Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Fiji (Ratification: 2002)

Articles 3(d) and 4(1) and (2) of the Convention. Determination and identification of hazardous work. The Committee recalls its previous comment which noted that the Government was in the process of finalizing the list of hazardous work through tripartite consultations with the National Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Board (NOHSAB) and the Employment Relations Advisory Board.

The Committee notes with satisfaction the adoption of the list of hazardous work, as set out in the Hazardous Occupations Prohibited to Children under 18 Years of Age Order, 2013, which came into effect on 28 May 2013. The Committee observes that this list includes a wide range of hazardous types of work related to, among others: exposure to dangerous chemicals; manufacturing, handling and transporting explosives or other noxious components in bulk agriculture; activities where radium is stored; craftsman (for example, machinists, plumbers, electronic fitters, tanners, distillers of alcoholic beverages and the slaughtering and killing of birds and animals); farming, fishing, hunting, and logging-related occupations (for example, deep sea fishing, cable installers, sugar cane cutting and commercial vegetable farming); mining and quarrying (for example, operators of drilling and blasting machines, steam boilers and firing with fuse or electricity); service and sports (for example, fire-fighters, guards, ship stewards, airline hostesses, taxi dancers, entertainers, bath house attendants, escorts, lifeguards, jockeys); transport (for example, bulldozer operators or drivers, tillers and greasers of heavy machineries, traffic controllers); and others (for example, bottle collecting, scrap metal collecting). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application in practice of the Hazardous Occupations Prohibited to Children under 18 Years of Age Order, 2013, including statistics on the number and nature of violations reported and penalties imposed by virtue of the relevant provisions of the Employment Regulations Promulgation 2007.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (e). Taking account of the special situation of girls. Child victims of commercial sexual exploitation. In its previous comments, the Committee took note of the serious problem of child prostitution, particularly sex tourism, in the country and noted the concern expressed by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women about the exploitation of under-age girls in commercial sex work (CEDAW/C/FJI/CO/4).

The Committee notes the Government’s reference to a taskforce subcommittee of the National Coordinating Committee on Children (NCCC), which is comprised of Homes of Hope, the ILO and Empower Traffic, and which is working with the Department of Women and Social Welfare (DOW) in managing and intervening in children’s rights cases. The Government states that the Police Department intervenes if the DOW receives reports of child victims of prostitution or sexual abuse. The Committee further notes the Government’s commitments to ensure that children who are removed from such circumstances are taken under the care of the State and undergo rehabilitation programmes before they are reintegrated into educational or vocational programmes, as well as to continue to strengthen the network between government ministries, particularly the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Education, along with non-governmental organizations and faith-based organizations, to ensure care and protection of children.

The Committee takes due note of the Government’s efforts to combat the commercial sexual exploitation of children. However, it further notes the information contained in the report “Child Labour in Fiji – A survey of working children in commercial sexual exploitation, on the streets, in rural agricultural communities, in informal and squatter settlements and in schools” (Child Labour in Fiji report), produced by the ILO Country Office for South Pacific Island Countries and ILO–IPEC in 2010, according to which the commercial sexual exploitation of children and child sex tourism continue to occur. The Committee expresses its concern regarding the continuation of child commercial sexual exploitation, including child sex tourism. The Committee urges the Government to take effective and time-bound measures to remove children from the worst forms of child labour, taking into account the special situation of girls. The Committee also requests the Government to provide concrete information on the intervention strategies and rehabilitation programmes aimed at providing direct assistance to child victims of commercial sexual exploitation, and on the number of these children who have been effectively rehabilitated and socially integrated.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.