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Southern Africa: Delegates Commit to Curbing Child Labour

BuaNews (Tshwane)

July 7, 2006

The first Southern African conference on child labour has ended on a positive note with delegates committing themselves to getting national child labour action plans in place, in their respective countries.

Delegates from each of the five SADC countries represented at the gathering also agreed to subject their work to "the regular, rigorous and publicly accountable monitoring" of child labour practices.

The conference was attended by about 260 delegates from government and civil society formations in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland.

It was organised by the programme on Reducing Exploitative Child Labour in Southern Africa (RECLISA), a regional initiative that is funded by the US Department of Labour.

The conference resolved to prioritise the worst forms of child labour including child trafficking; the commercial sexual exploitation of children; the use of children for illegal activities; bonded labour as well as children working in hazardous conditions.

However, delegates pointed out that all forms of child labour that deprived children of access to education and distorted children's personal development, served to perpetuate poverty.

For its part, South Africa has had the Child Labour Programme of Action in place since 2003 and has begun to implement some of its aspects.

Delegates from South Africa therefore met and developed a set of resolutions designed to take the plan forward.

Among other things, they called for specific provisions on the worst forms of child labour to be included in the Children's Act; the immediate extension of the Child Support Grant (CSG) to children under the age of 15 years (raising the upper age limit by a year) with further extension to follow, bringing the upper age limit to 18 years as well as improved relations between government and civil society in the fight against child labour.

Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland, on the other hand, met and produced a detailed outline of the steps required to produce their national action programmes.

Reading the concluding paragraph of the declaration document, conference Chairperson Professor Mary Metcalfe said: "We commit ourselves to a relentless struggle, waged individually and collectively, that shall not cease until the scourge of child labour has finally been vanquished from our countries".

The Deputy Director-General in the Department of Labour, Les Kettledas told the gathering that it was a "serious indictment" that Sub-Saharan Africa had made the least progress of any region in reducing child labour.

"The elimination of child labour is a gigantic agenda that is both complex and difficult," he remarked, adding that beyond the technical expertise required the main instrument in making things happen was "to believe in your cause".


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