Understanding of child labour
Good Morning to you all
Child labour in Namibia has occasionally been reported. This involved cases of child prostitution as well as voluntary and forced agricultural labour, cattle herding and vending.
Namibia ratified both the ILO Minimum Age Convention (C138) and the ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (C182) in 2000. In addition, the country also ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990. Namibia signed the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child in 1999, but has not ratified it as yet.
Namibia's Labour Act is the principal law governing employment-related matters in Namibia and contains provisions prohibiting employment of children.
According to the 1999 Namibian Child Activities Survey child labour exists in the country, predominantly in the agricultural sector. The results of a follow-up survey conducted in December 2005 have not been made publicly available.
Between 2006 and 2008 the country has been in the process of formulating the Action Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour in Namibia, which was nationally endorsed in February 2008. This was done with the assistance of the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) programme Towards the Elimination of the worst forms of Child Labour.
From
Leah T Olu-King Windhoek Namibia
Hello Leah. Thank you for sharing this information from Namibia. I can see that you have been following issues on child labour in the country. The examples you have shared on child prostitution and forced labour are among those types of child labour consitered under the Worst Forms and deemed for elimination by 2016. Have you in any way been involved in the programmes you mention that are ongoing to deal with the issue of child labour?
Iam working for the City of Windhoek Department of Economic Development and Community Services and we are working with Junior Councillors , this are Junior Councillors from different schools in Windhoek elected by their fellow learners as representative in the management of the City.
The Junior Councillors of the City of Windhoek are involved in various programs working with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare in Namibia and Iam coordinating some of their program, last year the Junior Councillors conducted various workshop in schools to raise awareness of Child Labour and Trafficking of children in order to encouraged victims and members of the public to report suspected trafficking offenders and assist in investigations and prosecutions. Traffichers exploit Namibian children as well as children from Angola and Zambia, through forced labour in agriculture, charcoal production and commercial sexual exploitation.
