Child labour is one of the topics being discussed during a conference on Child Labour and Trafficking held in Apia this week.
Coordinated by the International Labour Organisation (I.L.O), the conference is looking at measures to deal with child labour.
Yesterday on the streets of Apia, it was clear that there is still plenty of work to be done.
Not far from where the conference was held at Hotel Millennia, the Samoa Observer spotted a number of young children hawking goods on the streets, looking to make a sale.
The time was 11:34a.m. when schools were still in progress.
The I.L.O’s Coordinator of the Sub-regional Child Labour and Trafficking Programme, Marie Jane Fatiaki, told the Samoa Observer that they are aware about the problem of young street vendors in Samoa.
“What we are doing is to try and come up with some practical actions in order to address the problem,” she said.
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“The situation is already covered by the Education Act and Childcare Bill.”
“The only issue however in terms of trying to address the problem is poor management and the enforcement of the law in order to coordinate the partnership,” Ms Fatiaki said a lot of the discussion centred on who is responsible for the actual enforcement and monitoring of the laws already in place.
“It’s a matter that we are taking into account on who is responsible in terms of actually going out and ensuring that the street vendors are in school when it’s time for school and not working at night,” she said.
Non-Government Organisations, Police and some of the Ministries have agreed to work to ensure and enforce the law.
“One of the targets that we have come with is the families,” said Maria Levi, Director Pasefika Mana.
“Working with the communities and ensuring that the parents of these children selling goods are aware of the consequences.”
About a 192 children/street vendors were recorded between the years 2011 to 2012 however, Pasefika Mana could only manage to work with the families of 25 vendors that were recorded.
“It’s been a challenge to see the many reasons why street vending is so common in Samoa,” said Ms Levi.
In fact, she said that the numbers have gone down from what they had recorded before.
“The only solution now is enforcing the law and ensuring that all these children would have a better future by pushing them to school.”
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