Manama, June 8 (BNA): Ahmed Al-Haiki, Acting Undersecretary for Labor Affairs at the Ministry of Labor and Social Development, met with Afoula Afshar, International Analyst for Child Labor, Forced Labor and Human Trafficking at the US Department of Labor.
The meeting, held as part of the Ministry of Labor’s keenness to cooperate and coordinate with the international community to achieve development goals, discussed the Kingdom’s experience in combating all forms of child labor and forced labor.
The Assistant Undersecretary highlighted the Kingdom’s commitment to children’s rights and to protecting them from all types of forced labour.
He highlighted the Government’s keenness to protect children through a number of laws and legislation, citing Law 37/2012 on child protection and Law 69/2016 on the establishment of child protection centres, in addition to the ratification of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child.
He noted that compulsory education in Bahrain effectively contributes to the elimination of all forms of child labour, adding that the Kingdom is at the forefront among countries in the field of child protection.
Afoula Afshar praised Bahrain’s institutions and laws aimed at ensuring human and labor rights, and commended the Ministry of Labor and Social Development’s efforts to promote decent work principles as well as its oversight of the implementation of private sector labor laws, particularly those provisions aimed at protecting human rights.
He also appreciated the advanced employment mechanism put in place by the Ministry of Labour’s Employment Service Centre and its role in ensuring a healthy working environment that stimulates productivity.
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