Labour strides stressed

The Kingdom’s labour strides were in focus as the Acting Assistant Undersecretary for Labour Affairs at the Ministry of Labour and Social Development, Ahmed Al Hayki, yesterday held talks with the international analyst at the US Labour Department’s Child Labour, Forced Labour and Human Trafficking, Ahoura Afshar.

The meeting, held as part of the Labour Ministry’s keenness to co-operate and co-ordinate with international sides in order to achieve development goals, discussed the Kingdom’s experience in combating all forms of child labour and forced labour. The assistant undersecretary highlighted the kingdom’s commitment to child rights and to protecting children from all kinds of forced labour. He stressed the government’s keenness to protect children through many laws and legislation, citing Law 37/2012 on child protection and Law 69/2016 on establishing the Child Protection Centre, in addition to the Kingdom’s ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989.

He pointed out that compulsory education in Bahrain has contributed effectively to eliminating all forms of child labour, adding that the Kingdom is at the forefront of countries in the field of child protection. Mr Afshar lauded the Kingdom’s systems and laws aimed at ensuring human rights and the rights of workers, praising the efforts of the Labour and Social Development Ministry to promote the principles of decent work, as well as its supervision of the implementation of the Labour Law for the Private Sector, particularly its provisions aimed at protecting human rights.