As part of efforts to prevent and end all forms of child labour, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda will soon embark on an assessment to identify if child labour occurs in the country, and to what extent. The announcement was made by Mr. Pascal Kentish, Deputy Labour Commissioner of Antigua and Barbuda.

The country, which joined the Regional Initiative Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child Labour in 2019, will form a multisectoral, national taskforce as a first step to address the issue through the development and implementation of a survey. The process aims to close gaps in data on child labour. The data collected from the assessment will inform the design and implementation of interventions to be undertaken towards the elimination of child labour. Furthermore, the Government also intends to develop a registry of young persons in the workforce to effectively monitor, identify and end child labour.

“The ILO welcomes this significant development from Antigua and Barbuda. We are committed to collaborating with the Government, social partners and other stakeholders in order to eliminate child labour in all of its forms,” said Ms. Resel Melville, Programme Officer for the Regional Initiative at the ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean.

In 2021, a report from the ILO and UNICEF estimated that over 8 million children in Latin America and the Caribbean were participating in child labour. As a consequence of the pandemic and other crises, there is a real threat that this number will rise. Through the Regional Initiative Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child Labour, countries in the region, working along with the ILO, have committed to accelerate national actions to eliminate all forms of child labour.