FREEDOM.................!!!!!

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion”. ALBERT CAMUS

THE UGLY FACE OF CHILD LABOUR IN AFRICA: THE CASE OF ZIMBABWE

In a socio-economic environment dominated by poverty and scarcity, the African child is confronted with a more pronounced risk of becoming a child labourer than a child from any other region. According to the International Labour Organization 95% of child labour occurs in developing countries, Africa being the hardest hit. An estimated 250 million children between the ages of 5 and14 years are in economic activity in developing countries alone, 120 million of them working full-time. As of 2012 UNICEF estimates that over 200 000 children work in the cocoa farms of Ivory Coast alone. This is the magnitude of the problem for most countries. Due to its predominance and perpetuation despite the apparent fatal implications it bears on the development of a child, it is relevant and crucial that we explore the international and continental legal frameworks that prohibits child labour and legal provisions governing child labour in Zimbabwe, and suggest a way forward.

According to the International Labour Organization child labour is any form of economic exploitation of a child for purposes of economic gain. This can take the form of a minor entering an employment contract or the allocation of a domestic task that is not in tangent with a child’s capacity and ability both in intellect and physically. Child labour includes all work that interferes with a child’s education and thereby future possibilities in the labour market. Zimbabwe adopted child labour to mean work done by children full-time without attending school. Obviously the definition leaves a lot to be desired as it completely turns a blind eye on all the other faces of child labour. Article 32 (1) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child calls for State Parties to “recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.” The same article proceeds to direct state Parties to “take legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to ensure implementation of the present article.”  Article 15 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child adds on the call on state parties to take legislative measures to protect children from child labour.

In Zimbabwe’s laws Section 11 of the Labour Act and Section 10 of the Children’s Act regulate the employment of children and provide that children under the age of 15 cannot be employed. This is also in line with the International Labour Organization (ILO) Section 138 on the minimum age of admission for employment. All these provisions align themselves desirably with Goal 1 of the Millennium Development Goals that points to the achievement of unimpeded universal primary education.

Given the above legal frameworks and statutes that presents child labour as an evil that must be repelled, it is astounding to note the high levels of child labour being perpetrated in Africa and here in Zimbabwe. The socio-economic meltdown that wrecked havoc in the country in the past decade left many children exposed particularly OVCs with no one to turn to for provision. This, coupled with the scourge of the HIV/AIDS pandemic that have ushered in a generation of child headed households, has been taken advantage of by unethical employers and other child abusers who have resorted to using children as cheap labour for maximum profiteering. Children as young as five years are working for their own meals and for their families’. Although rural areas, farm and mine communities are taking the lead in this trend, urban areas are not an exception especially among the low-income urbanities in high-density suburbs and informal settlements. It is a battle of life and survival.

A heartbreaking example of child labour in action can be seen in farms. Due to the absence of proper machinery in farms children are being employed to substitute the machinery and do work such as harvesting manually. What becomes worrying, more important than the meagre returns they receive for such services, is that these children are not attending school. Those who attend school sometimes skip school to attend work. Whilst some of those employing the children attempt to unreasonably justify their actions by saying they are giving the children a living, it must be stressed that should they be genuinely concerned with the children’s wellbeing, they must simply help them without exploiting them. The reality on the ground informs us that almost all the unthinkable works classified in the ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1990) have all been experienced by our children.

     Child labour in action: This picture was taken at one of Zimbabwe’s illegal gold panning sites and  shows a mother panning for gold with her children. These children are at risk given that they have no protective wear, coupled with all other risks associated with illegal panning.

Unfortunately, the consequences of child labour to the defenseless and helpless child are more than physical. In addition to injuries, poor health, and chronic illnesses, those still in school face the challenge of dropping out of school completely. Normally child labourers develop high level of stress culminating into anti-social behaviour. Low self-esteem and confidence affect their chances of success and subsequently in adult life. It is a complex matrix of psychological disturbances leading to the many problems of moral decadence and crime reaching its peak in their adult lives.

A debate that has risen with parents is whether or not giving children house chores is child labour. Child labour and children’s responsibility to do household chores must not be confused or mistaken for each other. Children have a responsibility to help their parents and guardians do household works, as long as the work allocated to the child is proportional to the child’s age, capacity and ability. Paragraph 7 of the Preamble of the UNCRC states that “the child should be fully prepared to live an individual life in society”. This means it is paramount that children also do some work at home so that they get an appreciation of the world outside childhood and parental care. This kind of work is what is acceptable, as a way to prepare children to face the challenges of the contemporary world. Section 11 of the Labour Act (Chapter 28:01) allows children from 13 years to work only if it is serving the purpose of educating the child, for example, during industrial attachment or apprenticeship.

Employment is normally through a contract. On contracts, Section 15 of the General Laws Amendment Act states that a minor has no legal capacity to enter a contract and where one is entered with such a minor it has no effect against him. For children above 7 years parental consent is a prerequisite for the contract. This implies that a child will enter an employment contract only if the parents’ or legal guardians’ assent to it. Parents therefore have an obligation to protect children from being economically exploited through child labour by not allowing their children to enter into employment contracts.

It is seen therefore that parents and guardians have a major role to play in combating child labour. Zimbabwe, however, needs to go a step further in protecting children from child labour through creating a section on children’s rights in the constitution so that the right to protection is enshrined in that section and oblige all concerned parties to protect children. At the knowledge that Zimbabwe signed the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and welfare of the Child, the former being one of the seven core treaties forming the international human rights framework, one is tempted to conclude that all is well. As perfectly knit and crucial as these conventions may be, they are still to become binding law in Zimbabwe, subject to a lengthy process of domestication as laid out in section 111B of the Constitution. The prevailing currency in Zimbabwe is that an international convention or treaty can only become binding law in the country upon domestication into local laws. Thus as it stands, all the provisions of these conventions can only be referred to as international desired standards in child protection, yet they cannot be used to enforce their application. Our position is sadly a sharp contrast to the more advanced jurisdiction of South Africa, wherein children’s rights are elaborately and comprehensively provided for in section 28 of the nation’s constitution. Child labour can thus be checked from its initial stages of manifestation and legal recourse can be taken as it is justiceable. This is the position Zimbabwe needs to take.

Finally, child labour is indeed a crime against humanity. It is not an insurmountable problem though as the evil can be completely eliminated by the right policy position, programming, legal position and institutional capacity. In as much as we seek to regulate the employment of children, it is crucial that we recognize child labour in all its forms as a deterrent to child development that must be completely eliminated. As such the regulations should go more in the direction of its complete elimination rather than merely attempting to regulate it. The problem starts with poor social services, with the failure of the relevant governments departments to provide the very basic survival needs to disadvantaged children. That is where the work must begin; restructuring, re-programming, and backing these with sound policy.