The Ministry of Labour does not have official statistics on illegal child labour throughout the mining sector, according to Minister Nanda Gopaul, who says the expansion of the industry has made it increasingly necessary for standard issue regulations to be developed to guide employment.
“Given the large locations within the interior, the wide spaces which are available which are sometimes difficult to move through, it is difficult to monitor all the locations,” Gopaul told Stabroek News, while saying that the ministry has to do a better job, including engaging the private sector, to gather data and information.
Gopaul stated that along with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the ministry was actively working on addressing child labour within the mining industry. “We are concerned over the accidents that are occurring. We are stepping up the campaign,” he said, while noting that the publicised incidents of child labour and deaths within the mining sector were problematic.
However, he suggested that “when you take what is happening over a period of time, we are not doing that badly or too badly, I should say, because there has been an increase of activity in the hinterland locations.” Nevertheless, this cannot accurately be determined because of the ministry’s lack of data on the number of actual cases of child labour.
According to Gopaul, every aspect of safety in mining is being addressed. The ILO, he said, assisted with case studies of similar regions that may be susceptible to the same issues within mining.
By mid-May, he explained, a comprehensive list of regulations will be compiled. “We are working closely with the forestry commission, with the Ministry of Natural Resources and ourselves and our Occupation Health and Safety department and any other agencies, even the private sector,” to ensure that the hinterland communities stay away from encouraging child labour.
Gopaul did note that his ministry “will prosecute effectively. We are vehemently opposed to child labour and we are doing everything possible to ensure that every child goes to school… that is the way to eliminate child labour.”
He said that in the meantime, “we expect these locations to be observing all the rules that are consistent with good employment practices,” prior to official documentation being compiled.
When asked directly what the plan of action was to prevent further child labour cases, Gopaul could only say that “we are discouraging that.” He further suggested that child labour may be an extravagant term, telling Stabroek News that “during the vacations, families they take their brothers, sisters… into locations for a walk.” He stated that the ministry was discouraging activities like this.
Minister Gopaul said that the recent death of 16-year-old Dennis Anthony Barker, who was crushed when a mining pit caved in at Pamela in Mahdia on Sunday, was not an incident of child labour because he was over the age of 15. Although the young man was over the legal working age, he had no experience in mining.
Stabroek News last November reported that the Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO) had found an eight-year-old in a mining pit at Tiger Creek. GWMO President Simona Broomes had said she was told the child’s mother is in the backdam and he would work with persons from the area and did not attend school. This was among the cases of school-age children the organisation has found in mining areas.
Meanwhile, the Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) published a report in February that stated “Child labour is also a widespread problem within the Guyanese mining industry,” while the US Department of Labour estimates that over 44,000 children are engaged in exploitive labour throughout Guyana.
At the signing of the UNICEF Annual Work Plan in 2013, which is aimed at data collection and the protection of children, Minister of Foreign Affairs Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett had stated that Guyana did have a problem with reporting of data, which was necessary for policy development.
