Citation

World Work 1998; (23): 9-12.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, International Labour Office)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12321489

Abstract

This article highlights the pervasive use of child labor in Africa, a pattern that is increasing. A recent conference in Kampala, Uganda, among 22 African countries and international agencies, urged the abolition of child labor. An estimated 80 million African children are obliged to work. The International Labor Organization (ILO) aims to pursue development of legal ways to abolish extreme forms of child labor and the issue is on the 1998 international conference agenda. Delegates were asked to adopt the 1990 Convention on the Rights of the Child and the ILO Minimum Age Convention. Children who must work should be protected from dangers to their health, safety, or morals, and be given the opportunity for education and social services. Although international standards prohibit children from work which is exploitative or abusive, children working in domestic service in the privacy of a home are subjected to physical, mental, and sexual abuse. Domestics are subjected to long hours of work, emotional deprivation, and servitude that leads to withdrawal, premature aging, depression, and low self-esteem. Benin, Egypt, Kenya, Senegal, and Tanzania were early participants in the 1992, ILO International Program for the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC). Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe plan to join IPEC. Cameroon and Zimbabwe are developing national strategies to combat child labor. An ILO table provides 1995 statistics on the percentage of children aged 0-14 years engaged in work in 28 selected African countries. Percentages range from 54.5% in Mali to 3.0% in Mauritius.

Language: en