Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Fiji (Ratification: 2002)

Articles 3(b) and 7(2)(b) and (e). Worst forms of child labour and effective and time-bound measures. Use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution and direct assistance for their removal from prostitution and for their rehabilitation and social integration. Taking account of the special situation of girls. The Committee previously noted that prostitution of children was prevalent in the country and urged the Government to take effective and time-bound measures to remove children from this worst form of child labour, taking into account the special situation of girls. The Committee notes that the Government indicates in its report that one of the actionable items of the Measurement, Awareness-raising and policy engagement project (MAP16 Project) in Fiji is to empower law enforcement bodies to remove children from the worst forms of child labour and to strengthen mechanisms for investigation and prosecution. However, the Committee notes that the Government’s report does not provide information on the effective and time-bound measures taken to remove and assist child victims of commercial sexual exploitation and their results. Moreover, the Committee observes that in its 2018 concluding observations for Fiji, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women noted that the child prostitution industry in the country was growing (CEDAW/C/FJI/CO/5, paragraph 33). The Committee requests the Government to take all the necessary measures to ensure that thorough investigations and prosecutions are carried out for persons who engage in the use, procuring or offering of children for prostitution and that sufficiently effective and dissuasive sanctions are imposed. In this regard, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the number of investigations, prosecutions and penalties imposed. Lastly, the Committee once again urges the Government to take effective and time-bound measures to remove children from prostitution, taking into account the special situation of girls, and to provide concrete information on the number of child victims that have been effectively rehabilitated and socially integrated.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.