ILO launches report on child labour

elimination of the worst forms of child labour.
The launch follows a workshop attended by delegates from 10 African countries that was held at the African Regional Labour Administration Centre on the same subject.
In her keynote address, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Paurina Mpariwa, said the world continued to grapple with the challenges of labour in general and its worst forms in particular.
“The global report of the ILO director general of 2010 clearly articulates the progress made by member states since 2006 in the elimination of the worst forms of child labour.

“However, the same report alludes to the fact that 65 million children in sub-Saharan Africa are engaged in child labour, where one in six people live in chronic poverty,” said Minister Mpariwa.
She noted that in spite of the worrying global and regional trends, Zimbabwe had shown considerable commitment and political will at the highest level through the ratification of key international instruments for the

protection of children’s rights.
Zimbabwe has ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as the two ILO conventions 138 and 182 on the minimum age for admission into employment and the worst forms of child labour respectively.

Regionally, Zimbabwe has also ratified the African Union Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children. Minister Mpariwa said provisions of these conventions had been incorporated into national laws.
ILO acting director, Mr Alphonse Tabi Abodo, said the launch of the rapid assessment study was a culmination of the efforts of the Government, business and labour commitment towards the rights of children, their health and general well being.
“This commitment started on December 11, 2000 when Zimbabwe ratified the ILO convention 182 on the worst forms of child labour of 1999.

“The ratification of this convention initiated a holistic approach towards the goal of eliminating child labour,” said Mr Tabi-Abodo.
He pointed out that in its most extreme forms, child labour involved children being enslaved, separated from their families, exposed to serious hazards and illnesses or left to fend for themselves often at a very early age.

Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe president, Mr David Govere, said child labour was one of the symptoms of inefficient growth, adding that his organisation would leave no stone unturned in elimination of the vice.
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions president, Mr Lovemore Matombo, called for the implementation of recommendations by the report.

The report also chronicles characteristics of children, as well as their employment in agriculture, homes, mining as well as illicit activities and prostitution.