The Sunday Mail
Facts and Figures:
l Global number of children in child labour has declined by one third since 2000, from 246 million to 168 million children. More than half of them, 85 million, are in hazardous work (down from 171 million in 2000).
l Asia and the Pacific still has the largest numbers (almost 78 million or 9.3 per cent of child population), but Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region with the highest incidence of child labour (59 million, over 21 per cent).
l There are 13 million (8.8 per cent) children in child labour in Latin America and the Caribbean and in the Middle East and North Africa, there are 9.2 million (8.4 per cent) children.
l Agriculture remains by far the most important sector where child labourers can be found (98 million, or 59 per cent), but the problem is not unique to the agricultural sector with 54 million child labourers in the services sector and 12 million in industry , mostly in the informal economy.
Child labour is divided into two categories, namely:
l Economic child labour where a child aged 5 to 14 years was engaged in economic activities for at least 21 hours per week; and
l Non-economic child labour where a child aged 5 to 14 years was engaged in noneconomic activities for at least 35 hours a week.
Child Labour and Worst forms of child labour: Not all work done by children should be classified as child labour that is to be targeted for elimination. Children’s or adolescents’ participation in work that does not affect their health and personal development or interfere with their schooling is generally regarded as being something positive.
This includes activities such as helping their parents around the home, assisting in a family business or earning pocket money outside school hours and during school holidays.
These kinds of activities contribute to children’s development and to the welfare of their families; they provide them with skills and experience, and help to prepare them to be productive members of society during their adult life.
Child labour is work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to their physical and mental development.
Whether or not particular forms of “work” can be called “child labour” depends on the child’s age, the type and hours of work performed, the conditions under which it is performed and the objectives pursued by individual countries.
Whilst child labour takes many different forms, a priority is to eliminate without delay its worst forms. This is labour that jeopardises the physical, mental or moral well-being of a child, either because of its nature or because of the conditions in which it is carried out.
This work is known as “hazardous work’’ and includes work such as:
• Slavery, the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.
• The use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances
• The use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties;
• Work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.
The 2014 Child Labour Report of 2014 (ZIMSTAT) found that seven out of ten children, 4.45 million, aged between 5 to 17 years were working children. Working children are those involved in either economic activities (supply of labour for the production of goods and services for sale) or non-economic activities such unpaid housekeeping, unpaid caring for the sick or unpaid caring for children in own household for no economic gain.
Among the children aged 5 to 14 years 19 000 were in non-economic child labour largely caring for other children or the sick, as well as housekeeping. In addition, there are 170 000 children (aged 5 to 14 years) in economic child labour in Zimbabwe.
Among children aged 5 to 14 years, children in rural areas were more likely to be engaged in some economic activities (59 per cent) than their urban counterparts (5 per cent). This can be attributed to higher levels of poverty in rural communities. Involvement in economic activities is closely related to weak access to education. A high percentage (55 per cent) of the children in economic child labour lived in households where the head earned between US$1 and US$100 per month.
Of the children aged 5 to 14 years in economic child labour, only 63 per cent were attending school, 4 per cent had never attended school and about 33.3 per cent attended school at some point but had left school (drop outs).
9 out of 10 of the children in economic child labour are not paid at all. Of the very few children who were paid, about 37 per cent gave all of their earnings to parents/guardians through the employer. Only 15 per cent of children spent all the earnings by themselves. Almost three quarters of the children were working to be able to assist in household enterprises, while 14 per cent were working in order to supplement household income.
Zimbabwe ratified ILO Conventions No. 138 and No. 182 in June and December 2000 respectively andit has also put in place national legislation to protect children from child labour. Section 81 of the Constitution provides for the rights of children including the protection from child labour. The Labour Act, Chapter 28.01, and the Children’s Act, Chapter 5.06, also protect children from child labour. Progress has been made where the current Child Labour report indicates declines in the incidence of child labour. In 2014, 4.7 per cent of all children aged 5 to 14 years were economic child labourers down from 9.8 per cent in 2011.
Despite the efforts and legal provisions, progress in efforts to eliminate child labour has been hampered by high levels of poverty, limited coverage of social services and inadequate enforcement of legislation. A joint initiative led by the Government of Zimbabwe, workers and employers in collaboration with UN agencies and civil society, conducted a Rapid Assessment on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (WFCL) in Zimbabwe in 2008. The Rapid Assessment and Child Labour Report of 2014 (ZIMSTAT) suggests that child labour is particularly pronounced in the area of domestic work, agriculture and mining.
NO to child labour – YES to quality education!
Many child labourers do not attend school at all. Others combine school and work but often to the detriment of their education.
As adults, former child labourers lack adequate education and skills therefore are more likely to end up in poorly paid, insecure work or to be unemployed. In turn, there is a high probability that their own children will end up in child labour. Breaking this cycle of disadvantage is a global challenge and education has a key role to play.
Free and compulsory education of good quality up to the minimum age for admission to employment is a key tool in ending child labour. Attendance at school removes children, in part at least from the labour market and lays the basis for the acquisition of employable skills needed for future gainful employment. The global youth employment crisis and problems experienced by young people in making the school to work transition highlight the need for quality and relevant education, which develops the skills necessary to succeed both in the labour market and in life, generally.
The United Nations Millennium Development Goals set the target of ensuring that by 2015, all boys and girls complete a full course of primary education. We know now that this target will not be met. Recent UNESCO data on school enrolment indicates that 58 million children of primary school age and 63 million adolescents of junior secondary school age are still not enrolled in school. Many of those who are enrolled are not attending on a regular basis. In Zimbabwe, access to the lower levels of education is high but transition to higher levels is low. As the international community reviews reasons for the failure to reach the targets, it is clear that the persistence of child labour remains a barrier to progress in education and development. If the problem of child labour is ignored or if laws against it are not adequately enforced, children who should be in school will remain working instead. To make progress national and local action is required, to identify and reach out to those in child labour.
Ensure that national policies are consistent and effective
The ILO’s Convention No. 138 on the minimum age of employment emphasises the close relationship between education and the minimum age for admission to employment or work.
It states that the minimum age “shall not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling and, in any case, shall not be less than 15 years.” However recent research suggests that only 60 per cent of States that have fixed both a minimum age for admission to employment and an age for the end of compulsory education have aligned the two ages.
There is a clear need for greater coordination of national policies and strategies on issues of child labour and education. In this effort, the ILO and other specialised agencies of the United Nations can play an important role in working with government to identify the policies and financing requirements to tackle child labour.
Ensure access to quality education and investment in the teaching profession
Education and training can be key drivers of social and economic development and they require investment. In many countries, however, the schools which are available to the poor are under-resourced. Wholly inadequate school facilities, large class sizes, and lack of trained teachers constrain rather than enable learning, and act as a disincentive to school attendance. For far too many children the provision of education stops at primary level simply because of the physical absence of accessible schools, particularly in rural areas. This inevitably leads to children entering the labour force well before the legal minimum age for admission to employment. National policies therefore need to ensure adequate investment in public education and training.
The ILO also supports the key people who deliver education: teachers. Together with UNESCO, the ILO promotes principles of quality teaching at all levels of education through Recommendations concerning teaching personnel. Ensuring a professional and competent teaching force with decent working conditions based on social dialogue is a vital step in delivering quality education.
Making progress – action required
Despite the challenges, some progress has been made and more progress is possible. A downward trend in child labour has been noted over the past ten years and the numbers attending school have increased. However, much more needs to be done to end child labour. The urgent need now is to learn lessons where progress has been made, replicate, and upscale them to significantly accelerate action. Among the most important steps required are:
• increasing access to quality education, globally the trend is to provide free, universal and compulsory education;
• ensuring that all girls and boys have a safe and quality learning environment;
• providing opportunities for older children who have so far missed out on formal schooling, including through targeted vocational training programmes that also offer basic education support;
• ensuring coherence and enforcement of laws on child labour and school attendance;
• promoting social protection policies to encourage school attendance;
• having a properly trained, professional and motivated teaching force, with decent working conditions based on social dialogue; and
• protecting young workers when they leave school and move into the workforce, preventing them being trapped in unacceptable forms of work.
For more information visit www.ilo.org/ipec
or contact: [email protected]
