The Labour Minister improved the order of the Ministry of Labour to form a Child Labour Suppression Subcommittee to operate smoother in hopes that Thailand is removed from the US’s blacklist.
On November 22, 2018, Labour Minister, H.E. Police General Adul Sangsingkeo chaired the meeting for the National Suppression of Child Labour and Worst Forms of Work Committee, which took place at the Prof. Nikom Conference Room on the 5th floor, Ministry of Labour. The meeting acknowledged the report about the worst forms of child labour in 2017, whereby the US Department of Labour assessed the performance of the government in 2017 which placed Thailand in the “Significant Advancement” category, being 1 of 17 countries from 132 countries and placed first in ASEAN. However, the Ministry of Labour still has policies and goals for relevant agencies to continue operations, whereby the policies continue to stress that no child under 15 years can work and laws are strictly enforced. The aim is for Thailand to maintain its position in the “Significant Advancement” category and for the report to remove Thailand from TVPRA and EO List for 2017 which lists 148 items from 76 countries. For Thailand, there are five products, namely sugar cane, apparel, shrimp, fish and pornography, which have not been withdrawn from the above lists as the US Department of Labour believes that Thailand continues to employ child labour within the industries of the alleged goods.
Pol.Gen. Adul said that the meeting also acknowledged the results of the action plan on the elimination of work forms of child labour 2018 and arrangements for the World Day Against Child Labour on June 12, 2019. The meeting today, included an important agenda to consider the revision of the Ministry of Labour’s Order No. 313/2557, which originally contained a working group structure to track and collect information on preventive and corrective actions for child labour and slavery, totaling 3 orders to be combined as 1, to be the Subcommittee on Suppression of Child Labour, Slavery, Child Slavery and Debt Bondage. The aim is to remove sugarcane, apparel, shrimp, fish and pornography from the lists to make operations more agile.
The meeting also reported progress gathering information to respond to questions regarding the situation and TDA Report 2018, which is currently in the process of submission to relevant agencies to report to the Ministry of Labour, then translated for the proposal to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a report to the US Department of Labour.
Labour Minister Welcomes Neyagawa Major from Osaka, Japan on Courtesy Call and Discussion on Safe Educational Institution
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Division of Public Relations /
News by Chaninthorn Phettab/
Photos by Sompob Silbut/
November 22, 2018/