20100615
africanews

A report on labour standards has shown that there are 1.4 million child workers in Malawi especially in tea plantations and domestic servitude. The Malawi Ministry of Labour report indicates that the situation is worse in the rural areas than in provincial town. "41 percent of children younger than 15 years of age were working part of full time, while 78 percent of rural children between 10 and 14 old worked at least part time in their parent's farms.

"Most of the child labour is found in tobacco farms, herding cattle, fishing industry, street vending and domestic servitude, particularly for girls," reads part of the report.
Village headman Gomani, Traditional Authority (TA) Simphasi in Mchinji district where there are a lot of tobacco farmers concurred with the report saying most of the children work to support their poverty stricken families.

"These are children born from very poor families whereby their parents even fail to provide them daily food. They don't even dream of going to school because they know that they cannot go further than primary school because of resources shortage," he sad

The reports also indicate that the problem of street children, mostly orphans whose parents died from HIV/AIDS has increased.

It adds that many boys are trafficked for working in tobacco and plantations and animal herding while girls are trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation or work in bars and restaurant as well as domestic servitude.

"The 150 labour inspectors of Malawi do not have competence to prosecute offenders against child labour legislation, for which they have to request interventions from police who are hindered in their efforts by lack of resources," adds the report.

According to the report, government spent more than US$2 million in 2008 to eliminate child labour, in order to intensify labour inspections, raise awareness through campaigning and community action and provide agricultural assistance and money transfers, particularly to rural families.

It says Malawi participates in the ILO-IPEC project which from hazardous work in agriculture and in domestic servitude and prevented 3, 942 children from being employed.

In an interview, Foundation of Irrigation and Sustainable Development Moses Chirambo, whose organization is implementing a programme to eliminate child work and trafficking, said the tendency is deep-rooted in the rural areas because of high illiteracy rate and poverty.

According to Chirambo, the project themed; “Inclusive sustainable child labour and trafficking reduction in Southern Africa” is being financed by the Help a Child Organization from Netherlands, is being carried out in five border districts of Malawi which are the source, recruitment and transportation centers.

“People from these areas have no knowledge as to what child trafficking is all about. Parents are easily tricked by some people that they will offer the children some work but they end up into forced prostitution and criminal gangs.

“We want to sensitize them on the dangers of giving out their children without knowing exactly where they are being taken to,” said Chirambo.

He said FISD is working hand in hand with the district social welfare offices, district youth offices, police, the immigration department, judiciary and youth organizations at the grassroots levels.

"Most of the parents are offered money, cloths and sometimes tricked that their children are going to be send to schools and work in good jobs in towns and cities not knowing that they are selling their children," he said.

Malawi's employment act of 2000 allows for children older than 14 years of age to perform work in any public or private agricultural, industrial or non-industrial undertaking or any branch thereof but does not apply for cases of "work done in homes, vocational technical schools or other training institutions".

Malawi’s minister of gender and children development Patricia Kaliati said government will carry out anti-child trafficking and to eliminate child labour.

“We realize that during this event more children could be trafficked to South Africa because they will be looking for different opportunities hence we need to tighten our security in the boarders to avoid losing more children due to the problem” she said.

On the other hand, the constitution sets the age limit at 16 years of age for admission in hazardous work, creating a legislative collision which is currently being by the Tripartite Labor Advisory Council.