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KAMPALA (ILO News) – The growing army of child labourers in Africa is expected to swell
by at least one million new children per year if current economic and social trends persist,
the International Labour Office warned today in a report prepared for a tripartite meeting of
workers, employers and governments in Kampala, Uganda. While citing widespread but
scattered initiatives to reduce and eliminate child labour in certain industries, the report,
Child Labour in Africa - Targeting the Intolerable(Note 1) says that " the poverty, population
and education indicators give a potentially bleak picture for the future of child labour in
Africa." The ILO estimates that the number of child labourers in Africa could surge from
today's 80 million to over 100 million by the year 2015, as a result of a demographic
explosion of impoverished people and poor or inadequate levels of economic growth
across much of the continent. As part of a growing international effort to come to terms with
the problem of child workers, the ILO has helped organize a conference jointly with the
Organisation of African Unity in Kampala on February 5-7, which will bring together
representatives from employers' and workers' organizations and governments of 22 African
countries(Note 2) seeking to develop and implement national policies to reduce and
eliminate child labour. While child labour is found in all regions of the world, it is
overwhelmingly a developing country phenomenon. In percentage terms, Africa already
has the highest incidence of child labour, with approximately 41 per cent of all children
between 5 and 14 years old involved in economic activity (versus 21 per cent in Asia and
17 per cent in Latin America). The ILO says that over 250 million children are at work world-
wide in countries at all levels of economic development, with the largest concentration in
Asia. Participation rates of children in the labour force are higher in the countries of Sub-
Saharan Africa, where nearly half the children in the 10-14 age group are working.
Estimates suggest that in Benin, 27 per cent of children work, in Burkina Faso 51 per cent
and in Burundi 49 per cent. In Kenya, Ethiopia, Niger and Uganda the estimated rates are
between 40 and 46 per cent. In Mali 54 per cent of children are estimated to be working. In
Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria and Zimbabwe the figures are between 20 and 30 per cent (see
Table). The major factors responsible for the growth in child labour are rapid population
growth, deterioration in living standards and the incapacity of education systems to cater to
all children of school age and provide them with a decent education. Among developing
regions, Africa has the highest participation rate of girls: approximately 37 per cent of girls
work in Africa, versus 20 per cent in Asia and 11 per cent in Latin America. The ILO says
that although boys account for roughly three out of every five child labourers, the
proportion of girls may well be higher; activities carried out in and around the household
are generally under-reported. Household work is reported to be the main reason for about
one-third of the youngsters who do not attend school. They were either never enrolled or
were obliged to drop out of school because of full time housework. If such full-time
housework were taken into account, the number of girls could even exceed that of boys.
Primary schooling, another major indicator of child labour levels, shows that while a growing
proportion of African children are now enrolled in school, the actual number of children in
the primary school range (6-11) years who are not enrolled in school also grew by some 2
million from 1990 to 1995, to reach nearly 40 million, of whom two-thirds are girls. The ILO
says that despite a great deal of world attention which focuses on Third World children
employed in predominantly export industries, such as textiles, clothing carpets and
footwear, child labour is not so widespread in the export sectors, except in the plantations
of certain countries. Child labour is an overwhelmingly rural phenomenon, with as many of
70 per cent of all child labourers involved in agricultural production. Most African
economies, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, remain predominately rural. "If present
trends continue," says the ILO report, "at least a further 400,000 children per year in Sub-
Saharan Africa aged 6-11 would remain out of school and would, in all likelihood, join the
pool of child labourers." To this number must be added the increasing number of children
who try to combine work and school, bringing a total of at least one million new child
workers on to the labour market for the next 10-15 years. The ILO report acknowledges
that while perceptions differ world-wide over what constitutes appropriate work, a distinction
needs to be made "between normal family obligations and work which gives rise to
exploitation and abuse." It warns that "an emphasis on traditional practices over the
potential hazards of work for children can result in ignoring the extent of the child labour
problem." It underscores the importance "of societies and families becoming educated on
the dangers of child work and recognising that what happens within the family context and
training conditions cannot be excluded from the scope of legal instruments on child labour."
Under international labour standards, work which subjects children to exploitation and
abuse is prohibited, and evidence of such work is rampant world-wide and in Africa. For
example, domestic service, a frequent occupation of child labourers, is rich in potential for
exploitation. Although little comprehensive information is available about the living and
working conditions of domestics, due to the clandestine nature of the work, the report cites
disquieting evidence of widespread physical, mental and sexual abuse of young females
working in households other than their own. The consequences of long hours, emotional
deprivation and servitude on young girl workers include "withdrawal and regression,
premature ageing, depression and low self esteem." The tripartite meeting in Kampala,
Uganda is designed to address these and other abuses of children, including such
intolerable ones as work in dangerous occupations (for example mining and
manufacturing), sexual exploitation in prostitution and pornography, debt bondage and
trafficking in children. It is part of a series of events (including conferences in Amsterdam,
Oslo and Bangkok) aimed at generating international action against child labour, including
support for proposed new international labour standards on extreme forms of child labour
(in the form of a Convention and Recommendation), which will be discussed at the 1998
International Labour Conference in Geneva in June. Since the early 1990s a considerable
number of countries have adopted comprehensive national policies and programmes on
child labour and African countries have been particularly active participants in the debate.
Several African countries (Benin, Egypt, Kenya, Senegal and Tanzania) were among the
early participants in IPEC, the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour,
a major technical cooperation programme begun by the ILO in 1992. Nine other African
countries are currently preparing to join IPEC: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Guinea,
Madagascar, Mali, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe). Several other countries,
among them Cameroon and Zimbabwe, are in the process of developing country-specific
strategies to combat child labour. The ILO report insists that in light of the magnitude of the
child labour problem, concrete steps are more and more urgent. The scope and nature of
the hazards facing working children in Africa remains poorly documented and further
attention needs to be focused on areas requiring immediate action. Further preventive
action is needed if the serious social consequences of the projected increase in the
numbers of child workers are to be avoided.