Not all work done by children is child labour – Chief Labour Officer

Chief Labour Officer Dhaneshwar Deonarine has highlighted that not all work done by children is referred to as child labour.
Deonarine made this comment while delivering remarks on Wednesday at the awards ceremony for the social justice and child labour art competition, which was held by the Ministry in observance of World Day Against Child Labour. That competition was held under the theme ‘Social Justice for All. End Child Labour’.
“Note that not all work done by children should be classified as child labour. According to the United Nations, children or adolescents’ participation in work that does not affect their health and personal development, or interferes with their schooling, is generally regarded as something positive. This includes activities such as: helping their parents around the home, assisting in the family business, or earning pocket money during the school holidays,” Deonarine outlined.
According to Deonarine, “These kinds of activities contribute to children’s development and to the welfare of their families. They provide them with skills and experience, and help them to be productive members of society during their adult life.”

Speaking at this same occasion, Labour Minister Joseph Hamilton shared that, since assuming office in 2020, the PPP/C administration has worked assiduously to tackle the issue of child labour across the country. The Minister also noted that Government is committed to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal to end child labour by 2025.
“Importantly, we didn’t just establish a Ministry of Labour; we expanded the Ministry of Labour! In every region throughout the length and breadth of Guyana, you have a Labour Office and you have Labour Officers. Services like attempting to stop child labour cannot be done from Georgetown, you have to have people located in the areas where activities like child labour exist,” the minister shared.
The minister also implored businesses to ensure that child labour is not occurring within their companies. He highlighted that businesses play an active role in this issue.
“I wish to remind employers that they have a responsibility to prevent and eliminate this…in society, and to ensure that the necessary due diligence in their business processes and supply chain is done to discourage the involvement of child labour in the business system,” the minister posited.

Competition
Meanwhile, the first-place winner of the competition, Joanna Manauf, shared that she initially entered the competition for the fun of it. However, given the topic, she decided to put her all into the drawing, and came out victorious.

“It’s most likely not right; I’m not a supporter of it, and I’m really glad the Ministry of Labour is here to try to get rid of it, because children need their freedom, they need to learn and they need to be a part of their own social life. I don’t think children should be living like this. The reason I said ‘puppets of poverty’ is because some parents really put a lot into making their children do these things, and I don’t think it’s right. The hammer on the painting signifies how the Ministry tries to break child labour,” Manauf told this publication.
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. Most likely, that is a conservative figure. This figure is an estimated increase of 8.4 million children in the last four years.
The report points to a significant rise in child labour among children aged 5 to 11 years, who now account for just over half of the total global figure. The number of children aged 5 to 17 years who are engaged in hazardous work – defined as work that is likely to harm their health, safety, or morals – has risen by 6.5 million to 79 million since 2016.
The ILO-UNICEF report indicates that 8.2 million children between the ages of 5 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.
Guyana purposes to end child labour by 2025, especially in rural communities where this matter is prevalent.