A participant from Vanuatu wearing a T-shirt that says 'Labour Mobility is a Family Journey' during the UNICEF Labour Mobility Conference on the 16th and 17th of July 2024 at Ramada, Port Vila. Photo: UNICEF / Bobby Shing
Women in the Pacific are carrying a heavier load when it comes to raising their children despite financial benefits of labour mobility schemes, a new report says.
The UNICEF report, titled The Impact of Pacific Labour Mobility Schemes on Children Left Behind, has found regional employment schemes can sometimes create family tensions and lead to marital breakdowns.
The study focuses on Pacific labor mobility schemes on children left behind in Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu.
The downside of seasonal work schemes for Pacific families
UNICEF Pacific's chief of child protection Michael Copland said in some communities' large proportions of working aged men have left.
"There's a shift in some of the gender roles which of course can be positive but that needs to be coupled with support for women who are left behind.
"Where there is family breakdown, what the report indicates is we need more agile responsive social protection for those women, because they can be left very quickly in an emergency situation where they're on their own."
Copland said the risks of the schemes need to be better understood.
Fiji's taken action
Fiji's Employment Minister Agni Deo Singh said the government has since taken steps to try and mitigate the negative social impacts.
The government has changed the application forms for the schemes, which now include asking how many children workers have, where they attend school, the name of the caregiver, the workers relationship with the caregiver and the contact information of the caregiver.
"We can monitor how the children are being looked after," he said.
Singh said the government is also discouraging both parents to leave at the same time.
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The report also found that improper management of money earnt from the schemes often leads to insufficient family support and tensions.
"This sometimes results in marital breakdowns and neglect of children's needs," it said.
"Remittance gaps existing due to unreliable transfer methods and failure to comply with parental maintenance orders, in the case of separation, remain critical issues."
It said children often experience "emotional and behavioural issues" including academic decline when one or both parents join New Zealand's Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) work scheme or the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme.
Singh said he had not discussed the report with his counterparts in New Zealand and Australia but will bring it up at the next opportunity.
When asked who had the better deal when it comes to the seasonal work schemes, Singh said it would be "unfair to make a statement of that nature" but labour sending countries are contributing to billion-dollar industries and workers are benefiting from remittances.
"We have a large number of success stories of workers coming back and starting their own businesses or improving their farms, building new homes, even contributing to the general development of their villages.
"In terms of sanitation, in terms of other facilities there's a number of stories of that nature that we are aware of and quite a number of them also come with good savings."
He said his government was aware of social impacts caused by labour mobility schemes prior to the report.
"This report has been much more revealing, but we have been aware in the past where the worker has stopped sending money or that they would get involved with some other person in terms of extra marital affairs."