Shifting the responsibility of caring for migrant workers’ children to extended families can lead to potential risks of child abuse. Reverend James Bhagwan, General Secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC), emphasized the importance of taking children’s protection seriously. He noted a troubling trend of abuse cases involving extended family members when children are left without proper supervision.
“How can we ensure that these concerns are addressed? Families often think they can just leave their kids with relatives without considering the implications,” Reverend Bhagwan stated. He highlighted that failures in child protection systems have been observed not just with the PALM scheme but also in situations where children are moved from rural to urban areas for education, which raises issues such as human trafficking.
He stressed the need for churches and civil society to step up their support for the wellbeing of families and children left behind. “A lot of these issues require us to assess our internal systems in the Pacific countries from which these workers originate,” he added.
Reverend Bhagwan referred to a UNICEF-led study examining the effects of the PALM scheme on families in Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands, which revealed critical insights for religious and community organizations. “While anecdotal evidence existed, researched data now underscores our ongoing concern for the vulnerability and protection of children in extended family settings,” he said.
Fiji has a history with migrant worker programs, including sending soldiers for peacekeeping missions and athletes playing overseas. In some cases, families travel with the workers, while in others, they do not, depending on circumstances, providing lessons from which to draw.
He acknowledged the strong cultural and social structures within communities and questioned how behavior is monitored when individuals are removed from their environments. Reverend Bhagwan proposed that community support could come from traditional groups like the soqosoqo ni marama and soqosoqo ni turaga, which could assist those left behind.
He also mentioned issues related to maintenance and support, pointing out that when sending personnel for peacekeeping duties, there are contractual agreements to ensure that remittances and funds reach their families.