The Sunday News
Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
THE Government is working on developing a National Action Plan targeted at eliminating child labour which is reportedly prevalent in the country especially in the agriculture sector.
Zimbabwe is signatory to International Convections 138 and 182 promulgated under the International Labour Organisation to address minimum age for a person to be employed and worse forms of child labour respectively.
Child labour surveys carried out by the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare in conjunction with Zimstat, the latest in 2019 showed that child labour was prevalent especially in the tobacco sector where children younger than 18 years are reportedly engaged in exploitative work where they also earn meagre wages.
Over the years the mining sector has also been fingered in child exploitation.
Speaking at the National Employment Council (NECs) chairpersons, councillors and general secretary’s symposium in Victoria Falls last week, deputy director for International Relations in the Ministry of Public Service Ms Tariro Jongwe said the tobacco sector was targeted by Government and international partners due to prevalence of child labour.
“The other initiative that as Government we intend to do is to come up with what we call a National Standing Committee on child labour and this should be in place by end of October.
“This will comprise all stakeholders including Government, non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations, National Employment Councils and others involved in child protection. The intention is to develop a National Action Plan on child labour,” said Ms Jongwe.
She said the National Action Plan is going to address issues of awareness raising, strengthening multi-stakeholder interventions and coordination and leverage on collective resources.
Ms Jongwe said there was a distinction between child labour which was exploitative in nature, and child work where children were taught life skills without jeopardizing their right to education and protection.
Not all work done by a child is classified as child labour as long as it does not interfere with their education or social development and this includes helping family or society.
She said a 15-year-old child cannot be expected to do certain heavy menial jobs or use certain types of substances like cyanide, and if such happens it was classified as child labour.
Ms Jongwe said poverty was identified as a driving force for child labour but at the same time child labour could also perpetrate poverty because it affects children”s socio-economic development.
She said a global conference held in May 2022 in Durban, South Africa also identified agriculture as the biggest perpetrator of child labour and Governments came up with a call to action where commitments were made to eliminate child labour.
Government has since mandated all National Employment Councils to submit a list of hazardous substances and jobs in their sectors as efforts continue to identify child labour challenges.
“Studies showed that child labour existed in Zimbabwe mainly in the agricultural sector and a memorandum of understanding has been signed with an organisation called Elimination of Child Labour in Tobacco Farming.
“At the Durban summit, all member states were mandated to have a hazardous list that details the kind of work each age group is supposed to do,” she said.
Ms Jongwe said a technical working group was established and all NECs requested to develop a list of hazardous work where children were not supposed to work in, but only 23 out of 46 NECs had complied.
She said Government was worried that some of the NECs that have not submitted their list of hazardous jobs were in the key sectors of the economy.
The Government interventions are in line with dictates of Sustainable Development Goal number 8.7 which seeks to end child labour by 2025.
Public Service Permanent Secretary Mr Simon Masanga said child labour has a huge bearing on international relations and national development. — @ncubeleon
