FNPAIA to continue monitoring child involvement in hazardous agricultural works

The Child Labour Monitoring Team of the National Federation of Employers in Agriculture and the Food Industry (FNPAIA) has announced it will continue the visits to monitor how the Code of Conduct for Employers on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Agriculture and the Food Industry is being observed starting with the new school year, Info-Prim Neo reports, quoting a press release from the Federation. The calendar of the monitoring visits was drawn up during a workshop organised by the FNPAIA and will include four regions to begin with: Soroca, Edinet, Causeni and Criuleni, and then continue in Ungheni, Anenii-Noi, Cahul and Straseni. “The gained experience strengthened our organisation, while the approach used and concrete actions undertaken by the FNPAIA aim at reducing the number of children involved in hazardous child labour in agriculture,” said Alexandru Slusari, the FNPAIA executive director. Since 2005, the FNPAIA has been promoting activities as part of the Combating Child Labour in Agriculture in Moldova Project implemented with support from the Bureau for Employers Activities of the International Labour Organisation (ILO-ACT/EMP) and the Government of Norway. In December 2007, the FNPAIA Council adopted a Code of Conduct for Employers on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Agriculture and the Food Industry. This policy document, which was drafted and discussed with the participation of agri-entrepreneurs – members of the FNPAIA from 15 regions across the country, contains the main commitments undertaken by agri-employers to combat hazardous child labour. “Such actions on monitoring will help agri-employers avoid involvement of minors in works that contravene the labour laws. These children should go to school, receive quality education and become qualified specialists as adults”, said project coordinator Eugenia Ganea. In 2008, the FNPAIA team conducted monitoring visits in Orhei, Hancesti, Floresti, Balti and Stefan-Voda.