Scoping report on child labour in Swaziland

Nomthetho Simelane, Dawie Bosch and Debbie Budlender, 2003.

The Scoping Report on Child Labour in Swaziland was completed in 2003 and was intended as a discussion document for use in the process of developing a national programme . It assessed the extent and nature of child labour as well as legislation and programmes that had an impact on various forms of child labour.

The study situated the child labour issue within the broad social and economic challenges facing the country.

In an attempt to establish the extent of various forms of child labour, the authors considered child work in the country more broadly. The 1997 Population and Housing Survey provided some basic figures on child work, indicating that almost 3 000 children aged 12-14 years were employed and 18 000 in the 15-19 years age group were economically active.

A rapid assessment undertaken by Unicef in 1999 suggested that a high proportion of child work interrupted schooling, involved long hours and exposed children to risk.

The most common forms of work were domestic work, agricultural work (in both the commercial and subsistence sectors) and street trade and hawking.

To supplement the existing studies, the Scoping Report’s authors undertook extensive interviews with individuals working in the field who were well placed to have reliable, if fragmented, information.

There was little information on worst forms of child labour, although informants confirmed that children were working in the sex trade. They also speculated that children might be involved in the growing trade in marijuana.

The section on policy and legislation reviewed Swaziland’s international obligations in terms of its ratification of various conventions and protocols related to child labour, summarised relevant legislation and looked at national policies and programmes in relation to matters such as access to education, management of the social aspects of HIV and AIDS, poverty alleviation and social security, child justice and social services focusing on children.


The last sections were devoted to establishing criteria for classifying types of work as harmful and listing issues for discussion in the process of developing a programme to address child labour.


Full text

Scoping study on child labour in Swaziland
Summary of national scoping study on child labour in Swaziland