Govt. moves to implement policy to eradicate child labour

Dec 05, 2018 News

Children in Guyana and the global Diaspora are experiencing some of the worst forms of child labour based upon the need for survival for not only themselves but also their families.
The Government of Guyana in its pursuit to eradicate child labour by 2025 has implemented a policy that will note the enacting of several laws. Adults who prey on the vulnerabilities of these children are the ones who catalyze this regional issue. The policy was developed with the thought of youth and youth empowerment in mind.
The Prevention of Child Labour Policy, created in tandem by the Ministry of Social Protection and the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) holds the elimination of child labour within Guyana by 2025 as one of its fundamental goals.
The United Nations in its assessment of Guyana’s worst forms of child labour stipulates that the minimum age of admission into any employment should not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling. In accordance with this, the ministry’s policy to eradicate child labour has made provisions to ensure that children and adolescents do not fall prey to forms of child labour.
Compounded with this, UNICEF and the Ministry in commencing the policy, have renewed and revamped eighteen of the laws that will affect child labour, with the Protection of Children and Employment of young persons and children, just being two. According to Minister within the Ministry of Social Protection, Keith Scott, the mandate of the policy is to provide the Nation with a constant supply of skilled youths in many disciplines, which will allow them to take their rightful places in our economic ventures.
In addition, the policy seeks to address the most vulnerable areas that are disproportionately affected by child labour in terms of not just victims but perpetrators. The Minister elucidated that child labour often stems from poverty, lack of compulsory education and worker rights repression. Therefore, it is plausible that in order to combat this ill, a multifaceted approach would be needed to effectively address the causes of the issue. With all this being said, child labour may result in a myriad of social deficits.
Children are exposed to accidents and injuries at the workplace; sexual abuse and exploitation of girls is also prevalent among child workers, this can often result in a plethora of economic and social issues for a country. The sexual exploitation of young girls due to child labour often causes unwanted pregnancies, risky abortions, STDs, alcoholism and social exclusion.
Further, the lack of schooling for many of these young children that are subjected to unjust labour perpetuates poverty in many economies. The Ministry’s policy, in hopes of eradicating child labour by 2025, is anticipating a reduction in the many issues that are often brought on with the ill.
The Minister conveyed that the policy implemented is one that will assess and combat the issue of child labour within the region. The policy is expected to target the employment of children younger than the age of compulsory school completion. Families will also be targeted in the Ministry’s policy to eliminate child labour by 2025.
Child labour is a pervasive issue, especially in developing countries like Guyana. However, while children work for a variety of reasons, the main one being poverty and the induced pressure to escape it, many of them are not paid well. They are being subjected to a life of exploitation that not only stymies the growth of an economy, but that of the child.

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