TECL II
Botswana plan adopted: More ground gained in battle against child labour - 6 Feb 08
Issued by: International Labour Organisation's programme Towards the Elimination of worst forms of Child Labour (TECL)
Issued on: 6 Feb 2008
Pretoria (6 February 2008) – There has been a recent upsurge in official commitment to combat child labour in Southern Africa, with two countries – Botswana and Namibia – formally endorsing national plans of action in the last week.
Earlier this week (Monday 4 Feb), representatives of several Botswana Ministries, organised labour and business, and NGOs gathered in Gaborone to approve the country’s National Programme of Action for the Elimination of Child Labour. This included a briefing for permanent secretaries of all key Ministries with responsibilities to implement this programme, hosted by the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, Mr Bruce Palai.
9% of all children aged from seven to 17 years in Botswana were in employment
Botswana’s National Labour Force Survey of 2005/6 established that 9% of all children aged from seven to 17 years were in employment and more than half of these were in the seven- to 13-year age group. Stakeholders accepted the findings of rapid assessment studies and consultation processes conducted to assist in the drafting of the programme, namely that worst forms of child labour are practised in Botswana, and that these included commercial sexual exploitation, trafficking, using children as instruments in the commission of crime and exposure to hazardous work, especially in agriculture and in shebeens.
Last week, an equivalent national action plan for Namibia was ratified at a national conference convened by the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare.
“If a solid block of Southern African countries has clear strategic direction on how to address child labour, then we will have made strides towards protecting Africa’s children from [child labour]"
“Dedicated groundwork is now bearing fruit,” commented the International Labour Organisation’s Pretoria director Ms Judica Amri-Makhetha. “If a solid block of Southern African countries has clear strategic direction on how to address child labour, then we will have made strides towards protecting Africa’s children from work that undermines their health, their schooling and their hope of a better future. One child in child labour, especially in one of its worst forms, is a child too many.”
Botswana and Namibia are two out of five Southern African countries that entered into an agreement with the ILO to create the technical support structure known as the programme Towards the Elimination of worst forms of Child Labour (TECL).
The other countries are South Africa, which adopted its Child Labour Programme of Action five years ago and has recently revised it to take account of changing conditions, and Lesotho and Swaziland, which are both working actively towards finalising national plans.
All five countries have ratified the ILO’s Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention. In terms of this, they have undertaken to put in place a series of “time-bound measures” to address the worst forms of child labour by the end of 2008 and to have eradicated the worst forms of child labour by 2015.
Released by TECL through Meropa Communications, with the assistance of the Botswana Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs
More information from:
- Dawie Bosch (TECL) 082 557 8597
- Jo-Anne Collinge (Meropa) 082 787 0202
See www.child-labour.org.za for more information on Namibia and Botswana’s national plans to tackle child labour. Each plan can be found in the menu for the individual country.