TECL II
Latest list of action steps, with summaries
Child Labour Programme of Action 2008 - 2013
Note: The numbers of action step below are those in the version of the CLPA that was endorsed by the Implementation Committee in 2007, for implementation 2008-2012. Numbers may change in the process of costing the CLPA and of Cabinet approval, but they have not been changed by September 2008.
At present the action step numbers are still the same as endorsed by
the Implementation Committee in 2007. If the numbers change a list
of changes will be made available here.
Addressing major underlying social problems
The most important social problems that are identified are adult unemployment, the impact of HIV and AIDS, and the apartheid legacy of deep poverty, especially in the former homelands. The specific action steps are:
1. Focus public works programmes to benefit adults in areas where child labour is most prevalent.
2. Ensure job creation benefits adults and that children do not work in these programmes.
3. Encourage NGOs to run income-generation projects for adults in areas most affected by child labour.
4. Target child labour hot spots for other poverty alleviation interventions, including facilitated access to social grants.
Benefiting large numbers of children
Actions under this heading relate to developing overall capacity to deliver on the CLPA, social security measures and social services that benefit children.
5. Undertake two-yearly reviews of public policies to assess their impact on child labour.
6. Train labour inspectors to address child labour.
7. Allocate sufficient resources through the Department of Labour to enforce child labour provisions.
8. Allocate sufficient resources for the Department of Labour to effectively lead implementation of the CLPA, and to assist and advise other departments and partners.
9. Produce a two-yearly report entitled State of child labour in South Africa, probably for tabling in Parliament.
10. Extend the child support grant immediately to cover children until they turn 16 and have attained the minimum working age.
11. Consider further extending the child support grant, in the medium term, to cover all children under the age of 18 years in poor households.
12. Enable caregivers to access the child support grant in the absence of birth certificates and identity documents by accepting alternative forms of identification.
13. Revise social grant regulations so that children without parents or adult caregivers can access grants.
14. Provide day care facilities for pre-school children, particularly in areas where these are lacking and older children are forced to care for their young siblings.
15. Speed up social sector Expanded Public Works Programme to train personnel and provide staff stipends for more daycare facilities in areas of shortage.
16. Increase the level of care offered through home- and community-based care programmes for people with HIV and AIDS in order to relieve children of home nursing responsibilities.
Instituting broad actions against child labour
This category consists of activities that will have an impact on all forms of child labour. They range from management functions, like monitoring and evaluation, to interventions in the areas of communications, training and capacity building.
17. Put systems in place to monitor services to vulnerable children, including the referral or children between services.
18. Train officials in selected provincial departments to identify potentially serious cases of child labour and to take the correct action.
19. Undertake a sustained national awareness campaign on child labour.
20. Campaign against the involvement of children in the making and/or selling or liquor. (Also see action step 81)
21. Conduct an awareness drive in the education sector to ensure there is an understanding of what the CLPA requires of this sector.
22. Train labour inspectors on how to address child labour in sectors where victims are specially vulnerable or hard to reach.
23. Revise training materials for law enforcement agencies to deal with CUBAC and, if necessary, extend training programmes.
24. Include child labour in the teacher training curriculum and in the school life orientation curriculum and ensure that managers, teachers and members of school governing bodies have access to user-friendly information on child labour.
25. Develop materials on training and work opportunities for the youth and distribute these to organisations likely to encounter 15- to 17-year-olds engaged in hazardous work or another of the worst forms of child labour.
26. Revise management information systems of departments to include relevant indicators on child labour so that they and the Department of Labour can monitor overall progress on the CLPA.
27. Ensure regular reporting on progress under the CLPA, using indicators set out in the programme.
28. Conduct regular national surveys on child work and child labour in the form of an add-on module to the Labour Force Survey.
29. Review the Child Protection Register and amend the format if necessary so that it records all children found performing child labour and all vulnerable children.
Combating forced labour
The CLPA notes that little is known about forms of forced labour in South Africa, but notes that bonded labour may occur in situations of labour tenancy.
30. Amend legislation to prevent labour tenants from nominating minor children to work for the landowner and to prohibit landowners from demanding that such children be put to work.
31. Initiate studies on the extent and forms of forced labour.
Eliminating child trafficking
Action steps deal with the cross-border and domestic forms of trafficking and balance the need for better law enforcement with assistance to victims.
32. Expedite the final drafting and adoption of the Trafficking Act which establishes human trafficking as a crime in South African law.
33. Issue a directive to prosecutors to view child trafficking and other worst forms of child labour as serious crimes.
34. Implement the UN Convention on Transnational Organised Crime and the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons.
35. Develop guidelines and procedures for identifying and assisting trafficked children.
36. Strengthen contact with other countries in Southern Africa in order to combat cross-border trafficking and assist victims more effectively.
37. Conclude agreements or develop protocols for the adoption of standard procedures across Southern Africa for the extradition and prosecution of foreign traffickers.
38. Enter into appropriate bilateral and multilateral agreements on prevention of human trafficking and protection of the rights of victims.
39. Review the approach to repatriation of victims of trafficking and provide appropriate reception and care centres for children..
40. Pay special attention to trafficking of children for domestic (and other) work when conducting labour inspections of employment agencies and take appropriate action.
41. Undertake a national public awareness campaign on child trafficking.
42. Equip helpline service providers to deal with calls on child labour and trafficking through the supply of training materials and operating manuals.
43. Improve the quality and content of training on trafficking in persons, with an emphasis on child trafficking.
Acting against commercial sexual exploitation
It is clear that commercial sexual exploitation of children is a significant problem, that both girls and boys are at risk, and that concerted action is urgently required.
44. Assign the coordination of all CSEC-related interventions to a dedicated unit within the Department of Social Development.
45. Put the provisions of the Sexual Offences Amendment Act and Children’s Act in to effect as a matter of urgency.
46. Assess the feasibility of implementing all remaining non-legislative recommendations of the South African Law Reform Commission and assign responsibility for implementing approved interventions.
47. Seize assets used in or acquired through CSEC and other serious forms of child labour, wherever possible, through the Assets Forfeiture Unit.
48. Evaluate recommendations derived from TECL pilot projects on CSEC and implement those that are considered useful.
49. Establish additional shelters and child and youth care centres to accommodate all children who are at risk or wish to withdraw from CSEC or exploitation arising from trafficking , and do not have the option of living with a family.
50. Conduct an awareness campaign to promote reporting of CSEC and CUBAC by the public.
Combating the use of children to commit crime
Research and a pilot project conducted in the first phase of the CLPA have helped fine-tune the planned interventions in this area of work.
51. Make the instrumental use of a child to commit crime a specific criminal offence.
52. Develop policy and procedures on the safe withdrawal of children who have been involved in adult-driven crime from these activities.
53. Develop a comprehensive inter-sectoral crime prevention strategy for children in conflict with the law, including CUBAC.
54. Give effect to the principle that imprisonment is always the last option for child offenders.
55. Offer formal education or vocational training to all children who are deprived of liberty, while awaiting trial and after sentencing..
56. Offer the CUBAC prevention programme developed through the pilot project to all children in prison.
57. Formulate a policy on acceptable work to be performed by children deprived of their liberty.
58. Develop guidelines, protocols and instructions for officials in all relevant departments to ensure appropriate management of CUBAC.
59. Formulate policy on separation and joinder of trials and on prosecution of adults where cases involve children and adults involved in the same crime.
60. Provide provinces with standardised assessment forms to be used to identify CUBAC when children come into conflict with the law.
61. Integrate training on CUBAC, incorporating a restorative justice approach, into departmental training sessions.
62. Monitor the implementation of CUBAC-related action steps through the Intersectoral Committee on Child Justice.
63. Collate statistics on CUBAC.
Alleviating the burden of fetching water and fuel
Collecting wood and fetching water are by far the most common forms of child work. Because of the numbers involved, the CLPA prioritises these activities but only in situations where children may by negatively affected due to the longs hours spent, the hazards children encounter and the adverse effect on schooling.
64. Ensure that provision of water and electricity to areas in most dire need is treated as a priority in integrated development plans of local authorities.
65. Use the findings and recommendations of the TECL pilot project on water-hauling to alert local authorities to the impact on children and to influence their decisions on service provision.
66. Develop guidelines, manuals and training programmes to encourage authorities to give priority to households experiencing greatest hardship when expanding water and electricity supply.
67. Implement the policy of free basic water supply in all municipalities and encourage a more gradual increase in tariffs once the free allocation is exceeded.
68. Increase access to commercial fuels in remote areas through government-driven integrated energy centres.
Addressing domestic work by children
The CLPA highlights that children are involved in three distinct types of domestic work – paid domestic work, unpaid domestic work and household chores within the family environment. The action steps deal with all three situations.
69. Draw up guidelines on household chores specifying appropriate work for children of different age groups.
70. Promote more equal sharing of household work between boys and girls through the schools life orientation curriculum.
Tackling child labour in agriculture
Children above and below the minimum working age are engaged in farming activities on commercial farms – both privately and communally owned – and in subsistence agriculture, mainly within their own families. Similar conditions prevail in commercial and subsistence agriculture.
71. Consider implementing the recommendations of the TECL study on children working in agriculture.
72. Investigate providing transport to school for children in remote areas that lack accessible schools.
73. Improve access to commercial farms for labour inspectors and social service workers through the intervention of farmer’s organisations or police protection, where necessary.
74. Investigate policy options to address harmful aspects of child work in subsistence agriculture.
75. Support higher productivity in subsistence agriculture through agricultural extension services and relevant research.
Controlling retail and related sectors
This section deals with both formal and informal sector establishments and particular attention is paid to practices in the production and selling of liquor and the taxi industry.
76. Focus on enforcement of the retail sectoral determination and utilise publicity to reinforce process.
77. Amend the National Liquor Act to prohibit employment of children under 18 years in the making or selling of liquor and align provincial legislation with the child labour provisions of the national Act.
78. Train both labour inspectors and liquor inspectors on child labour provisions of liquor and labour legislation.
79. Develop an action plan to monitor child labour “hot spots” in the liquor trade, starting with shebeens reputed to be involved in CSEC and sale of illicit drugs to children.
80. Promote awareness of legal provisions on children working in the liquor trade throughout the industry.
81. Work with taverners’ associations to undertake a campaign of advocacy against child labour among taverners and shebeen owners. (Also see action step 20)
82. Advocate for a complete ban on the use of children in the taxi industry when the sectoral determination is reviewed.
83. Enlist taxi associations to encourage members to refrain from engaging children under the age of 16 as workers.
Getting to grips with scavenging and begging
The proposed actions apply mainly to children scavenging on dumpsites and landfills, most of whom live with their families, and to children begging on the streets, some of whom live on the streets and are effectively without parents.
84. Incorporate findings and recommendations of TECL study on children scavenging at waste sites into the National Waste Management Bill and associated regulations.
85. Carry out an annual headcount of the people – adults and children – scavenging and salvaging on dumpsites and landfills.
86. Devise strategies to meet immediate needs of families and children found on waste sites and to address underlying causes of child scavenging – factors such as poverty and hunger.
87. Consult municipalities, relevant community organisations and other role players to produce a draft policy on children living and working on the streets. (See action step 110)
Accommodating the performing arts
Conditional exemption from the minimum working age provisions can be obtained for children working in advertising, sport and artistic or cultural activities.
88. Amend the system of recording exemptions to reflect the number of children (rather than the number of employers) involved.
Addressing work that undermines schooling
Child labour is both a cause and a consequence of children dropping out of school. Action steps have been framed to address factors within the education system that push children out of classrooms and factors in the wider environment that pull them away.
89. Make school principals responsible for identifying children who are habitually absent, investigating their circumstances, referring them for social assistance, and establishing school- or district-based support teams.
90. Improve monitoring of absenteeism and school drop out patterns.
91. Conduct regular research on absentee and drop out learners to understand causes and to inform strategies for facilitating return to school.
92. Raise awareness of the national policy that requires poor families to be exempted from school fees.
93. Develop policy on chores undertaken by children at school to ensure it is appropriate.
94. Prohibit principals and teachers from using learners to clean their houses.
95. Establish special education facilities or ensure access to appropriate facilities that already exist for children under 18 years who have left school to work.
96. Implement the key farm schools recommendations of the Ministerial committee on rural education.
97. Provide adequate and safe transport for children living furthest from schools, especially in rural areas.
98. Create awareness throughout the education system of the special needs and problems of children who work.
99. Strengthen the National School Nutrition Programme and extend it to secondary schools.
Protecting children’s health and safety
The action steps deal with the heightened vulnerability of children to occupational injury and illness principally through developing, strengthening and enforcing legislation.
100. Develop and implement new legislation and amend existing legislation to safeguard children from work likely to injure them or cause illness. Ensure that penalties for engaging children in the worst forms of child labour are appropriately heavy.
101. Conduct ongoing research to identify factors causing injury and illness to children in the workplace.
102. Require reporting of work-related injury of children by labour inspectors, health workers, teachers and other officials who encounter affected children.
103. Remove children from situations of hazardous work, ensuring that appropriate social support accompanies this action.
104. Ensure labour inspectors report all workplace accidents that result in the injury or death of a child to the Compensation Fund and that the Fund produces annual statistics on these accidents.
105. Bring into effect and implement Children’s Act provisions on worst forms of child labour, and on the duty of social workers to report instances of child labour to the Department of Labour and establish if the children involved are in need of care.
Reducing the impact of HIV and AIDS
Proposed actions not only consider HIV and AIDS as factors that increase the risk of child labour, but also consider responses to the epidemic can be harnessed in the programme against child labour.
106. Conduct research to establish prevalence of child-headed households and potential effect of HIV and AIDS on child labour
107. Train all caregivers in home- and community-based care programmes to recognise the problems children face in AIDS-affected households, including the possibility of excessive responsibility, and to refer them for help.
108. Expand availability of anti-retroviral treatment for AIDS as rapidly as possible.
Regulating adult work that encourages child labour
109. Regulate adult work that encourages child labour, for example, piece work and task work.
Reintegrating children working on the street
The CLPA recognises that some children live and work on the streets, while others have homes and only work on the streets. The proposals relate more to the lengthy process of reintegrating the former group into families and communities.
110. Offer “street children” the opportunity of reintegration through shelters and homes and ensure sufficient state support for such institutions.
111. Provide support to children while they are on the street, especially basic education.
Protecting child refugees and illegal immigrants
In terms of our Constitution all people in South Africa – citizens, permanent residents, legal and illegal visitors – enjoy basic human rights, although illegal immigrants cannot access all social services. In the case of children, basic rights include the right to protection and certain services.
112. Draft a plan on the management of child refugees to ensure that they have access to schooling and health services, and that all departments uphold their rights and comply with the law.
113. Provide appropriate care for unaccompanied child immigrants, on an interim basis if they are to be repatriated and long-term if they are to remain in South Africa.
Costing the implementation of the CLPA
114. Prepare a comprehensive cost estimate for implementation of all the action steps of the CLPA for 2008 – 2013. This process is to be coordinated by the Department of Labour with every department contributing cost estimates for the action steps that they are to lead.