Labour Ministry engages Region 2 Toshaos to end child labour in communities

Nine Toshaos from villages in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam) were on Tuesday engaged on the detrimental effects of forcing children into child labour – an initiative by the Labour Ministry to end such practices in Guyana.
The villages included Bethany, Mashabo, Capoey, Mainstay/Whyaka, St Denys, Kabakaburi, St Monica/Karawab, Akawini, and Wakapoa.
The session was conducted by Advisor to the Minister of Labour and Chairperson of the Steering Committee for the Implementation of the National Action Plan for the Elimination of Child Labour, Gillian Burton-Persaud and Chief Labour Officer, Dhaneshwar Deonarine.

The officials discussed strategies implemented by the Ministry of Labour towards the prevention of child labour, stressing the need for its elimination in all forms, and emphasised the negative physical and emotional effect it has on children.
Meanwhile, the importance of building partnerships with the communities and their leaders to prevent and eliminate child labour was also ventilated as well as the role that community leaders, members and stakeholders can play in helping the authorities tackle the issue of child labour.
“The Ministry of Labour continues to take steps towards the goal of eliminating child labour. Under the purview of Minister of Labour, Joseph Hamilton, the Labour Department has worked assiduously over the past few years to conduct various sensitisation sessions in rural villages and schools, and has held public engagement events to raise awareness of the issue,” the ministry shared.
Since assuming office in 2020, the PPP/C administration has worked assiduously to tackle the issue of child labour across the country, in keeping with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal to end child labour by 2025.
The ILO-UNICEF report indicates that 8.2 million children between the ages of five and 17 are engaged in child labour in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Here, in Guyana, the Government has passed legislation and enacted laws that mandate severe penalties for infringements that could cause harm to children, while yet recognising that the Guyanese culture allows children to be involved in family income-generation activities, as well as children’s efforts to engage in odd jobs in their spare time, once such activities do not affect their education and/or jeopardise them or their health in any way.
Child labour is prevalent worldwide, but especially in Third World countries and in countries at war. The International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF inform that child labour has risen to 160 million worldwide – and counting. In information coming out of Geneva in ILO News in 2021, it stated that the two organisations warn that nine million additional children were at risk as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. (G12)