Colombo: Sri Lanka is set to strengthen his child’s worker law by raising the minimum age to work up to 18 years to stop the exploitation of children, days after the death of a 16-year-old girl who was employed as a domestic aid by a politician.
Piyal Nishantha, Minister of State for Women and Child Development, said that a paper cabinet was being prepared to raise the minimum age to 18 years.
The Labor Ministry has also decided to expand the list of jobs that are considered dangerous for children between 16 and 18 years.
, This list will be increased from 52 to 76, said the commissioner of Labor Prabath Chandrakeerthhi.
National Child Protection Authority (NCPA) said strict laws were needed to stop the exploitation of children for delivery.
The problem of child labor appears after the death of a teenage girl, who works as a domestic aid at a house of politicians.
The girl was hospitalized with burns on July 3 while she was hired as a domestic assistance at the home of the leader of all Ceylon People’s Congress, Rishad Bathiyudeen, opposition allies.
The wife of the leader, father-in-law, brother-in-law and broker was arrested after the girl died on July 15, police said.
Bathiyudeen himself was arrested and detained since the end of April for investigations on the 2019 Easter Self-suicide bombing blamed in the Jihad group with a link to ISIS which killed more than 270 people.