More inspectors needed to stop child labour

More inspectors needed to stop child labour – U.S.

May 27, 2012 News

The number of inspectors in Guyana is not enough to arrest the problem of child labour, the U.S. Department of State says in its latest report on democracy, human rights and labour.
In 2011, the Ministry of Labour employed 17 labour inspectors who were charged with investigating child and exploitive labour activities, but these were not sufficient to enforce existing laws effectively, the report stated.
According to the Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, despite conducting approximately 4,000 worksite inspections, authorities assessed no fines or penalties nor did they charge any employers with violations.
The report noted that the Ministry of Labour collaborated with the Ministry of Education, Geology and Mines Commission, Guyana Forestry Commission, National Insurance Scheme, and GPF, to enforce child labour laws.
Child labour was most prevalent in family-based businesses, farming, bars and restaurants, domestic work, and street vending, the report pointed out. It added that small numbers of children also performed hazardous work in the construction, logging, farming, fishing, manufacturing, and mining industries.
Although the Ministry of Labour reported no child labour violations during 2011, the report noted that NGOs reported isolated incidents of the worst forms of child labour occurred, mainly in gold mining, prostitution, and forced labour activities.
According to local NGOs, children who worked in gold mines operated dangerous mining equipment and were exposed to hazardous chemicals, the report stated.
Local law prohibits the employment of children younger than 15 with some exceptions. Technical schools may employ children as young as age 14, provided a competent authority approves and supervises such work.
No person under 18 may be employed in industrial work at night, with exceptions for those aged 16 and 17, whose work requires continuity through day and night, including certain gold mining processes and the production of iron, steel, glass, paper, and raw sugar.
The law permits children under 15 to be employed only in enterprises in which members of the same family are also employed. The law prohibits children under 15 from working in factories and stipulates that those under 18 may be removed from factory work if authorities determine they are engaged in activities that are hazardous to their health or safety.

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More inspectors needed to stop child labour – U.S.

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