The Secretary of State for Vocational Training Policy and Employment (SEPFOPE), Ilidio da Costa, says currently SEPFOPE in cooperation with the International Labour Organization (ILO) are designing a basic system to gather child labour data in the country. 
He says some data is already available but not well organized requiring a system that saves the data into a database.
“I already discussed this issue with the ILO so they could start designing a system we can use,” said SE da Costa, after a meeting with donors held in Dili.
He says the Timorese State will soon ratify international conventions against child labour in Geneva therefore the government is obligated to collect the data and develop programs that address the issue of child labour in the country.
Meanwhile ILO Representative, Roberto Pes, noted the system is very important so ILO can support SEPFOPE conduct a survey about child labour in the country.
“We are willing to support and build the capacity of SEPFOPE to prepare the data about child labour to be presented in Geneva,” said ILO Representative Pes.
In the meantime, civil society representative Honorio Almeida, working in the child protection area, supports the government’s initiative to centralize the data but urged the government to create a policy and take concrete measures to combat the issue of child labour in Timor-Leste and to not just focus on the report it will present in Geneva.
“It is true we cannot quantify the problem but it is also very important the government thinks about what interventions it needs to take to eradicate this problem,” said Civil Society Representative Almeida.
