NSO survey indicates child labour rampant

The latest Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey by the National Statistical Office (NSO) has shown that child labour remains a huge problem in the country.

The survey has found that among children aged between five and 17 years, 14 percent were involved in child labour while 22 percent were working under hazardous conditions.

It also uncovered that children from the poorest quintile were more likely to be in child labour at 15 percent compared to those from the richest quintile at 10 percent.

Reads the report in part: “Children in rural areas were twice as likely to be involved in child labour at 15 percent compared to those in urban areas at seven percent, and 10 percent of children in the age group of five to 17 years were in child labour related to economic activities.”

Ministry of Labour Principal Secretary Dickson Chunga called for collaborative efforts in the fight against child labour and all labour-related abuses, saying government alone cannot manage to deal with the problem.

He said government is determined to provide jobs that are decent, that respect human rights of the worker and pay a premium that is decent too and to address decent work deficits prevailing in the labour market.

Chunga said: “Child labour issues are serious and to address that, our interventions are geared at engagement with communities and ensuring where we find such cases, children are withdrawn and sent back to school.

“As government, we understand that this cannot be achieved if we work alone and in isolation. We need full support of both the public and private entities in order reach our goal.”

He said through partnerships that Malawi can fully achieve aspirations highlighted in the Decent Work Country Programme and the Malawi 2063, the country’s long-term development blueprint.

Chunga explained that the overall goal of the Decent Work Country Programme is to contribute to the objectives of the national development agenda through improved, gainful, secure and rights-based employment for the youth, women and men.

Child labour issues remain a concern in the country and at the international stage, especially when exporting agricultural commodities as evidenced by the Withhold Release Order (WRO) that the United States of America imposed on Malawi’s reports tobacco exports due to child and forced labour concerns.

There is increasing demand for traceability of agricultural commodities to ascertain the environment under which the commodities were produced.

Last week, the Economics Association of Malawi asked government to address underlying issues making the country’s agricultural exports uncompetitive, saying Malawi can grow its economy through exports that meet the international requirements.

The economists body in a statement jointly signed by Ecama president Lauryn Nyasulu and executive director Frank Chikuta argued that international laws and regulations on supply chain bordering on child labour, human rights and modern day slavery affect the international trade for Malawi’s agricultural exports.

Reads the communique in part: “Malawi should put in place regulations that mandate adoption of general due diligence to make sure that the value chains in the country comply with these requirements so that the markets are not lost. “Contract farming is one way of ensuring a more traceable supply chain. Tobacco remains one of the key cash crops for the country with established value chain and market systems.