The moratorium on surprise inspections at companies makes it harder to identify minors employed illegally. In a press club meeting staged with the support of UNICEF, labor inspector Adrian Bobeica said the employers are now informed about an inspection five days beforehand. When the inspectors come to companies, the employers do not call the minors to work on these days, IPN reports.
According to the inspector, the number of identified cases of child labor has halved compared with last year, when 35 minors were found doing illegal work that endangered their life and health. There was also reported an accident at work that involved a minor aged 17. This fell from height on a building site. In 13 cases of those identified last year, contravention reports were drawn up and sent to court. Three of these were dropped by judges, while in the rest of the cases the entrepreneurs paid fines totaling 35,000 lei.
Adrian Bobeica said the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family drafted a bill to amend the legislation and exclude the moratorium on surprise inspections by labor inspectors. This is to be examined by the Government.
The head of the Child Rights Information and Documentation Center of Moldova Cezar Gavriliuc said there is insufficient information for children and parents about the working conditions and program and the negative impact of illegal labor or physical effort on the child’s health. It is yet more serious when the parents take their children with them abroad and engage them in very dangerous works, like in the building sector. The children often work to repay their parents’ debts and their rights to education, rest, play and others are violated. Under the legislation, the minors aged 15-16 must work at most 24 hours a week, but this provision is not respected.
At the beginning of November, the Child Rights Information and Documentation will present a report on the situation of children’s rights in Moldova, compiled by the UN.
The press club meeting entitled “Children and labor, where is the admissible limit?” was organized by the Journalistic Investigations Center and the UNICEF Representative Office in Moldova.
