Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Jamaica (Ratification: 2003)

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Article 3 of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour Clause (c). Use, procuring or offering a child for illicit activities, particularly the production and trafficking of drugs.The Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the application in practice of section 4(1) of the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organizations) Act, which criminalizes the recruitment of a child to be part of a criminal organization, in relation to the using or procuring of children for drug-related offences contained in the Dangerous Drugs Act. In particular, it requests the Government to indicate the number of prosecutions, convictions and penalties imposed for these offences.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (a). Preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour. Access to free basic education. The Committee takes note of the Government’s detailed information, in response to the its previous comments regarding the measures taken to increase school enrolment rates and reduce the dropout rates of students from lower socio-economic communities, with special attention to boys. The measures in question are wide ranging and include the provision of cash grants, school feeding stipends and tablets/laptops to hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries. In addition, various mentorship and training programmes, such as the Boys Mentorship/Education Programme of the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Ministry of Education and Youth, continue to support boys’ education through mentoring and support in exploring various options, such as entrepreneurship, and skills development.

The Committee notes, however, that according to the UNICEF country programme document for Jamaica of 27 December 2021, while Jamaica has made significant gains in access to education, including almost universal coverage in pre-primary and primary school levels, major gaps remain. The effects of poverty, low-quality education services and violence lead to chronic underperformance (especially among boys). Moreover, approximately 50,000 adolescents of secondary school age are out of school, and three out of five of these children are boys. Pregnancy and financial problems are the main reasons why children from the poorest quintiles stop attending school (E/ICEF/2022/P/L.11, paragraphs 12–13). In this regard, the Committee notes that the UNICEF country programme aims at enabling girls and boys to learn and develop in a safe environment. The broad strategic outcome is that, by 2026, boys and girls are provided with inclusive quality education services and opportunities that promote improved learning outcomes and skills for life and future work (paragraph 31). Considering that education is key in preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour, the Committee once again encourages the Government to continue its efforts to facilitate access to free basic education, particularly with respect to reducing the drop-out rates of students from lower socio-economic communities, with special attention to boys. It requests the Government to continue to provide information on the measures adopted and the results achieved, in particular through the UNICEF country programme, in this regard. Please disaggregate the data provided by gender and age.

Clause (d). Identifying and reaching out to children at special risk. Children in street situations. Following its previous comments, the Committee takes note of the Government’s detailed information regarding the results of the study conducted by the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) on children aged 5 to 17 years living and/or working on the streets in Jamaica. The Committee observes that this study reveals a range of important findings, including:

• Of the 373 respondents, 230 (63 per cent) were boys and 137 (37 per cent) were girls. The highest proportion of children on the streets falls within the ages of 12 (15.72 per cent) and 13 (14.63 per cent), but children from the age of 5 responded.
• While the children were largely hesitant to acknowledge that they “work”, they agreed that their activities could be considered “hustling”. Thirty-five per cent of the respondents hustle, work or beg each day of the week, while 16 per cent hustle four days per week and 54 per cent hustle three days per week. In some communities, parents and children were proud to be labelled as hustlers.
• Children in the streets commonly sell snacks, sweets, newspapers and ground provisions. Over one quarter of the sample wipe car windscreens and wash cars while a smaller proportion (12 per cent) hustle in night clubs and at parties. In addition, the study documented the prevalence of risky sexual practices among children in the streets (including prostitution) and involvement in violent activities.
• The research findings indicate that consumption poverty (being understood in its multidimensional sense, that is, including the wide range of factors that cause poverty) is the most obvious push factor for the child working on the streets, while the potential for quick monetary gains, is the most significant pull factor. Attention must be paid to other important factors, including family break ups or dislocation, lapses in the school system, peer influence, the growing hustling culture, and more.
• The major challenge to addressing these factors is not through defining the appropriate policy and programme, but in creating an environment of collaboration across Ministries, Departments and Agencies and civic bodies at the local and national levels.

In this regard, the Committee welcomes the establishment, by the Government, of a Street and Working Children Taskforce, whose main responsibilities include the design of the street and working children framework of action and roadmap, and to oversee its implementation in a coordinated way, with the aim of halting the phenomenon of children living and working in the streets in Jamaica. Among other things it is currently working on, the Taskforce has created an inventory of services and initiatives that are being executed or planned by Ministries, Departments and Agencies and other partners, including NGOs, that target children in street situations, their families, and the wider community. The Taskforce is also developing a monitoring and evaluation framework (guide data collection, sharing and performance tracking and reporting on its work). Recalling that children in street situations are particularly vulnerable to the worst forms of child labour, the Committee once again strongly encourages the Government to continue taking measures to protect these children from these worst forms, in particular by addressing the push and pull factors that lead children to work in the streets. It also requests the Government to continue to take measures to provide for their rehabilitation and social integration, and to provide information on the number of children in streets who have benefited from these measures.

Child orphans of HIV/AIDS and other vulnerable children (OVCs). The Committee observes that, according to the 2021 UNAIDS country factsheet for Jamaica, there remain an estimated 11,000 orphans due to HIV/AIDS. With regard to the Committee’s request concerning social protection assistance for OVCs, the Government indicates that the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS) provides support to all vulnerable members of the population who are in need of assistance and meet the qualifying criteria, including OVCs. The MLSS, in collaboration with its network of parish office and social workers, and in partnership with the relevant Ministry Departments and Agencies, also ensures that the referral mechanisms are in place to identify vulnerable children and provide them with a form of social protection assistance if they are at risk of child labour. Recalling that OVCs are at an increased risk of being engaged in the worst forms of child labour, the Committee requests the Government to continue taking measures to provide social protection assistance to these children and to supply information on the number of children who have benefited from such assistance provided by the MLSS.