World Day Against Child Labour

Malawi: Finding solutions for child domestic workers

Millions of children around the world, mainly girls, are working in households other than their own, doing domestic work such as cleaning, ironing, cooking and looking after other children and the elderly. According to a new report on domestic work from the International Labour Organization, it's estimated at least two-thirds of these children are working under the legal minimum wage, or in conditions that are hazardous. Often, the working relationship between the child and their employer is ambiguous at best, exploitative at worst. But solutions are possible, even in a place where using children as domestic workers is a long tradition.

12 June 2013