Letter of the Day | Hurricane Melissa’s forgotten victims: Jamaica’s working children
Loading article...
THE EDITOR Madam:
It has been seven months since Hurricane Melissa, the Category 5 hurricane hit Jamaica, stripped hillsides bare, destroyed forests and coastlines, and, even more painfully, disrupted the mental health and realities of many young people.
In the aftermath, we have seen learning loss worsen, with many young boys and girls now trying to help make ends meet by seeking menial labour as construction workers, factory workers, or through a likkle hustle on the road selling sweets and other items.
Some persons may attempt to justify this reality by saying children are simply helping their families because many households still have no stable income or even a roof over their heads. “Dem a help out dem family,” they say. But this should never become normalised.
Jamaica ratified International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 138 on the Minimum Age of Employment and Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour in 2003. Jamaica also acts as an ILO “Pathfinder Country” through the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, implementing measures aimed at eradicating child labour in alignment with Sustainable Development Goal Target 8.7.
One pressing question now lingers: how efficiently have we, as a nation, upheld these obligations? Not well.
The fact that 335 students were reported in The Gleaner as still missing from the classrooms should trigger a coordinated national recovery effort focused on locating them and their families. They should be helped to rebuild, and ensuring that children are where they belong - in schools, not outside trying to “have a likkle ting.”
This issue requires urgent attention. No child should be outside during school hours selling or working on the streets instead of being in a classroom.
We need to fix this. We need to fix this now.
FI WE CHILDREN FOUNDATION