Through the establishment of a Labour Inspection System on Child Labour within the Ministry for Employment, Productivity and Industrial Relation, a total of 200 child labour cases were looked into. Minister Jone Usamate stated this in his Min­isterial Statement in Parliament yesterday.

He said this was under the Action Pro­gramme on Child Labour in Fiji.

“From 2011, my ministry has investigated a total of 200 Child Labour cases to date and has with­drawn these children and returned them to the various schools through the efforts of the interagency committee on eradication of Child Labour,” he said.

“From 2011 to date, the minis­try has trained school teach­ers, Police offic­ers, sugar cane farmers, Fiji Sugar Corpora­tion field offic­ers, community leaders and la­bour inspectors on Child Labour Awareness and Monitoring Pro­grammes.”

He said the La­bour Standard Services was re­sponsible for the enforcement and withdraw­al of children from Child Labour and through the International Labour Organisation TACKLE project the ministry implemented a Child Labour database that captured and pro­files cases of Child Labour and withdrawal of children from Child Labour and returned to school.

Mr Usamate further revealed that the minis­try also successfully prosecuted an employer for the employment of a child.

The employer was convicted and fined $8000 in 2014.

He said the programme also noted that the cases of Child Labour were not only about working children, but also about the right of a child to be in school.

Edited by Percy Kean

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