Jeevan Thondaman, General Secretary of the Ceylon Workers’ Congress and State Minister of Estate Housing and Community Infrastructure says that they are currently in discussions to strengthen the Labor Ordinance so that no one can continue to employ the children of plantation workers for domestic labor.
Referring to the recent death of a 16-year-old girl from the estates while working as a domestic aide at MP Rishad Bathiudeen’s house, the State Minister Thondaman said the laws on the protection of domestic and migrant workers needs to be revamped and strengthened so that such incidents can prevent any from taking place.
“The Labor Ordinance in our country is more than 100 years old. We have planned to bring in new laws to punish parents who offer their children for employment. From now on no one can take children from the estates to work as servants,” the State Minister said.
“I acknowledge that there are economic problems in the families of plantation workers. But the solution for that is not child labor.”
The Minister said he has instructed the officers who come under his purview to gather details on the status of children who have dropped out of school and also on the ‘brokers’ who play middlemen between the domestic/migrant worker and the employer. He said the scrutinizing process will begin on Monday. “Today everyone is working together to pressure the police to conduct a formal investigation into Ishalini’s death. That is a good thing but some people are trying to take advantage of this incident for political gain. We have already launched many programs to increase the level of education of children in the plantations,” the Minister said.
Thondaman also said that he was satisfied with the police investigation into the death of Ishalini, the 16-year-old girl, who died of burn injuries received while working at MP Rishad Bathiudeen’s home as a domestic aide.
Meanwhile, estate workers in Hatton Kotagala today staged a protest demanding the government to conduct a formal investigation into the death of the girl and bring justice to her.
The plantation workers who joined the protest said that a large number of children associated with the plantations were in child labor and that the authorities should draft new legislation to free them from such violence.
Courtesy: Colombo Page
