Child labour
ILO encourages Malaysia to consider pathfinder role for an Alliance 8.7
Marking Malaysia’s World Day against Child Labour, ILO encourages Malaysia to lead at the regional and global levels as a pathfinder country in fight against child labour.
3 October 2019
PUTRAJAYA (ILO News) — The ILO and the Malaysian Ministry of Human Resources (MOHR) launched the development process of the National Action Plan on Child Labour, alongside a handover of the ILO’s legal practitioners’ manual on forced labour to the Judicial and Legal Training Institute (ILKAP), during Malaysia’s commemoration of World Day against Child Labour in Putrajaya, on 1 October 2019.
Addressing attendees at the event, Ms Pannuda Boonpala, ILO’s Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, said there is a need for efforts to be dramatically increased. “We know that SDG Target 8.7 will not be achieved with a ‘business as usual’ approach [...] unless we mobilise partnerships at a new level - partnerships that harness energy, resources and strategic vision - countries will fail to reach (it).”
Ms Boonpala called on the Malaysian Government to lead at the regional and global levels by becoming a Pathfinder Country under the global Alliance 8.7.
According to the ILO data, 71 per cent of all children in child labour are in agriculture, and often in hazardous work.
The Deputy Minister of Human Resources Malaysia, YB Mahfuz Omar, in his speech read by the Deputy Secretary General YBhg. Datuk Muhd Khair Razman Bin Mohamed Annuar, stated that it is important to ensure the agricultural sector is child labour-free, as 12 per cent of Malaysia’s GDP is from this sector, with an estimate of 16 per cent of the Malaysian population employed in some form of agricultural work. Ybhg. Datuk Razman added that MOHR should consider the ILO’s call to be an Alliance 8.7 Pathfinder country.
YB Mahfuz Omar’s speech also highlighted that a “rights-based approach [...] addresses the vulnerabilities towards child labour as a structural issue (and) allows for shared accountabilities to all stakeholders to protect and promote the fundamental rights of a child in education, health, and leisure.”
During the 1st Malaysia’s World Day against Child Labour celebration last year, a major law reform was announced, including an amendment of the Children and Young Persons Act.
Ms Suraiya Ch’ng Abdullah, Director at the Department of Labour Peninsular Malaysia, shared salient points of the amended Act. Ms Jodelen Mitra, Technical Officer of the ILO’s project “From Protocol to Practice: A Bridge to Global Action on Forced Labour”, discussed the ILO Minimum Age Convention (No. 138) and Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No. 182), and the importance of international cooperation including Alliance 8.7.
With the global theme “Children shouldn’t work in fields, but on dreams!”, the event ended with a tripartite panel discussion on having a rights-based approach towards preventing child labour. The panel was moderated by Dr Selvaraj Ramasamy, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Human Resources and the speakers comprised of Mr Chua Choon Hwa, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development; Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan, Executive Director of the Malaysian Employers Federation; and Mr K. Somasundram, representative of the Malaysian Trade Union Congress.
Technical Officer
International Labour Organization (ILO)
[email protected]
Addressing attendees at the event, Ms Pannuda Boonpala, ILO’s Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, said there is a need for efforts to be dramatically increased. “We know that SDG Target 8.7 will not be achieved with a ‘business as usual’ approach [...] unless we mobilise partnerships at a new level - partnerships that harness energy, resources and strategic vision - countries will fail to reach (it).”
Ms Boonpala called on the Malaysian Government to lead at the regional and global levels by becoming a Pathfinder Country under the global Alliance 8.7.
According to the ILO data, 71 per cent of all children in child labour are in agriculture, and often in hazardous work.
The Deputy Minister of Human Resources Malaysia, YB Mahfuz Omar, in his speech read by the Deputy Secretary General YBhg. Datuk Muhd Khair Razman Bin Mohamed Annuar, stated that it is important to ensure the agricultural sector is child labour-free, as 12 per cent of Malaysia’s GDP is from this sector, with an estimate of 16 per cent of the Malaysian population employed in some form of agricultural work. Ybhg. Datuk Razman added that MOHR should consider the ILO’s call to be an Alliance 8.7 Pathfinder country.
YB Mahfuz Omar’s speech also highlighted that a “rights-based approach [...] addresses the vulnerabilities towards child labour as a structural issue (and) allows for shared accountabilities to all stakeholders to protect and promote the fundamental rights of a child in education, health, and leisure.”
During the 1st Malaysia’s World Day against Child Labour celebration last year, a major law reform was announced, including an amendment of the Children and Young Persons Act.
Ms Suraiya Ch’ng Abdullah, Director at the Department of Labour Peninsular Malaysia, shared salient points of the amended Act. Ms Jodelen Mitra, Technical Officer of the ILO’s project “From Protocol to Practice: A Bridge to Global Action on Forced Labour”, discussed the ILO Minimum Age Convention (No. 138) and Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (No. 182), and the importance of international cooperation including Alliance 8.7.
With the global theme “Children shouldn’t work in fields, but on dreams!”, the event ended with a tripartite panel discussion on having a rights-based approach towards preventing child labour. The panel was moderated by Dr Selvaraj Ramasamy, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Human Resources and the speakers comprised of Mr Chua Choon Hwa, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development; Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan, Executive Director of the Malaysian Employers Federation; and Mr K. Somasundram, representative of the Malaysian Trade Union Congress.
For more information please contact
Jodelen MitraTechnical Officer
International Labour Organization (ILO)
[email protected]