The latest ILO global estimates on child labour indicate that in Africa progress towards the elimination of child labour is lagging behind other regions of the world. Sub-Saharan Africa has the greatest incidence of economically active children – 26.4 per cent of all 5-14 year-olds, compared to 18.8 per cent for Asia and the Pacific and 5.1 per cent for Latin America. It ranks second behind Asia in absolute terms, with 49.3 million children working. The persistent challenges of widespread and extreme poverty, high population growth, the AIDS pandemic, recurrent food crises, and political unrest and conflict clearly exacerbate the problem.
Millions of children are victims of the worst forms of child labour in the region. Of particular concern are child trafficking, the use of children in armed conflict, small-scale mining, hazardous work in agriculture, commercial sexual exploitation and domestic labour. Children trapped in bondage and slavery are also reported in some areas.
Africa is a high priority for IPEC and the Programme’s work is being stepped up in several areas:
- enhancing the knowledge base on child labour, particularly through greater cooperation with African research institutes and networks, notably the research units of social partners;
- providing technical assistance to member States in the development of national child labour policy where it does not exist;
- promoting the mainstreaming child labour concerns in broader economic and social policy frameworks;
- emphasizing the links between education and child labour and universal primary education as an important goal in itself and a crucial pillar of a strategy to eliminate child labour; and
- strengthening capacity for action, notably for the social partners, including the various levels of the government, and other major stakeholders.
A new regional agreement on child trafficking was signed in 2006 by 26 countries from West and Central Africa to combat child trafficking, demonstrating a growing willingness of countries concerned by the problem to take a leading role in tackling it. Efforts also continue to encourage further ratifications of the ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention No. 182 and the ILO Minimum Age Convention No. 138 and to assist member States to implement them. Many African countries have also requested IPEC’s assistance to implement time-bound measures against the worst forms of child labour.