UNCLAS NASSAU 000074

SIPDIS
FOR DOL/ILAB LEYLA STROTKAMP, RACHEL RIGBY AND TINA MCCARTER, DRL/ILCSR FOR SARAH MORGAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL BF
SUBJECT: NASSAU RESPONSE ON CHILD LABOR AND FORCED LABOR

REF: 09 STATE 131997


1. The Bahamas is an overwhelmingly service-based economy with
tourism and financial services accounting for some 80 percent of
economic activity. Migrant laborers, most susceptible to potential
labor and other abuses, are also generally engaged in services,
domestic or household, construction, or small-scale agriculture (it
is impossible to identify problems associated with any specific
commodity).




2. Post has received no reports of child labor or forced labor
related to the production of goods in the past several years.
Available data on possible labor trafficking is extremely limited,
largely anecdotal, and generally unrelated to production of any
sort. Neither government nor NGO contacts cite child labor or
forced labor for production of goods, or for that matter in
services, as issues of particular concern in The Bahamas. Abuses
that may occur or go unreported are generally thought to be
confined to the service sector.




3. Post is not aware of any research revealing linkages between
forced or child labor and the production of goods in The Bahamas.
ZUNIGA-BROWN