The International Labor Organization (ILO) says Barbados has become the ninth Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country to join the Regional Initiative, Latin America and the Caribbean Free of Child Labor.
It said that the island’s Labor Minister Esther Byer-Suckoo handed over the signed agreement to José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, ILO Regional Director of the Americas and Caribbean in the margins of the Organization of American States (OAS) XX Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labor held here earlier this month.
It said as a result of Barbados signing the agreement, it now brings the total number of participating countries in the region to 28, all aligned in pursuit of a common objective: to accelerate the rate of reduction of child labor in the region and by 2025, to eliminate all forms of child labor.
According to the ILO, Barbados has ratified the commitments set forth in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and has also ratified ILO Conventions 138 on the minimum age for admission to employment and 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor.
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