Child Labour in Kiribati

Project documentation | 14 April 2015
Kiribati has ratified the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (no.138) and Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention 1999 (No.182) in 2009 and has made progress towards amending national legislation's accordingly. The ILO currently provides technical support through the Pacific Sub-Regional Child Labour and Trafficking Programme to assist in the application of child labour standards into law and practice.

Capacity building initiatives with the Ministry of Labour and ILO tripartite partners has assisted in establishing clearer concepts of child labour specific to the context of Kiribati. National workshops to assist in the identification, profiling and withdrawal of cases of child labour have also been conducted.

In 2014, a Rapid Assessment of Child Labour in Tarawa Kiribati (2011) identified children in child labour working in the informal sector and children in the worst forms of child labour engaged in commercial sexual exploitation. . Poverty, unemployment and lack of enforcement of relevant national legislation's are contributing factors to this issue.

National Child Labour Forums have been conducted in Kiribati involving key stakeholders to address issues of child labour and promote inter-agency cooperation and links between tripartite partners Technical assistance is currently being provided on determining a hazardous child labour list and conducting child labour inspections.

Tripartite stakeholders have also been involved in combating child labour through the piloting of child labour awareness programmes targeting members and the general public. A mini programme with the Kiribati Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) was successfully implemented in 2014 providing training and business mentoring to young couples on Start and Improve Your Business (SYIB)

Technical support is being provided to expand entrepreneurship education and offer the ILO Know About Business (KAB) programme to young people through the Kiribati Institute of Technology (KIT).