News and Events

Rapid Assessment survey sheds light on the prevalence of the Worst Forms of Child Labour in the Ugandan fisheries sector

By Eddy J. Walakira, Jimrex Byamugisha
Advisor: Ms. Anne-Brit Nippierd ILO Bureau for Employers' Activities

The study on Child Labour in the Fishing Sector in Uganda - (pdf 3,33 MB), commissioned by the International Labour Organization, in collaboration with the Federation of Uganda Employers and National Union of Trade Unions, was conducted on the fish landing sites of Uganda's major water bodies including Lake Victoria (Kalangala and Wakiso districts), Kyoga (Kamuli district), Edward and George (Kasese district). Lake Albert was excluded because of rebel insecurity and land conflicts at the time of data collection. Interviews were conducted among 292 children aged 5-17 and 223 parents/guardians-identified through a tracer approach-so that data from a child would be linked to his/her guardian. Qualitative approaches involving FGDs and Case Studies, complemented quantitative data. Children below 18 years comprised 70% of the household surveyed, 50% were orphans and literacy rate on landing sites stood at only 17% among all household members aged 6 years and above.

Children working on the fish landing sites were considered to be in child labour, owing to the nature of work they did according to their age or, the circumstances under which work was done. Those not in child labour were not involved in work. Of all children interviewed, 94% were in child labour. The proportion increased with age and was highest among 15-17 year olds (95%). More boys (95%) were affected than girls (88%). The proportion of children in hazardous work was 71 percent. Children were predominantly involved in fishing-45%; scaling fish-35%, cleaning fish-26%, collecting firewood for 5-11 year olds 30%, and hotel/bar/entertainment-32% of girls.

Children (71%) got injured or fell sick in the last 6 months due to work. Injuries or wounds from insect and fish bites, pricks, malaria and drowning in water, chest pains and diarrhea were experienced. Non school attendance (59% were not attending school), insufficient school facilities, high cost of attending school, poor attitude towards education by guardians, wide spread poverty, HIV/AIDS prevalence and insufficient social services are some of the factors behind wide spread child labour.

Priority should be put on increasing school attendance, skills training for older children, propagating knowledge on hazardous work and advocating for increased social services delivery on the landing sites-as a multipronged strategy for fighting child labour.

Moldovan Agricultural Employer Organisation (FNPAIA) adopts Code of Conduct to fight against child labour with support of ILO ACT/EMP

On 19 December 2007 the Council of the National Federation of Employers in Agriculture and Food Industry (FNPAIA) in Moldova unanimously endorsed a Code of Conduct for Employers on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour in Agriculture and the Food Industry with the support of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Moldovan Ministry of Economy and Trade applauds initiative

The Code was the result of a three year long project supported by the ILO Bureau for Employers' Activities (ACT/EMP) and funded by the Norwegian Government. The Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade, Mr Sergiu Sainciuc who met with representatives of FNPAIA and ACT/EMP on the previous day expressed his appreciation that the National Federation of Employers in Agriculture and Food Industry had responded so positively to the challenge of eliminating the worst forms of child labour in this sector.

He considered this initiative gave practical support and reinforcement to the Government's ratification of the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention No. 182 in July 2007.

See also an interview with the ACT/EMP specialist in the ILO Office in Budapest, Ms. Anne Knowles and FNPAIA's homepage.

Inter-Regional Conference on Sharing Experiences and Lessons Learnt on Child Labour

27-28 September 2007, Istanbul, Turkey

ACT/EMP and the Turkish Confederation of Employers' Associations (TISK) jointly organized with the support of ILO International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) a Inter-Regional Conference on Sharing Experiences and Lessons Learnt on Child Labour from 27 to 28 September 2007 in Istanbul.

Representatives of employers' organizations from 12 countries from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia attended the Conference. Other participants at the Conference included the President and Secretary-General of TISK and other TISK staff, representatives of Turkish trade unions, the Turkish Undersecretary of Ministry of Labour and Social Security, UNICEF, ILO and IOE.

The aim was to inspire employers to take action and to better enable employers' organizations to design strategies and programmes aimed at addressing the problem in their respective countries, paying particular attention to the gender dimension of child labour.

The report from the Conference - (pdf 6,9 MB) • Russian (pdf 553 KB) • Turkish (pdf 6,82 MB) includes the joint statement adopted at the Conference, a summary of the presentations held, and an overview of child labour activities in the countries represented.