From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Date: 08 Nov 92 07:26 PST
Subject: AFRICA: ECONOMIC REFORMS RAISE CHIL
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700770:000:4606
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Nov  8 07:26:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: AFRICA: ECONOMIC REFORMS RAISE CHIL

/* Written 12:04 am  Nov  8, 1992 by newsdesk@igc.apc.org in igc:ips.englibrary */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: AFRICA: ECONOMIC REFORMS RAISE CHILD LABOUR


an inter press service feature

by tafadzwa matimba-mumba

harare, nov 5 (ips) -- a striking feature emerging from economic
structural adjustment programmes undertaken by various countries
in africa is increased child labour, according to labour experts
meeting here this week.

more than 25 percent of children in the 10 to 14 year-old age
group were illegally engaged in some form of work, they say.

but the geneva-based international labour organisation (ilo)
contends that the figures are underestimated.

''we know that many more children under 10 years of age are
engaged in some form of work'', assefa bequele, manager of the
inter-departmental project on elimination of child labour at the
ilo headquarters told ips.

''in many countries child labour is a hidden phenomenon as
empoloyers do not want to admit that they are employing
children, and parents do not admit that their children are
working'', he adds.

along with structural adjustment programmes, poverty, drought
and recession have also contributed to the increase in child
workers in africa, commercial workers union of zimbabwe general
secretary shangwa chifamba says.

''in many cases in africa, when we have high unemployment
rates, parents are unable to fend for their children, so they
send them out to search for jobs in order to increase family
incomes'', he explains.

according to the ilo, 15.3 percent of the world's 10 to
14-year-old children are labourers.

among third world regions, the organisation notes, africa has
the highest percentage of child labourers in that age group,
while 16 percent of asia's 10 to 14-year-olds and seven percent
in latin america are workers.

the difference between the third world regions is a
reflection of the disparity in their levels of development,
bequele points out.

''it implies that most of the children in africa are not in
schools as compared to asia and latin america. it is a
reflection of the progress or lack of progress on these
continents'', he says. (more/ips)


africa: economic (2)

although the child labour force in africa is estimated at 25
percent of child population, some countries in the same region
such as burkina faso, malawi and senegal have child labour cases
of up to 50 percent.

on the other hand in comoros, egypt, nigeria and togo, around
10 percent of children in that age group are illegal labourers,
the ilo says.

in spite of africa's very high proportion of child workers,
the severity of abuses and risks facing the child are regarded
as less acute than in newly industrialised countries of latin
america and asia.

in zimbabwe, a large number of children are employed in the
large scale farming sector for weeding, picking cotton and
spraying insecticides, gertrude mambira, education officer of
general agricultural and plantation workers union of zimbabwe
told ips.

''some of the children are bitten by snakes and others are
affected by insecticides while working. but the employer does
not mind about that. all he wants is for his work to be done'',
mambira says.

in other cases, however, children are forced to drop out of
school in order to assist parents with work for which they are
paid only on completion of the alloted task.

numbers of children in domestic labour were on the increase
in many parts of africa making them vulnerable to abuse.

comparatively, wage labour -- the most exploitative form of
child labour -- remains dominant in asian and latin american
mines and factories as children are deprived of their parental
protection.

''in most of these conditions, the work may be both
physically and mentally straining, highly mechanised and may
involve the use of sharp and dangerous objects'', bequele says.

labour experts worry that with advances in industrialisation
in africa, child abuse would soon begin to take new form as
children look for new job opportunities.

with almost all sub-saharan african countries undergoing
economic reforms at present, it is feared that the child worker
situation in these countries will deteriorate.

''governments have a great duty to ensure that children are
not made victims of adjustment programmes, and that they don't
have to pay the price of these programmes,'' adds bequele.
(end/ips/tm-m/ar/92)