NASSAU RESPONSE ON CHILD LABOR AND FORCED LABOR

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