GUYANA’s First Lady Madame Deolatchmee Ramotar has joined with the millions from around the world in denouncing the abuse and exploitation of children while employed as child labourers.  “I commend the noble efforts of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in highlighting this problem which still exists in many parts of the world, and I applaud the efforts being made to reduce its incidence,” she said in a message to mark ‘World Day Against Child Labour 2013, which is observed today.
 
This year, the ILO has decided to cast the spotlight on a very common and often unnoticed form of abuse: the exploitation of children in domestic work.
And the First Lady said, while she supports the need for children to assist their parents in the home, the employment of children to work in other households is abhorred since many children have been terribly exploited and abused in this way.
Also, because the work is taking place within the confines of homes, it often goes unnoticed by those who can or are empowered to end this form of exploitation, she stated.
 
“I make a concerted plea for the end to this exploitation which often discriminates against children because of their economic circumstances,” the First Lady said.
She noted that wherever such practices exist throughout the world, they must be deplored and condemned. 
 “Children should have the liberty to use their free time to play and have fun including in the company of other children. They should not be deprived of the joys of childhood by being forced to work under arduous and exploitative conditions in the homes of others or even to be turned into servants in their own homes,” Mrs Ramotar asserted.
“This abuse must end,” she declared.
  “We all have a duty to protect our children and on this ‘World Day Against Child Labour I call on all of humanity to redouble its efforts at stamping out this heartless atrocity,” she added.