Programs on combating child labour

To mark International Day:

The Labour Relations and Manpower Ministry has drawn up an elaborate program to commemorate 'International Day against Child Labour' which falls on June 12 on a countrywide scale.

The program drawn up under the guidance of Minister Athauda Seneviratne will include 56 events to create awareness among parents on the urgency of combating child labour, said a spokesman for the Women's and Children's Unit of the Labour Department which is handling the program. Meanwhile Minister Athauda Seneviratne in a message to mark the program said engaging children who are future inheritors of the nation as domestics or in any other employment was illegal. Therefore everyone of us should work together to combat child labour considering it as a national duty.

Strict punishment should be meted out to people who engage children as domestic servants.

Ministry Secretary Mahinda Madihahewa said this year's program would specially focus on children of the North who had been under the jackboot of LTTE terrorists earlier.