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FAO and ILO have long cooperated on labour-related issues in fisheries and aquaculture. A growing area of collaboration is child labour. Children make up a large proportion of the labour force in fisheries. Children work as crew on fishing boats, as fish sorters, in fish processing factories, in fish marketing and trading as well as in households with fisheries-based livelihoods. They often work in diverse activities such as handling and repairing nets, diving, draining boats, painting and cooking.

This issue and experiences addressing child labour in fisheries and aquaculture at the global and national level will be discussed at the “Addressing labour conditions in fisheries and aquaculture: How to tackle child labour and improve working conditions?” FAO-ILO side-event to FAO’s Committee on Fisheries. COFI is the global inter-governmental forum where major international fisheries and aquaculture problems and issues are periodically examined and recommendations addressed to governments, regional fishery bodies, NGOs, fishworkers, FAO and international community.

On the occasion, the FAO-ILO Guidance Document for Addressing Child Labour in Fisheries and Aquaculture will be presented. The document provides guidance to government officials and their development partners, employers’, workers’ and producers’ organizations and other stakeholders to effectively mainstream child labour considerations in relevant development and management policies and to take practical action against child labour.

Relevant national experiences - from Thailand, Cambodia and Malawi - in reducing child labour in fisheries and aquaculture will be discussed.

A final presentation from ILO on improving working conditions in the fisheries sector through international labour standards will illustrate the main contents of Convention No. 188, focusing on how this instrument will help address many of the important labour issues in fisheries.

The event will take place on Thursday 12 July, 2012 at 12:45 in the Mexico Meeting Room (D213b) at FAO HQs. For more information please download the event flyer.

Download the COFI side-event presentations:

• Introduction: Addressing labour conditions in fisheries and aquaculture, by Ms Paola Termine (ILO)
• Guidance on Addressing Child Labour in Fisheries and Aquaculture, by Mr Rolf Willmann (FAO)
• Promoting Better Working Conditions in Thai Aquaculture, Fishing and Seafood Industry, by Mr Tuomo Poutiainen (ILO - IPEC) and Dr Waraporn Prompoj (Department of Fisheries, Thailand)
• Experiences from addressing Child Labour in Fisheries and Aquaculture: The case of Malawi, by Mr Steve Donda (Department of Fisheries, Malawi)
• Improving working conditions in the fisheries sector through international labour standards, by Mr Brandt Wagner (ILO)