National Action Plan to eliminate Child Labour in Papua New Guinea.

The purpose of the National Policy and Action Plan (NAP) is to provide, for the first time, a comprehensive framework that: identifies and prioritises goals and provides operational guidance concerning the implementation of relevant interventions to reduce and eliminate the worst forms of child labour, including child trafficking, in PNG. In terms of process, it aims to mainstream and integrate considerations relating to child labour and the worst forms of child labour across relevant government departments and agencies, at senior levels, and provide for systematic multi-stakeholder involvement including NGOs and local community representatives. It also provides for specific actions and outputs relating to the prevention of the worst forms of child labour and protection of children actually or potentially involved.
There have been a number of initiatives in the areas of child labour and the worst forms of child labour in recent years in PNG, in addition to the policy and legislative developments described above (3.3). These include a series of direct, advocacy and capacity building interventions informed by the TACKLE project, implemented under the auspices of the ILO IPEC programme which has as its goal the progressive elimination of child labour. To achieve its main aims, TACKLE works through four strategic areas. The first is improving the national child labour and education legal framework in project countries by supporting its preparation or strengthening it where it already exists.
Chapters IV deals with the following matters: National development and education plans and strategies have identified basic education as a major national priority, particularly with respect to cohort retention rates, the gender disparity in participation, and education and skills development (ILO, 2012b; DPM and NEC, 2012). Poverty, welfare and social policy Family poverty is linked to both poor school participation and child labour (section 2.3). There is thus a need to explicitly address the worst forms of child labour and child labour initiatives in national growth and poverty alleviation strategies such as the MTDP and National Poverty Reduction Strategy (section 3.2). Mainstreaming child labour and the worst forms of child labour in economic and social policy would need to address three issues. Economic growth needs to directly contribute to adequate household incomes, food security, and infrastructural, education and medical development. Poor health, education, communication and infrastructure services, in combination with a lack of employment opportunities, generate acute social problems such as crime, violence, homelessness, illiteracy, and the worst forms of child labour.