No provision in Nagaland to combat child labour, says Childline Kohima official

KOHIMA — Childline Kohima official Pelezhanuo Elizabeth on Monday said that the organisation is unable to categorise and address cases of child labour, particularly those involving children working as domestic helpers in the state, due to non-passage of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016, in the state Assembly.

Speaking on the topic “Child Labour in Domestic Work” during the commemoration of World Day Against Child Labour at Don Bosco Higher Secondary School in Kohima, Elizabeth informed that children in the age group of 5-17 are categorised as child labourers in Kohima.

The Childline Kohima receives approximately 3 to 4 child labour cases per month and there are about 700 children engaged as domestic workers in the district alone, she informed, adding that such cases, mostly runaways, missing, and lost and found, saw an increase after the COVID-19 outbreak.

Despite the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act being passed in the Parliament in 2016, the state Assembly is yet to amend it, and so there is no provision to combat child labour, she said.

Asserting that social justice and child labour are interconnected, the official stressed on the importance of creating awareness and encouraging the society to take action in order to eliminate child labour.

The main causes of child labour were poverty, limited access to quality education, inadequate understanding of child labour, mass migration, impact of natural disasters such as the COVID-19 pandemic and conflicts in neighbouring regions, it was informed.

India has the highest number of child labourers in the world with an estimated 5.8 million children engaged in such work, followed by Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Nepal, she updated.

According to UN report, an approximate 160 million children, which is one in ten children worldwide, are engaged in child labour.

The event was organised by Ferrando Domestic Workers’ Alliance (FDWA) Kohima.

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