Report says global child labour situation worse

Human rights activists are decrying the deteriorating child labour situation in the world with Sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya included.

In its latest report; Child Labour: Global estimates 2020, trends and the road forward, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) last week showed that out of the 160 million girls and boys involved in child labour, Sub Saharan Africa accounts for 86.6 million minors, about 23.9 percent than in the rest of the world combined.

ILO Director for East Africa region, Wellington Chibebe warned that global child labour goals will not be achieved without a breakthrough in minimising these numbers in the Sub Saharan area.

International commitment

“What the report tells us is alarming. Global progress against child labour has stalled for the first time since we began producing global estimates two decades ago. In addition, without urgent mitigation measures, the COVID-19 crisis is likely to push millions more children into child labour,” he said at a Nairobi hotel yesterday where the report was launched alongside other global appeals to end all forms of child labour.

These results, Chibebe said, constitute an important reality check in meeting the international commitment to end child labour by 2025.

The report identifies agriculture as the sector that has employed more minors, and the rural areas as the places where this vice is prevalent.

Many are younger children, underscoring agriculture as an entry point to child labour, according to the 2020 Global Estimates of Child Labour. “Over three quarters of all children aged 5 to 11 in child labour work in agriculture,” the report states, a situation also witnessed in Kenya.

This is more prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region that has seen an increase in both the number and percentage of children in child labour since 2012.

Civid-19 crisis, according to the report, threatens to further erode global progress against child labour unless urgent mitigation measures are taken. New analysis suggests a further 8.9 million children will be in child labour by the end of 2022 as a result of rising poverty driven by the pandemic.

“Involvement in child labour is higher for boys than girls at all ages. Among all boys, 11.2 percent are in child labour compared to 7.8 percent of all girls,” the report emphasizes.

When the definition of child labour expands to include household chores for 21 hours or more each week, the report highlights that gender gap in prevalence among boys and girls aged 5 to 14 is reduced by almost half.

The largest share of child labour takes place within families, the report states, highlighting that 72 percent of all child labour and 83 per cent of child labour among children aged 5 to 11 occurs within these particular set-ups, primarily on family farms or in family microenterprises.

Further, the report marks frequent school absenteeism due to child labour, noting that a large share of younger children in this vice are excluded from school despite falling within the age range for compulsory education.

Global estimates

At the same time, many more children in child labour struggle to balance the demands of school and child labour, which compromises their education and their right to leisure.

The 2020 ILO-UNICEF global estimates indicate a critical juncture in the worldwide effort against child labour.

In May this year during the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour in Durban, South Africa, delegates adopted a Durban Call to Action on the Elimination of Child Labour.

Therefore, convinced that for the world to meet SDG target 8.7 percent, to end child labour in all its forms by 2025, the delegates called for an immediate, intensified, gender-responsive, well-coordinated, multi-sectoral, multi-stakeholder, rights-based action to scale up efforts to eliminate child labour and forced labour.