The global number of children in child labour has declined by one third since 2000, from 246 million to 168 million children and more than half of them, 85 million, are in hazardous work.
Asia and the Pacific still has the largest numbers (almost 78 million or 9.3% of child population) involved in child labour (IPEC, 2013).
There is clear evidence that children in the Pacific Islands Counties (PICs) are susceptible to the worst forms of child labour and trafficking.
ILO child labour research studies conducted with the support of the EU funded TACKLE (Tackling Child Labour Through Education) project in some PICs found children exploited in hazardous work (agriculture, scrap metal scavenging and construction), commercial sexual exploitation and illicit activities such as drug trafficking, begging and pick pocketing.
The Pacific sub-regional child labour and trafficking project expands on the ILO-EU actions against child labour in Fiji and PNG.
The programme extends technical support to Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Samoa to formulate and implement strategies and programmes to combat child labour, to conduct child labour research; and to draft National Action Plans to eliminate the worst forms of child labour, including determining hazardous child labour lists.
The Solomon Island Child Labour and Trafficking Forum that will be held on the 26th – 28th
August at the Heritage Park Hotel, hopes to identify key issues in relation to child labour in Solomon Islands, in particular the worst forms of child labour, and formulate appropriate actions to address these problems.
The Forum will be officially opened by the Minister for Commerce, Industry, Labour and Immigration, the Elijah Doro Muala and will include representatives from relevant government departments in Solomon Islands, workers and employer’s organisations, civil society, international organisations and the media.