The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune News Editor

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE National Tripartite Council will review the Employment Act to raise the minimum age for employment to 16, aligning the provision with the minimum age for leaving school.

This is revealed in the national report The Bahamas submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council before the body reviews our human rights record on Wednesday.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is pushing the country to change the minimum employment age, according to a report UNESCO prepared ahead of the human rights review.

“The minimum age of employment is 16 years in the Child Protection Act (article 7) or 14 years in the Employment Act (article 49 and 50(1). Due to this inconsistency, the age at which compulsory education ends (16 years) cannot be considered aligned with the minimum age of employment,” the report says.

“Raise the minimum age of employment to 16 years in the Employment Act to align with the end of compulsory education.”

Labour Director Robert Farquharson said a recommendation to change the age came from within the NTC. However, he said the body has not started to review the matter formally.

“We will consult our social partners, trade unions, academia, civil society, the church, etc,” he said yesterday.

Mr Farquharson said the shift would “bring us in line with best practices".

However, he said a careful examination of the proposal is vital.

“There are some cultural differences,” he said. “We have children on the Family Islands who work in fishing and who work in the farming industry. All of that has to be considered. This analysis can’t be Nassau-centric. We have to go to Cat Island; we have to go to Andros. How many children who are 14 and 15 go with their parents on fishing trips? Is that considered work? Are they being paid? That’s the cultural aspect of our country. We have to be extremely careful. Is it a criminal offence for a child who, during the summer, catches crabs and uses that money? Is that work?"

Mr Farquahrson said the Labour Department had increased efforts to enforce the existing age-related provisions in the law.

“You would notice there are more elderly people working in food stores now,” he said. “We continue to try to enforce that section of the law.”

UNESCO also recommended the government ban corporal punishment.

Its report says: “Article 110 of the Penal Code permits ‘a blow or other force, not in any case extending to a wound or grievous harm, may be justified for the purpose of correction’ including in the school. Corporal punishment must be proscribed as it is not consistent with the realisation of the right to education and children’s rights.”

The body also urges the government to provide broader access to pre-primary education.

“Introduce at least one year of free and compulsory pre-primary education,” its report says.