Parliamentary Presentation: Child Labour

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR
Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Social
Development
Child Labour- 27 August 2004
DEPARTMENT OF LABOUR
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Purpose of the presentation

• To give a broad overview of the
• interventions of DoL in the
• eradication of child labour
• Definition of child labour
• Summary of what DoL has achieved
• Ratification of ILO Conventions
• Enforcement Policy
• Survey on the Activities of Young People (SAYP,
  1999)
• Development of Programme of Action

• Steps towards policy development
• Organisations consulted
• Key activities of children needing attention
• Action steps of government departments
• Commitment from government departments
• Challenges
• Way forward

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Overview What is Child Labour?

• Child labour is work by children under 18 which
  is
• exploitative, hazardous or otherwise
  inappropriate for their age
• detrimental to their schooling
• detrimental to their social, physical, mental,
  spiritual or moral development.
• SA Constitution

• Likelihood of harm increases in following cases
• Where work is bad for education
• Child is very young
• Hours are long, or at night
• Low payment, or none
• Hazardous or hidden work

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What has been achieved 1

• 1995 SA ratified the UN Convention on the Rights
  of the Child this Convention sets the framework
  to protect and develop children
• 1996 The Constitution provided for the
  protection of children against exploitative and
  hazardous work practices
• 1997 The BCEA was promulgated. This Act
  prohibits the employment of children below the
  age of 15
• ? 1998 DoL the ILO signed a Memorandum of
  Understanding formalising their relationship iro
  funding and technical expertise
• ?Ratification of ILO Conventions

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What has been achieved 2

• 1998 DoL facilitated the formation of the Child
  Labour Intersectoral Group (Clig) with the aim of
  fighting child labour in a collaborative and
  integrated manner.
• The Survey on the Activities of Young People,
  1999.
• Enforcement Policy on Child Labour
• Policy Formulation Draft Child Labour Action
  Programme.
• The launch of the Sectoral Determination on
  Children in the Performance of Advertising,
  Artistic and Cultural Activities.
• Ongoing awareness raising

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Ratification of ILO Conventions
South Africa has ratified the following
Convention i.r.o childrens issues

• ? Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, No.
  138
• ? Abolition of Forced Forced Labour, No 105 of
  1957
• ? Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour,
  No 182 of 1999

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Enforcement policy

• ?It is internationally accepted that legislation
  alone cannot eradicate child labour.
• ? DoL is the custodian of labour legislation and
  through enforcement mechanisms is tasked with
  implementing a coherent collaborative and
  preventative strategy through labour inspectors
  who work in partnership with other role players.

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Enforcement contd

• ? In 2002, the enforcement mechanisms within the
  BCEA were supplemented with a collaborative,
  inter disciplinary and multi sectoral approach
  involving government departments and other key
  role players

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Survey on the Activities of Young People

• In 1995, the Dept. of Labour as the lead agency
  initiated a process of formulating policy to
  combat child labour and other prioritised forms
  of child work
• The Survey on the Activities of Young People was
  commissioned to
• Determine the nature and extent of child labour
  in the country
• Identify sectors that employ children
• Develop appropriate measures to address the
  incidence of child labour
• Lay the foundation for the development of the
  Child Labour Action Programme (CLAP).

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The SAYP identifies the following vulnerable
groups of children/situations where children are
most at risk as a result of being involved in
work activities

• Findings 13,4 million children between the ages
  of 5 17
• were involved in some form of economic activity
  in the
• following areas-
• Long periods fetching wood and water for use in
  the family home
• Doing domestic chores in their own homes
• Doing work at school unrelated to study such as
  gardening and cleaning.

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Survey contd

• Work in the family business with or without pay
• Work on commercial farms
• Paid domestic work
• Work on subsistence farms
• Children involved in illegal activities such as
  child prostitution, drug trafficking or other
  illegal activities

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Development of a Programme of Action on Child
Labour

• ? Identification of forms of child labour
• ? Prioritisation of these forms of child labour
• ? Role definition and clarification
• ? The design, implementation and monitoring of
  programmes
• ? The identification of targets and indicators of
  success
• ? Identification of the requisite human and
  financial resources

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Steps towards policy

• Information gathering 1996-2000 (including SAYP)
• Analysis 2000-2001 Discussion document
• Key stakeholder consultations
• - Provincial consultative workshops
  January April 2003
• - Issue based/sectoral national
  workshops March - April 2003
• - Child participation consultations April
  June 2003
• - Consultations with government
  departments June August 2003
• - Draft policy finalised September 2003

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Organisations that have been consulted

• Water Affairs Forestry
• Minerals Energy
• Local Government
• SAPS
• Health
• Home Affairs
• Justice

• National Treasury
• Education
• Office on the Rights of the Child
• Public Works
• Nedlac
• Employers/employees organisations
• NGOs

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Key activities of children needing attention

• Worst forms
• Commercial sexual exploitation
• Bonded labour and servitude
• Trafficking
• Drug trade other illegal activities
• Seriously hazardous work

• Other
• Collecting wood water
• Domestic work (for another)
• Household chores
• Agriculture Commercial subsistence
• Retail sector

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Action steps of various government departments

• South African Police Services and Justice
• Trafficking
• Children used or procured to perform illegal
  activities

• Education
• Sensitisation w.r.t. Child Labour issues
• School policy free education

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Action steps contd

• Department of Water Affairs Forestry,
  Department of Minerals Energy
• - Provision of infrastructure

• Social Development
• - Child commercial sexual exploitation
• - Removal, rehabilitation and unification

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Action steps contd

• Labour
• Inspection and enforcement

• Home Affairs Officials and Police
• Rights and needs of immigrant and refugee children

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Commitment from Government Departments

• All government departments implicated in the CLAP
  have pledged commitment in implementing the CLAP
  
• Costing of Action Steps
• Assessment of both financial and human resources
  in terms of the implementation of these Action
  Steps

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Challenges

• Development of indicators to measure the
  effectiveness of CLAP
• Reassessment of all relevant public sector
  policies and programmes for impact on child
  labour and their contribution to the elimination
  of child labour
• Finalisation the institutional framework for the
  implementation of the CLAP national, provincial
  and regional levels
• Nominations of child labour coordinators

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Challenges Contd

• Costing and final consideration by government and
  other stakeholders
• Consideration and adoption by cabinet

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The way forward

• Consultations with Directors General
• Minister of Labour to present the CLAP to the
  Ministerial Committee
• Cabinet process The Minister of Labour will
  table the Child Labour Action Programme for
  discussion, debate and ratification

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Conclusion

• ? The Department of labour takes the issue of
  child labour very seriously
• ? DoL is committed to the eradication of this
  phenomenon
• ? Child labour is a very complex phenomenon
• Legislation alone cannot eradicate child labour
• Therefore emphasis is on a multi sectoral
  collaborative strategy with role players such as
  Social Development, Health, Education etc.
• Emphasis is on education, awareness raising and
  enforcement

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