High rates of child labour blamed on poverty

A new government study on child labour in Kenya reflects the tough economic realities which, combined with the negative effects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, are causing an unprecedented rise in poverty levels among Kenyan households, according to a leading child rights activist. Entitled "The 1998/'99 Child Labour Report", it concluded that many children in Kenya were in the workplace, often under hazardous conditions, despite the legal provisions and intervention programmes put in place to combat child labour. The 92-page document, which outlined the results of an extensive survey carried out by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) of the Ministry of Finance and Planning on the state of child labor, placed the number of children working in Kenya at any one time at 1.3 million. The survey effort was supported by the International Labour Organisation's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC). http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/ipec/ Phillista Onyango, who heads the Kenya-based African Network for the Protection and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, said this week that the report also confirmed preliminary findings by various establishments on the "alarming" extent to which children in Kenya were forced to work, to the severel detriment of their education and development. "The key findings of the report show a large number of kids are out of school," Onyango told IRIN. "This can be explained by the poverty levels in the country. There are too many AIDS orphans." Of Kenya's estimated 10.9 million children aged between five and 17 in 1999 (based on 1989 population census projections), 3.5 million were out of school and/or working, according to the CBS report. Some of the 7.9 million in school were also found to be working. Most of the children working were found to be employed in the domestic sector (744,761), while 926,541 others were engaged in various other sectors, but mainly agriculture. Inspectors from the Ministry of Labour also found that, although Kenya had no reported cases of child slavery or recruitment for armed conflict, many were engaged in both the "worst forms of employment" and "hazardous" work, characterised by harsh environments and lack of protective clothing in both the manufacturing and agricultural sectors. Children were being used as a source of cheap labour in all the sectors in which they were found. They are being made to carry heavy loads, especially in sisal estates, sand and salt harvesting, stone cutting and on horticultural farms, according to the report. "Although some of the findings cannot be easily quantified, the survey results show that some children are working under risky and hazardous conditions, working for long hours, and are grossly underpaid," the CBS report noted. The level of family income was found to have a strong bearing on child labour, with 56.7 percent of working children belonging to households with monthly incomes of less than US $80, while 21.3 percent came from very poor households with incomes of less than $30, it said. "While the main reason parents gave for releasing their children to work was either to assist on the family farm, children reported that they had to work in order to augment family income," it added. The report noted, however, that the Kenyan government had "demonstrated its commitment" to fulfilling its obligations under ILO conventions on child labour by enforcing several legal provisions governing the employment of children, including a draft sessional (policy) paper on child labour in Kenya. Onyango said these findings were "supported" by the current economic situation in the country, and "confirmed suspicions that the majority of children are employed in the domestic and agricultural sectors." She hailed the government's recent announcement that it had gazetted the establishment of Children's Courts in 43 districts in Kenya, which would enable children to seek redress on abuse. At the moment, the country has no specialised court dealing with children's issues. "This is definitely a positive move," Onyango told IRIN. "Children can now walk to court. Really, it will give them a chance to be heard." The establishment of Children's Courts is provided for under the new Children's Act, passed into law late last year. Onyango said, however, that she was unhappy with the government's attempts to abolish the Children's Cabinet, a new movement advocating the rights of children in Kenya and acting as a forum at which children's voices can be heard. Local media reported on Monday that Sammy ole Kwallah, the Director of Children's Services, had called for the disbandment of the cabinet, citing lack of discipline on the part of some of its members. Members of the movement, which is still unregistered, had allegedly written letters to the heads of state of neighbouring Tanzania and Uganda, as well as to heads of international agencies dealing with children's issues, to seek audience for their problems, which the Kenyan government had found "embarrassing", according to Onyango. "The children have done nothing wrong, they have not undermined anyone," she said. "If we don't listen to our children, they will definitely go to the neighbours, or anyone else who can listen." The children are just doing what they see us do. We are the ones to teach them the rules of decorum and diplomacy," Onyango added.