The Labour Ministry is currently investigating three companies for alleged child labour practices.

According to Labour Minister Jone Usamate – they received four recent cases of child labour, one has been forwarded to the Labour Tribunal.

Usamate says it seems that while they are trying their best to tackle child labour in the country, some employers are continuing to breach the law.

“Child Labour is something that we cannot monitor on our own, because if it happens its widespread all over Fiji and it happens in areas where our staff’s are not always available.”

Usamate says not everyone is aware of the legislations on Child Labour.

“In the rural areas, making use of the teachers has been a good way of tapping into this problem and at the same time addressing it, so teachers when they identify areas in which they can action themselves, they can do that. They can go and take the children out of work they are doing, talk to their parents and put them back in the classrooms.”

Children who are fifteen years and over can be employed on conditions that they have consent from parents and are fit to join the workforce.

Individual employers breaching these conditions can be fined 10,000 dollars while corporations can end up paying 50,000.