Pacific World Day Against Child Labour 2015 Report

Reports on work on child labour activities in the Pacific Island Countries.

On this year’s World Day Against Child Labour we call for:
- Free, compulsory and quality education for all children at least to the minimum age for admission to employment and action to reach those presently in child labour;
- New efforts to ensure that national policies on child labour and education are consistent and effective;
- Policies that ensure access to quality education and investment in the teaching profession.

Many child labourers do not attend school at all. Others combine school and work but often to the detriment of their education. Lacking adequate education and skills, as adults former child labourers are more likely to end up in poorly paid, insecure work or to be unemployed. In turn there is a high probability that their own children will end up in child labour. Breaking this cycle of disadvantage is a global challenge and education has a key role to play.

In the Pacific this is especially relevant given the slow economic growth as well as the high youth population and relative poverty in countries. Added to this are the problems of large families with low income and children from broken families which are two of the main causes of children being pushed into child labour.

The primary objective for the WDACL activities was to raise awareness on child labour issues, the theme for WDACL on Access to Quality Education and the programmes in place that are currently assisting children. Activities were carried out in Fiji, Samoa and Papua New Guinea.