees have been functioning very well at the grass root level.”

“The committees are established in Suva, Sigatoka, Nadi, Lautoka, Ba, Tavua, Rakiraki, Labasa, Savusavu and Taveuni and the Ministry of Labour officials are actively involved in ensuring that children in child labour are actively withdrawn from the process and referred to the school system with the help of the committee.”

Mr Usamate further added that this government ensures that our children are given the full right to education and training to the highest level as committed under the People’s Charter for Change, Peace and Progress (PCCPP) Pillar 8 – reducing poverty to a negligible level by 2015 and Pillar 9 – making Fiji a knowledge based society.

The Minister affirmed that children’s specific rights and needs have an important multiplier effect on the development and future of our beloved Fiji – the future of our children is also the future of our societies.