ADDIS ABABA/ABIDJAN (ILO News) – With some 3.7 million victims of forced labour and 59 million children aged 5-17 years in child labour –, the African continent needs to urgently operationalize Alliance 8.7 to achieve the set targets of combating effectively these scourges, said high-level participants to the regional dialogue held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

“In order to advance Alliance 8.7, we can no longer do business as usual. We cannot enact the same policies or implement the same programmes and expect different results. Alliance 8.7 calls for rethinking the way we work and engage across the board”, said Aeneas Chuma, ILO Regional Director for Africa, at the opening ceremony.

The meeting brought together more than 80 participants from Sub-Saharan Africa, including high-level government officials, employers’ and workers’ representatives from 10 countries across Africa, as well as delegates from the Africa Union, Regional economic communities, UN agencies and other relevant international organizations, civil society, youth and academia.

With an estimated 1 out 5 children in Africa engaged in the worst forms of child labour, “we need a clear roadmap to tackle this problems at all levels”, Chuma stated adding that with 3.7 million people still trapped in forced labour, “the African continent urgently needs practical and effective solutions” to combat forced labour and child labour.

Among the substantive targets set under goal 8 of the sustainable development goals, target 8.7 seeks to “take immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms.”

In his keynote address, H.E. Mr Abdulfatah Abdullahi, Minister of Labour and Social Affairs of Ethiopia, expressed “the firm commitment of my government to work in cooperation with all partners to achieve Target 8.7 and join forces with partners in the Alliance 8.7”.

Mr Abdulfatah highlighted the root causes of children’s involvement in worst forms of child labour (chronic poverty, unemployment, absence of efficient social services, etc.). Yet, he underscored: “whatever the reason, child labour and forced labour are among the crimes against humanity”.

Effective abolition of child labour in Africa “will require progressive improvements in social and economic conditions in many countries”, the Minister emphasized.

The African Union pledged for a regional initiative in collaboration with the ILO as well as involving other key development partners such as the UNICEF, to eliminate child labour in the continent by 2025.

The regional meeting is an opportunity to identify common challenges, priorities and good practices in eliminating child labour and forced labour in sub Saharan Africa in preparation for the IV Global Conference (Argentina, 14-16 November 2017).

The two-day forum will provide concrete recommendations for “taking forward Alliance 8.7 in Africa”. The continent “has the will and the means to end child labour, to put a stop to forced labour and, and to manifest this in the Declaration that will be adopted in Buenos Aires (Argentina)”, Aeneas Chuma concluded.

For further information on the regional consultation, please contact:
Sophie De Coninck
ILO Senior specialist on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
Email: deconinck@ilo.org

For media queries or interview requests, please contact ILO Office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and/or
ILO Senior Communications Officer - Regional Office for Africa - Guebray Berhane | guebray@ilo.org