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The Melanesian Spearhead Group states they will continue to ensure that children’s needs and safety are prioritized amid the increase in labour mobility in the Pacific.

MSG Director General Leonard Louma says the environment in which we live and work continues to evolve in ways that are harmful to the welfare and safety of children.

He highlighted this while speaking at the Protecting Children in the Context of Labor Mobility Seminar in Vanuatu yesterday.

Louma says that in many ways, children are growing up in an environment that is unhelpful in nurturing them to become useful members of the community.

“Without exception, across the countries in our region, we see people migrate temporarily or permanently to urban centres or other countries seeking job opportunities and better futures for themselves and their families. Regrettably, the brunt of the cost of the absence of parents from children is borne by the children themselves.”

Louma says the MSG has also agreed to have an arrangement where spouses are allowed to work in their countries to ensure that families are not split.