A child’s place is in school, not at work

Over 250 million children live in areas affected by armed conflict.

Each year approximately 70 million children are hit by natural disasters.

Many of the estimated 168 million children engaged in child labour live in conflict and disaster affected areas. Children also make up more than half of the approximately 65 million people presently displaced by war.

Conflicts and disasters inadvertently push millions of children into child labour or into the hands of human traffickers. This continues to be a global embarrassment in a world that has made so many strides in technological advancements and improvements in the overall quality of life.

However, the continued unequal distribution of the global wealth and the greed that characterises those in positions of power and authority continue to marginalise ever increasing numbers of people globally.

Child labour is rooted in poverty and the lack of decent work for adults. This is further compounded by an increased absence of social protection and the failure of public policies to ensure that all children enjoy their fundamental right to education, with internally displaced children, refugees and unaccompanied minors being particularly vulnerable.

Restrictions imposed by host governments preventing refugee children from enrolling in schools and hindering adult refugees from working, ensure that in some circumstances parents have to rely on their children for survival.

In some countries, children of illegal immigrants are prevented from going to school and are often forced to work in deplorable conditions to ensure the survival of the family.While in Trinidad and Tobago these extreme circumstances do not exist, there are instances of child labour rooted in poverty and social marginalisation that we cannot ignore. A recent survey by the Ministry of Labour and Small Enterprise Development reveal that there are a number of children who are forced to work in our markets and in the agricultural sector.

There are also pockets of children involved in commercial sexual exploitation sometimes as a result of human trafficking. It is a stark reflection of the inability of our social support network to treat with vulnerable and at-risk children.

Thankfully, our government signed onto the Declaration of the Regional Initiative: Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child labour.

Education International (EI) along with 14 education unions in Europe has established a programme to make the right to an education of refugee and asylum- seeking children a reality. It renews its call for all governments to ensure that there is provision for free, compulsory, quality public education for all children in safe environments at least to the minimum age of employment.

Governments should also take concerted action to ensure that those not presently enrolled in school are reached. It reiterates its call for adequate investments in education and in social protection systems commensurate with national needs.

EI further insists that governments remove all costs (direct and indirect) of education and put in place incentive programmes to promote school attendance. There must also be a transitional approach from schooling into decent work programmes. Education and training are key drivers of social and economic development and they require focused investment.

In many countries, however, the schools that are available to the poor and vulnerable are under-resourced and inadequate to cater to those who need it the most. Global pressure must be placed on those governments that are not doing enough to end child labour in its worst forms.