The Bahamas, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago, member countries of the Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child Labor Regional Initiative, reported on efforts, progress and challenges at the national and regional levels to end work child, one of the commitments made in the 2030 Agenda and that will help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). This panel was held within the framework of the 10th meeting of the Caribbean Labor Ministers of the International Labor Organization (ILO) held in Jamaica.

The main topics addressed in the panel were the actions related to the cooperation project with Brazil on the transition from school to work as a tool for the prevention of child labor, including opportunities linked to the learning system and some of the results of the rapid evaluations carried out in the framework of the project. In addition, some countries presented policies and legislation developed and implemented to prevent and eradicate child labor, as well as programs and other direct interventions implemented in the Caribbean. 

Thus, among the main conclusions of the Meeting of Ministers is the call to all Caribbean countries to join the Regional Initiative to reinforce efforts in the subregion in line with the commitment made in the Hemispheric Decent Work Agenda . It was also proposed to include the issue of child labor on the agenda of the Council for Human and Social Development - COHSOD, for its acronym in English-; and the importance of ensuring the participation of the Caribbean in the IV World Conference was highlighted to inform about the reality of child labor in the subregion and the prevention and eradication efforts achieved. It should also be noted that the countries agreed that the components of the Regional Decent Work Strategy should include child labor.

According to official figures from the ILO, in Latin America and the Caribbean there are 12.5 million children and adolescents who live in child labor, of which 6.8% perform hazardous child labor; however, the Caribbean still has few national statistics, which prevents detailed and accurate understanding of the situation and hinders the adoption of effective and strategic measures. However, it is worth mentioning that there are efforts to address the paucity of data, such as the recent child labor surveys in Jamaica and Suriname.

To review the conclusions of the 10th meeting of the Ministers of Labor of the Caribbean, go to: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---americas/---ro-lima/---sro -port_of_spain / documents / meetingdocument / wcms_546189.pdf