UN agency, BARMM together versus child labor

COTABATO CITY — The labor ministry of the Bangsamoro region and an agency of the United Nations have expanded cooperation against child labor via capacity-building efforts that various sectors have also assured to help push forward.

Senior officials of the Ministry of Labor and Employment told reporters Thursday the Bangsamoro government and the International Labour Organization together held here on May 23 to 25 an extensive workshop aimed at strengthening the enforcement of anti-child labor laws in the autonomous region.

The ILO, an entity of the United Nations, is helping the MOLE and other ministries of the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao address child labor and use of children as combatants in all of BARMM’s six provinces and three cities.

BARMM Labor Minister Muslimin G. Sema said Thursday he is grateful to the ILO for its interventions meant to boost their campaign against child labor.

“The three-day activity was just an initial activity. We shall have more soon. We appreciate the efforts of the ILO. It is a strong partner in furthering peace and sustainable development in the Bangsamoro region,” Sema said.

He said the office Khalid Hassan, ILO’s country director for the Philippines, was a main benefactor of the three-day workshop that involved employees and officials of Bangsamoro agencies that are in the forefront of the regional government’s campaign to totally stop child labor in the local communities.

MOLE’s director-general, Surab A. Abutazil, said Thursday their efforts to address child labor and use of children as combatants are attuned to the socio-economic and humanitarian objectives of the government’s separate peace compacts with the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation, whose senior officials are in key positions in different BARMM ministries.

Abutazil said the three-day anti-child labor workshop, held in a function facility of a hotel here, was facilitated by the Integrated Resource Development for Tri-People, a non-government peace-advocacy entity in Zamboanga City.

The activity was also supported by the Japanese government, according to Abutazil.

Kalma J. Isnain, executive director of IRDP, said they have community and social development activities and humanitarian and emergency response programs in Southern Philippines. 

Mohammad O. Pasigan, chairman of the Regional Board of Investments-BARMM and the region’s local government minister, Naguib G. Sinarimbo, said in separate statements that they will support the anti-child labor initiatives of MOLE.

Pasigan said they will compel investors engaged in different capital-intensive agricultural and industrial projects in the region to oblige their workers to help the MOLE and ILO stop child labor in their respective communities.

Sinarimbo, who is also BARMM’s regional spokesperson, said he will request the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region to oblige its units to report to MOLE detected cases of child labor for its appropriate action.

Besides being local government minister, Sinarimbo also sits as chairman of the multi-sector Regional Advisory Group of PRO-BAR.