Xinhua, Yangon :
Myanmar has reiterated its commitment to implement child-labor-related Convention-182 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) which will come into force from Dec. 18, 2014.
Myanmar declared at the 102th Conference of the ILO in Geneva on July 13, 2013 that it would implement the ILO Convention-182 which calls for the prohibition of child labor and immediate action to eliminate its worst forms.
The worst forms of child labor include slavery or similar practices such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labor including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances and work which is likely to harm the health, safety and morale of children.
At the ongoing parliament session, Minister of Labor, Employment and Social Security U Aye Myint pledged responsibility to rehabilitate the abused children by providing free education and creating appropriate environment for them.
Meanwhile, Myanmar government and UN Children’s Fund ( UNICEF) are planning to collect the data on child labor as part of a four- year plan to eliminate child labor in the country.
The data include work hours, protection ,safety, working environment, psychological condition and education of child laborers.
The four-year plan which started on Jan. 1 this year and will end on Jan. 30, 2017, includes five steps, focusing on raising awareness of child labor, promoting efficiency of governmental personnel and stakeholders who will join the drive for elimination of child labor and reviewing local laws to see whether they are in conformity with the standard of international laws.
Amending its Child Law-1993 for the interest of the children in the country, Myanmar is also implementing a National Plan of Action for Children 2006-2015, making arrangement to open the early childhood care and development center in Yangon.
Meanwhile, community leaders have called for child rights and for the building of a tolerant society respectful of religious and ethnic diversity, pledging to work for maximizing the use of the spiritual, moral and social assets of religious communities in support of child protection, survival and education.
Having worked in partnership with the Myanmar government and the civil society since 1950, UNICEF is currently focusing on work aims at reducing child mortality, improving access and quality of education and protecting children from violence, abuse and exploitation.
Myanmar’s National Committee on the Rights of Child has also pledged efforts to ensure the rights of child in the nation which was cited as the rights to survival, to develop to the fullest, and to protection from harmful influence, abuse and exploitation and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life.
Myanmar joined the ILO in 1948 and has agreed to implement 19 conventions of the organization.
As a party to the UN Convention on the Rights of Child, Myanmar is to submit its fifth implementation report to the Convention in 2017.
