Fiji: National Child Labour Forum revealed cases of child labour

SUVA - The Child Labour Unit (CLU) of the Ministry for Labour, Industrial Relations and Employment has registered and investigated 121 cases of child labour so far. In the process, the CLU has recovered a total of $8,370 owed to the children concerned from employers nationwide. This was revealed by Minister for Labour, Mr. Jone Usamate at the Fiji National Child Labour Forum which began at Shangri-La's Fijian Resort and Spa yesterday. "The unit is investigating two other cases of child labour and the charges to these employers will be laid very soon once the investigation concludes", he said.

Country's ability to effectively combat and address child labour would not have been possible without the assistance of the ILO"

Two employers have been charged for employing children against the provision of the Employment Regulations Promulgation 2007 and Regulation 2008 and the matter is before the Employment Relations Tribunal for adjudication," he said.

Mr. Usamate said the country's ability to effectively combat and address child labour would not have been possible without the assistance of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The Minister for Labour acknowledged the assistance of the ILO in helping Fiji address child labour issues through ILO-IPEC's project "Tackling Child Labour through Education (TACKLE) funded by the European Union. "The TACKLE project led to the establishment of the Child Labour Unit within my Ministry in June 2011," he said.



Extract from Fiji Times ONLINE, article by Felix Chaudhary.