Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population has primarily chosen Yangon, Bago, Ayeyawady, Kayin, and Mon for the elimination of child labour projects, according to the 3rd coordination meeting of the Myanmar National Committee on Child Labour Eradication.

Thein Swe, Union Minister for Labour, Immigration and Population said: “The majority of regional developing countries usually use youths and children who will contribute to productivity, as child labour. It is found that the countries which face poverty-related challenges use more child labours. There are 12.4 million children aged between five and 17 in Myanmar. An estimated 0.6 million children are working. Among them, 0.4 million are child workers.”

The ministry will designate the priority sectors for the elimination of child labour in those regions, taking account of the facts such as education, employment opportunities, family conditions and poverty. The ministry will implement the projects in cooperation with the work committee and major partner organizations.

The nine-point agreement was arrived at the 1st coordination meeting on Myanmar National Committee on Child Labour Eradication on February 19, 2018. The committee also reached the 14-point agreement at its 2nd coordination meeting on December 12, 2018. Until now, the committee has implemented 12 points so far. The rest is under implementation. The first one is coordination is being made to put expenditures necessary for the implementation of projects, in the budget of the Union Ministry, Nay Pyi Taw Council Area, Region and State government for 2019-20 FY.

According to the ILO’s survey, 218 million children aged between five and 17 are working. A total of 152—88 million males and 64 million females are child workers. Of them, 73 million children are working at the dangerous worksites. There are 72.1 million child workers in Africa, 62.1 million in Asia-Pacific countries, 10.7 million in U.S., 1.2 million in Arab countries and 5.4 million in Europe and the Central Asia.