By Leonard Kamugisha Akida,
SPECIAL REPORT
Children survivors of child labour from Rakai and Kyotera districts, Central Uganda on Wednesday (12th June ,2024) sought government interventions for finding ‘meaningful’ ways to protect the rights and identity of children from child labour.
To find an honourable solution to this insurgency problem, the children on Wednesday met with the state minister for children and youth affairs, Balaam Barugahara Ateenyi and presented their “Charter of Demands”, setting a ball rolling for the fight against this practice.
“Today we call for your attention to our plight and urge immediate actions to protect our rights by addressing the problem of child labour,” the children said.
The children impacted by child labour shared their stories before a group of government officials and individuals from the Civil Society who sat in unison to listen to the Children’s Call to Action, at the a celebration to commemorate the World Day Against Child Labour held at Mestil Hotel Nsambya on June 12.
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In their call-to-action statement, which captures the expectations of children who attended the conference, they noted that many of their colleagues out and inside of schools are experiencing stigma, lacking legal protection and support system making it difficult to report abuse and exploitation. They also pointed out the challenge of unfair pay and working for long hours which is against child rights and abuses domestic and international labour laws. The children demanded that the government creates child labour free zones for all the children and urgently rescue those still involved in child labour.
“We have survived child labour and returned to school. We speak from experience and understand the pain. We want our fellows who are still stuck in child labour to be rescued immediately,” they demanded.
These children, four in numbers are a representation of the many children survivors of child labour from Kyotera and Rakai districts who were identified and rescued, and taken back to school by African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect – ANPPCAN Uganda, a Pan African organization that deals with child abuse and neglect, promoting the rights of children in Africa.
About Child Labour
Child labour remains a serious issue affecting millions worldwide, robbing children of their childhood, education, and future. Each year, on June 12th, World Day Against Child Labour aims to shed light on this global issue and support its eradication.
Approximately 160 million children worldwide are caught in the web of child labor, representing a distressing statistic of 1 in 10 children. These children endure unimaginable hardships, working in hazardous conditions, often deprived of their right to education, and subjected to exploitation. They are the innocent victims of poverty, inequality, and a lack of opportunities.
In summary, the children said they were asking for; a complete ban on all forms of child labour. No child upto 18 years should be allowed or forced to work in family enterprises even after school hours, provision of quality education with free pens, books and uniforms to school children, establishment of completely free universal education or reduction of school fees to at least Shs4,000 per term, building of more government schools in all parts of the country to give every child a chance to learn, help survivors create awareness about child labour to children in and out of school, teachers, businessmen, government officials, parents and community members among other demands.
Responding to the ‘Charter of Demands’ by the children, minister Barugahara committed to fast track and work on the demands of the children and directed commissioners in the ministry of gender to swiftly commence investigations into cases of child labour in Kyotera and Rakai districts.
The minister challenged that eliminating child labour is not only a responsibility of the government and urged Civil Society Organizations, Non-profitable Organizations (NGOs), institutions and individuals to collectively concert efforts and participate in the fight against child labour.
On the other hand, Ignitius Nuwoha, the Executive Director of ANPPCAN Uganda who presented a paper on behalf of the CSOs disclosed that the suspension of funding by the World Bank and other donors has largely affected the operations of CSOs particularly those in child labour force something that constrains their efforts to fight child labour among other activities.
