ILO warns Malawi on child labour

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) says Malawi risks negative economic implications if it continued to use child labour. Hezron Njuguna, ILO senior specialist, said: “I cannot say it is rampant or not because there is no conclusive data available on child labour here. But child labour will affect Malawi products on the world market.”

In a recent report, the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions said a lot of the country’s tobacco and tea plantations employed children who worked long hours doing heavy work. Its secretary general, Francis Antonio, said the study discovered that most of the under-aged labourers - some as young as six years old - were accompanied to the fields by their parents. “An estate owner would accept a couple with children and the children would join in the work to help their parents,” Antonio told PANA.

Labour and Vocational Training Minister Peter Chupa has admitted that child labour was still rampant in Malawi. “Some employers, especially in the agriculture sector, are employing children. This is punishable under the laws of Malawi,” he said.