Pacific / Fiji

Fijian children in child labour returned to schools

07:24 am on 14 June 2019

More than 200 children in child labour in Fiji have been returned to schools by the government.

Fiji children Photo: AFP

The permanent secretary for Employment, Osea Cawaru, said since 2011, the employment ministry had dealt with 231 cases of child labour.

The children were found during routine inspections and spot-checks throughout the country, Mr Cawaru said.

The government has run public awareness campaigns on the importance of children being in school, he said.

Employment Minister Parveen Kumar said the fight against child labour was a global one and "we need to ensure we work together to send children to school so they can make their dreams a reality".

World Child Labour Day was celebrated this week with the theme 'children shouldn't work in fields, but on dreams'.