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Today isThe International Day Against Child Labour. The Women and Children’s Affairs Division of the Labour Ministry has made arrangements to conduct awareness programmes on child labour and the law at all district labour offices in the country. Under the Employment of Women, Young Persons and Act No 47 1956 and Amendment of the Act No. 8 2003 any person employing a child under 14 years of age could be sentenced to 12 months imprisonment or fined Rs.10,000.
Assistant Commissioner of Labour, Women and Children’s Affairs Division, W. A. Premalatha told The Island that the Labour Department received a large number of complaints against child labour which had become a canker in society.
She said that the Employment of Women, Young Persons and Children Act No 47 of 1956 had been amended with a provision added to impose more penalties on offenders. According to complaints reported to the labour Ministry and Child Protection Authority there were several thousands of children under 14 employed as domestic servants and helpers in the construction industry. But exact statistics are not available.
Premalatha said that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) had concluded that around 165 million under-aged children were being employed worldwide.
Chairman Child Protection Authority Jagath Wellawatta said that the Police Women and Children’s Task Force could institute legal proceedings against any person found guilty of employing children under 14. It had been found that a majority of child labourers in Sri Lanka had been subjected to both physical and mental torture. There had been instances where the employer had burnt the skin of child labourers and there were instances where some employers had caused a severe mental harassment to child labourers by not providing a proper place to sleep and depriving them of the opportunity to go to school.
