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Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - United Republic of Tanzania (RATIFICATION: 2001)

Articles 3(d) and 5 of the Convention. Hazardous work and labour inspection. In its previous comments, the Committee noted from the analytical report of the National Child Labour Survey (NCLS) of 2014 that children in hazardous work amount to about 3.16 million, which constitutes 62.4 per cent of working children and 21.5 per cent of children aged 5–17 years. The highest proportion of children classified in hazardous work corresponds to those working under hazardous working conditions (87.2 per cent) followed by those working long hours (29 per cent). Carrying of heavy loads is the most common hazard, which involved 65.1 per cent of children in hazardous work. In addition, 46.8 per cent of total children in hazardous work experienced injuries, illness or poor health, which occurred as a result of work. The Committee urged the Government to intensify its efforts to eliminate this worst form of child labour.

The Committee notes that the Government, in its report, refers to various projects on child labour implemented in the country but provides no particular information on the trainings provided to or activities undertaken by the labour inspectors in monitoring hazardous work by children. It notes the Government’s statement that children in Tanzania engage in the worst forms of child labour, including in mining, quarrying and domestic work. The Committee notes from the ILO report entitled Child Labour and the Youth Decent Work Deficit in Tanzania, 2018 that about 41 per cent of children (1,467,000 children) in the age group of 14 to 17 years are involved in hazardous work. This report states that monitoring the implementation of legislation is a major challenge owing to limited resources for inspection. The Committee must once again express its deep concern at the significant number of children working in hazardous work and conditions. The Committee strongly urges the Government to take the necessary measures to strengthen and adapt the capacities of the labour inspectorate to ensure that children under the age of 18 years are not engaged in hazardous work, particularly in mining, quarrying and domestic work. In this regard, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to promote collaboration between the labour inspectorate and other relevant stakeholders and to provide adequate training to the labour inspectors to detect cases of children engaged in hazardous work and remove them from this worst form of child labour. It requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken in this regard and on the results achieved.

Article 6. Programmes of action for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour and application of the Convention in practice. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that in collaboration with the ILO, the Government was implementing a number of programmes, including the National Action Plan for the Elimination of Child Labour (NAP); Achieving Reduction of Child Labour in Support of Education (ARISE) programme with the support of Japan Tobacco International (JTI); and the Promoting Sustainable Practices to Eradicate Child Labour in Tobacco (PROSPER) programme with the support of Winrock International in the tobacco sector. The Committee requested the Government to continue providing information on the implementation of these programmes, and the results achieved in terms of eliminating the worst forms of child labour.

The Committee notes the Government’s information on the various awareness raising events, trainings and sensitization events on combating child labour and its worst forms conducted within the framework of the PROSPER project. The Government report also states that it is implementing the Eradicating the Worst Forms of Child Labour (EWFCL) in the Eight Mining Wards of Geita District- Phase 2 (2015–19) project and the ILO Project on Global Research on Child Labour Measurement and Policy Development (MAP) which aims to build critical knowledge and capacity for accelerating progress against child labour by supporting data collection and analysis on child labour and children in hazardous work. The Committee encourages the Government to continue taking effective measures to eliminate the worst forms of child labour, in particular hazardous work and to provide information on the results achieved. It requests the Government to provide information on the specific measures taken within the framework of the EWFCL and MAP projects to combat hazardous child labour. It also requests the Government to continue providing statistical information on the nature, extent and trends of the worst forms of child labour, and the number of children covered by the measures giving effect to the Convention.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (a). Prevent the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour. Access to free basic education. The Committee notes from the joint report by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the UNICEF entitled Global Initiative of Out-of-School children-Tanzania Country report, 2018 that a total of 3.9 million children between the ages of 7 and 17 are out of school in Tanzania. Of these, 1.7 million children of primary school age and about 400,000 children of the lower secondary school age never attended any school. The transition rate from primary school to secondary school is 56.3 per cent. The Committee also notes from the UNESCO statistics that the net enrolment rate at the primary level in 2018 is 81.33 per cent while at the secondary level it is 26.55 per cent. The Committee expresses its concern at the low enrolment rates at the primary and secondary education levels. Considering that education is key in preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour, the Committee urges the Government to take the necessary measures to improve the functioning of the educational system, so as to ensure that all children have access to quality education. In this regard, it requests the Government to strengthen its measures to increase the primary and secondary school enrolment and attendance rates and decrease the drop-out rates and the number of out-of-school children. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the measures taken in this regard and on the results achieved.

Clause (d). Identify and reach out to children at special risk. Children orphaned by HIV/AIDS and other vulnerable children. The Committee previously noted the Government’s information that the Free Education Programme for Primary and Secondary Level Education, which was being implemented, would increase access to educational opportunities for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. It also noted that the second National Costed Plan of Action for Most Vulnerable Children (NCPA MVC II, 2013–17) called for a government-led and community-driven response to facilitate access of MVCs to adequate care, support, protection and basic social services. In addition, a National MVC Monitoring and Evaluation Plan was adopted in January 2015 to ensure an effective and efficient coordination of MVC programme interventions. Noting from the 2015 UNAIDS estimates on HIV and AIDS, that there remained approximately 790,000 child orphans of HIV/AIDS in Tanzania, the Committee urged the Government to strengthen its efforts to ensure that children orphaned by HIV/AIDS are prevented from being engaged in the worst forms of child labour and are provided with appropriate support and access to education.

The Committee notes that the Government refers to the National Strategy on the Elimination of Child Labour 2018-22, the National Action Plan on Violence against Women and Children (NAP VAWC) 2017–2022 and the Decent Work Country Programme as having measures to address the issues of vulnerable children and the worst forms of child labour. The Committee also notes from the ILO publication entitled Child Labour and the Youth Decent Work Deficit in Tanzania, 2018 that one of the objectives of the National Strategy on Elimination of Child Labour 2018–22 is to improve access of all vulnerable children to alternative forms of education. Moreover, the NCPA MVC contains a number of intervention strategies designed to positively impact the lives and welfare of the country’s most vulnerable children. The Committee, however, notes from the UNAIDS estimates of 2019 for Tanzania that the number of child orphans due to AIDS aged under 17 has reached 860,000. Considering that children orphaned by HIV/AIDS are at an increased risk of being engaged in the worst forms of child labour, the Committee urges the Government to continue its efforts to ensure that those children are prevented from being engaged in the worst forms of child labour, in particular by increasing their access to education and vocational training and providing appropriate assistance and support. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the concrete measures taken within the NAP-VAWC, the NCPA MVC and the DWCP in this regard and the results achieved in terms of the number of orphans and vulnerable children withdrawn from the worst forms of child labour and rehabilitated.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.