Africa has world's highest rate of child labour
The African continent has the world's highest rate of child labour, with two in five children in sub-Saharan Africa engaged in some form of work, the United Nations Labour Organisation (ILO) said on Thursday.
Almost 50-million children in sub-Saharan Africa between the ages of five and 14 -- or 26,4%of that group's population -- work, according to The End of Child Labour: Within Reach, an ILO report released on Thursday in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital.
"The picture in Africa is mixed. On the one hand, the proportion of children working went down from 28,8% to 26,4%, but the absolute number of children working in sub-Saharan Africa went up from 48-million to 49,3-million," said Yaw Ofosu, a child-labour specialist with ILO. "This shows that more still needs to be done."
A combination of high population growth, extreme poverty and the HIV/Aids pandemic has hindered progress in the fight against child labour in Africa, Ofosu said. According to the report, 50 000 African children are engaged in commercial sex and pornography, and some 120 000 children under the age of 18 have been coerced into taking up arms as child soldiers, military porters, messengers, cooks or sex slaves.
Despite slow progress in Africa, global child labour declined in 2006, Ofosu said. The actual number of child labourers worldwide fell by 11% between 2000 and 2004, from 246-million to 218-million. In addition, the number of youngsters exposed to labour that put them in physical and mental danger fell by 26%, to 126-million.
"The decline is largely due to increased political will to tackle child labour as part of wider poverty-reduction strategies," said Ofosu. "What is crucial is policies that help poor families send their kids to school. Education and policy choices are key factors to reducing child labour."
"The end of child labour is within reach. We think it is feasible to eliminate the worst forms of child labour over the next 10 years," said Michel Gozo, an ILO representative in Ethiopia and Djibouti. -- Irin
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Reporting Child Labour
The social malady of child labour can be brought under control, if each individual takes responsibility of reporting about anyone employing a child below the age of fourteen-years. Many people avoid reporting about such incidents in their neighborhood, as they fear the number of times they would have to visit to make statements against the culprits. Or then, people just prefer to turn a blind eye towards such employers, as they do not wish to spoil relations with people.
The fact is that one who is aware of something wrong happening and lets it continue to happen is as responsible for the wrong as the culprit himself/herself. Thus, instead of ignoring on should find out about reporting child labour and how such children can actually be saved.
The government has a special cell to help children in exploitive circumstances. These cells comprise of social inspectors, as well as other administrative personnel, employed specifically to deal with child labour issues. Apart from that even the media is known to help in such circumstances. In the past journalists have gone undercover in order to unravel what is happening in certain industrial units.
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The world considers the issue of child labour to be a rather serious one in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, there are a set of experts in Africa who do not consider it to be serious and prefer to sweep it under their carpet in order to look into more 'serious' issues. There are still others who prefer to wear a blindfold and believe that child labour issues are far more serious in other nations, whereas it is as good as non-existent in their own nation.
However, ILO statistics provide a more serious picture. It states that over 40% of the children of Africa are working. They are mainly working as slaves in private households, apart from other industries. And because they are working in households, African experts would like to believe it is not really a serious issue.
While the picture, as we see is grim, yet nothing can really be done as there is no consistent or factual empirical evidence where child labour in Africa is concerned.
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Today one of the greatest maladies that has spread across the world is that of child labor, coupled with child abuse. It is a very scary thought when each year statistics show increasing numbers. And this is not a problem afflicting under-developed or developing nations, but also developed countries, though the numbers are comparatively less.
There are a number of experts around the world who are working towards controlling the numbers, and eventually eradicating the problem. Seems like a difficult and nearly impossible task, but then all the same immense efforts are being made in this direction.
The first step to solve any problem is to be aware of it. And the prime focus is to be aware of the causes of child labour. The following causes listed, though from the Indian prospective, are also the contributing factor to child exploitation in other nations…
The leading reason is poverty. Families need additional sources of income. And unfortunately their poverty-stricken way of life makes them so ruthless that they sell their children as commodities to exploitive employers. Most such employers pay a lump sum for the child and then keep him or her imprisoned within the factory unit till the child cannot work due to deteriorating health as a result of harsh living and working conditions. A hard and terrifying truth about child labor in India!
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