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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRIDGETOWN 002204 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CAR AND DRL/IL (TU DANG) 
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR FOR ILAB (TINA MCCARTER) 
SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB EIND ETRD PHUM SOCI EAID AC XL
SUBJECT: ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA:  UPDATE OF THE WORST FORMS OF 
CHILD LABOR INFORMATION 
 
REF: STATE 184972 
 
¶1.  Summary:  While Antigua and Barbuda lacks a comprehensive 
policy or action program on child labor, it does have a 
policy and legal framework for addressing issues connected 
with child labor, including education, child care, welfare, 
social security, and labor administration.  Antiguan 
officials interviewed claim that the country has no problems 
with child labor or the worst forms of child labor.  Though 
little research has been done on this issue by Antigua or 
outside organizations, it is likely that the extent of the 
worst forms of child labor problem is limited, given 
Antigua's relative prosperity, compulsory education system, 
and well developed social safety net.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  The following answers are keyed to questions concerning 
worst forms of child labor contained in reftel: 
 
A) Laws and regulations proscribing the worst forms of child 
labor. 
 
Antigua and Barbuda has ratified both ILO Conventions 138 and 
¶182.  While Antigua and Barbuda has not adopted legislation 
addressing child labor per se, the country has in place laws 
and regulations on minimum employment age, compulsory 
education, childcare protection, social security, and labor 
administration, as well as the criminal code, which outlaws 
among other things prostitution, pornography, and drug 
trafficking. 
 
Antigua and Barbuda has not developed a list of hazardous 
occupations or laws specifically targeting the worst forms of 
child labor.  According to Sheree Yearwood, the ILO Desk 
Officer at the Antiguan Ministry of Labour, Public 
Administration, and Empowerment, developing such lists and 
laws has been considered unnecessary because the Antiguan 
government has no evidence that child labor, including its 
worst forms, is a problem in the country. 
 
Yearwood said that Antigua's minimum age for employment is 
set at 16, which is also the age until which children are 
required to attend school.  Some children younger than 16 may 
work, but according to Yearwood, they work only a few hours a 
week and usually during the summer.  Younger workers in some 
areas, such as construction, must present medical 
documentation certifying that they are fit for harder labor. 
 
B) Regulations for implementation and enforcement of 
proscription against the worst forms of child labor. 
 
The Antiguan government implements and enforces labor laws 
through the Ministry of Labour, Public Administration, and 
Empowerment.  The Ministry employs two inspectors, who 
conduct periodic inspections, both announced and unannounced, 
of Antiguan employers.  Any violations of Antiguan laws would 
be referred to the relevant authorities.  According to 
Yearwood, the Ministry's inspectors have yet to uncover any 
problems involving child labor.  The Citizens Welfare 
Division of the Ministry of Housing, Culture and Welfare is 
charged with investigating all matters concerning the welfare 
of children, and the Royal Police of Antigua and Barbuda 
would investigate all suspected criminal activities. 
According to Citizen Welfare Division's Child Welfare 
Officer, Faustina Jarvis, the Division works closely with the 
police, hospitals, church and community groups to protect and 
remove children from abusive situations.  She noted, however, 
that the Division's efforts could benefit from a central data 
collection point to keep better track of information and 
analyze it for possible trends. 
 
Yearwood acknowledged that the Antiguan government has 
conducted no research into the issue of child labor and is 
therefore basing its assumption that child labor is not a 
problem in the country on the absence of any reported cases. 
Antigua's growing economy and relatively strong social safety 
net would suggest that Antiguan children would be less likely 
to resort to or be pressured into the worst forms of child 
labor because of poverty. 
 
However, the situation may be different for immigrant 
children.  Sheila Roseau, Director of the Gender Affairs 
 
BRIDGETOWN 00002204  002 OF 002 
 
 
Division in the Ministry of Labour, Public Administration, 
and Empowerment, agreed with Yearwood's assessment that child 
labor does not appear to be a problem in Antigua.  However, 
Roseau recalled one case of child prostitution in 2002 or 
¶2003.  The case reportedly led to the conviction and 
imprisonment of the perpetrator.  Jarvis also recalled this 
case, adding that it involved a Guyanese girl who was 
essentially trafficked into Antigua and then sexually 
exploited.  UNICEF's program officer Heather Stewart, who is 
based in Barbados, agreed that one possible area of concern 
could be Antigua's growing immigrant population, mainly from 
the Dominican Republic.  According to Stewart, the language 
barrier and uncertain legal status of the immigrants may 
leave them and their children vulnerable to exploitation. 
 
C) Whether there are social programs to prevent and withdraw 
children from the worst forms of child labor. 
 
Like other countries in the region, Antigua has used 
education as the primary tool to prevent child labor and the 
worst forms of child labor.  Education is compulsory up to 
the age of 16, and it is free through the secondary level. 
Attendance at primary and secondary schools is monitored by 
the Ministry of Education's truancy officers, and any 
attendance problems are reported to the Ministry of Labor's 
Citizens Welfare Division. 
 
However, a 2001 report on Antigua's implementation of the UN 
Convention on the Rights of the Child noted a certain level 
of discrimination in access to free public education for the 
children of immigrants.  According to the report, Ministry of 
Education officials has sought to alleviate the shortage of 
public school spaces by directing immigrants' children to 
private, fee-charging schools.  According to Jarvis, this 
discrimination may still be occurring, but as the immigrants' 
status becomes "regularized" their children usually move to 
the free public schools. 
 
The Citizens Welfare Division is charged with protecting 
children from abuse and would therefore be involved in any 
instances of the worst forms of child labor.  The Division 
cooperates with religious and church organizations in 
removing children from abusive situations and placing them in 
safe environments.  Jarvis mentioned the Good Shepherd Home 
for Girls, run by the Catholic Church, and the Sunshine Home 
for Girls, run by the Salvation Army, as the two alternatives 
they use most frequently.  Jarvis noted that the two homes do 
not accept boys, unless they are infants, and abused boys are 
therefore usually placed in foster care. 
 
D) Policies aimed at the elimination of the worst forms of 
child labor. 
 
Antigua does not have a comprehensive policy or national 
program of action on child labor. 
 
E) Progress toward eliminating the worst forms of child labor. 
 
Since ratifying ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of 
child labor in 2002, Antigua has not taken any significant 
steps toward implementing the Convention's provisions.  The 
government's complacency is due in large part to the 
assumption that child labor is not a problem in Antigua. The 
lack of research or reported data does not necessarily mean 
that the problem does not exist in Antigua and Barbuda, as 
the one case reported here demonstrates.  However, given the 
country's relative prosperity, compulsory education system, 
and well developed social safety net, it is likely that the 
extent of the worst forms of child labor problem is limited 
in Antigua and Barbuda. 
GILROY