Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

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

The Committee notes the Government’s first report and requests it to supply further information on the following points.

Article 3 of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour. Clause (a). 1. Sale and trafficking of children. The Committee notes that section 139A(1)(b) of the Penal Code, as added by section 14 of the Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act, 1998, deals with trafficking in persons. According to this provision, any person who for the purposes of promoting, facilitating or inducing the buying or selling or bartering of any person for money or for any other consideration: (i) arranges for, or assists a child to travel within or outside the United Republic of Tanzania, without the consent of his parent or lawful guardian; or (iv) engages in procuring children from hospitals, shelters for women, clinics, nurseries, day care centres, or other child care institutions or welfare centres, for money or other consideration, commits the offence of trafficking. According to subsection (2) of section 139A of the Code, a "child" means a person of the age of 18 years or less. The Committee observes that section 139A(1)(b)(i) of the Penal Code, while dealing with the trafficking of children within or outside the United Republic of Tanzania, refers only to the trafficking of children "without" the consent of their parent or guardian. The Committee requests the Government to indicate in what way trafficking in children is prohibited where consent of their parents or guardian has been given, but which may nonetheless be clear cases of trafficking for the purposes of labour exploitation.

The Committee notes that section 139 of the Penal Code, as amended by section 13 of the Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act, 1998, deal with trafficking in children for sexual exploitation. According to this provision, it is an offence for a person to: (b) procure or attempt to procure, any person under 18 years of age, to leave the United Republic, whether with or without the consent of that person, with a view to the facilitation of prohibited sexual intercourse with any person outside the United Republic, or remove or attempt to remove from the United Republic that person, whether with or without the consent of that person, for that purpose; and (d) bring or attempt to bring into the United Republic, any person under the age of 18 years with a view to prohibited sexual intercourse with any other person, inside or outside the United Republic.

2. Slavery or practices similar to slavery such as debt bondage, serfdom and forced or compulsory labour. The Committee notes that sections 254 and 255 of the Penal Code contain provisions related to slavery. Thus, section 254 of the Code states that it is an offence for any person to import, export, remove, buy, sell or dispose of any person as a slave, or accept, receive or detain against his will any person as a slave. Section 255 of the Code further imposes a penalty on any person, who habitually imports, exports, removes, buys, sells, traffics or deals in slaves. Moreover, the Committee notes that Part X of the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 366) specifically deals with forced labour. In this regard, section 122 of the Employment Ordinance provides that, any person who exacts or imposes forced labour or causes or permits forced labour to be exacted or imposed for his benefit or for the benefit of any other person shall commit an offence against this Ordinance. Section 123 of the Ordinance further states that no forced labour shall be imposed or permitted for the benefit of private persons. According to section 121 of the Ordinance, the expression "forced labour"means all work or service, which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily. This section excludes the service or work exacted by virtue of any compulsory military service; as a consequence of a conviction in a court of law; any work exacted in case of emergency; and such other communal services done under a civic obligation. Finally, according to section 256 of the Penal Code, any person who unlawfully compels any person to labour against the will of that person is guilty of a misdemeanour.

3. Compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict. By virtue of section 29(4) of the National Defence Act, 1966, no person under the apparent age of 18 years shall be enrolled in the defence forces without the consent in writing of one of his parents or his guardian or where the parents or guardian are dead or unknown, by the area commissioner of the district in which such person resides. According to section 2, the National Defence Act, 1966 applies to Zanzibar as well. The Committee notes that in its initial report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child in September 2000 (CRC/C/8/Add.14/Rev.1, paragraph 346), the Government stated that it had participated in only one war in which children were not involved as soldiers. The Government also indicates that the United Republic of Tanzania has not been involved in armed conflicts inside its boundaries. However, the Committee notes from the report of the United Nations Secretary-General on Children and armed conflict in November 2003 (United Nations document A/58/546 - S/2003/1053, paragraph 47), that armed opposition groups have recruited children from refugee camps in the western part of the United Republic of Tanzania. The Committee asks the Government to indicate in what manner it is prohibited to forcibly recruit children from refugee camps for use in armed conflict, and what practical measures are taken to effectively enforce this prohibition.

Clause (b). 1. Use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution. The Committee notes that section 139 of the Penal Code, as amended by section 13 of the Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act, 1998, deals with procuration for prostitution. According to this provision, it is an offence for a person to: (a) procure or attempt to procure any person, whether male or female of whatever age, whether with or without the consent of that person, to become, within or outside the United Republic, a prostitute; or (c) procure or attempt to procure any person of whatever age, to leave the United Republic, whether with or without the consent of that person, with intent that that person may become an inmate of or frequent a brothel elsewhere, or removes or attempts to remove from the United Republic any such person, whether with or without the consent of that person for that purpose; or (e) procure or attempt to procure any person of whatever age, whether with or without the consent of that person, to leave that person’s usual place of abode in the United Republic, that place not being a brothel, with intent that that person may, for the purposes of prostitution, become the inmate of, or frequent a brothel within or outside the United Republic.

2. Use, procuring of offering a child for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances. The Committee notes that section 138B(1) of the Penal Code, as amended by section 12 of the Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act, 1998, deals with the sexual exploitation of children. According to this section, any person who: (a) knowingly permits any child to remain in any premises, for the purpose of causing such child to participate in any obscene or indecent exhibition or show; or (b) acts as a procurer of a child for the purposes of any indecent exhibition; or (c) induces a person to be a client of a child for any indecent exhibition or show, by means of print or other media, oral advertisements or other similar means; or (d) takes advantage of his influence over, or his relationship to a child, to procure the child for any indecent exhibition or show; or (e) threatens or uses violence towards a child to procure the child for any indecent exhibition or show; or (f) gives monetary consideration, goods or other benefits to a child or his parents with intent to procure the child for any indecent exhibition or show commits the offence of sexual exploitation of children. Under subsection (2) of section 138B, a "child" means a person of the age of less than 18 years.

Clause (c). Use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities. The Committee takes note of the Drugs and Prevention of Illicit Traffic and Drugs Act, 1995, which is applicable to any person, and also applies to Zanzibar. It observes, however, that there appears to be no specific provision in the Act or in the national legislation that prohibits the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities. The Committee reminds the Government that by virtue of Article 3(c) of the Convention, such activities are considered to be one of the worst forms of child labour, and that under the terms of Article 1 of the Convention, each Member which ratifies the Convention shall take immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour as a matter of urgency. It requests the Government to take the necessary measures to prohibit the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties, and sanctions envisaged.

Clause (d). Hazardous work. According to section 48(2) of the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 366), no young person is capable of entering into a contract, except for employment approved by the competent officers, as not being injurious to the moral or physical development of non-adults. Under section 79(1) of the Ordinance, no child (a person under 15 years) or young person (a person between 15 and 18 years) shall be employed in any employment which is injurious to health, dangerous or otherwise unsuitable. Section 83 of the Ordinance, as amended by section 5 of Act No. 5/1969, prohibits the employment of young persons in any industrial undertaking between the hours of 6 p.m. and 6 a.m., except on work, which by its nature is required to be carried out continuously on day and night (manufacture of iron and steel, glass works, manufacture of paper, manufacture of raw sugar, mining, reduction, extraction or preparation work), or in cases of emergency, which could not have been controlled or foreseen. Moreover, according to section 88 of the Ordinance, no young person shall be employed underground in any mine unless with a medical certificate. By virtue of sections 90 and 91 respectively, no young person shall be employed in any ship, or as a trimmer or stoker. Section 96(3) and (5) of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1967, prohibits the employment of a young person between 15 and 18 years in any capacity in any ship, and on any vessel as a trimmer or stoker. Under section 24 of the Factories (Building Operations and Works of Engineering Construction) Rules, 1985, a vehicle, power-driven capstan or haulage winch shall be driven or operated only by a trained and competent person who has attained the age of 18. Finally, by virtue of section 82 of the Rules, no person who is not trained and competent, or is under the age of 18 years, shall drive or operate a crane or other lifting appliance.

The Committee notes that in Zanzibar, the Employment of Children, Young Persons and Adolescents (Restriction) Decree (Cap. 56) contains provisions prohibiting and restricting the employment of children and young persons, which are almost similar to the provisions of the Tanzanian Employment Ordinance (Cap. 366). Sections 4, 7, 13, 14 and 16 are relevant. It also notes that the Labour Act, 1997, of Zanzibar contains provisions concerning the employment of children (section 116) and conditions of employment of young persons (section 117).

The Committee observes that section 83 of the Employment Ordinance of Mainland Tanzania, while prohibiting the employment of young persons in industrial undertakings during the night, exempts certain undertakings, which require continuous work during day and night. Thus, children below 18 years may be employed during the night in undertakings for work such as the manufacture of iron, steel, glass works, paper, raw sugar, mining, etc. The Committee points out that the Convention does not provide for exceptions for hazardous work. It notes nevertheless that the draft Employment and Labour Relations Act for Mainland Tanzania, and the draft Employment Act for Zanzibar, on which the Office has provided its comments, and both of which contain a general prohibition of hazardous work for persons under 18 years will be adopted shortly. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on progress made in this regard and to provide a copy of both laws once they are adopted.

Article 4, paragraph 1. Determination of hazardous work. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that the types of work referred to under Article 3(d) include work in commercial agriculture, mining, domestic services and commercial sexual exploitation involving children under 18 years. The Committee observes that these types of hazardous work do not appear to be specifically listed in any legislation. However, according to the information available at the Office, under the auspices of the ILO/IPEC’s Time-Bound Programme (TBP), a first tripartite consultation took place on 12 March 2004 in order to explore the necessary steps towards determining a list of hazardous activities and occupations to be prohibited to persons under 18 years. The Committee also notes that the draft document was presented and discussed during the tripartite consultation, and provides for an overview of the types of hazardous work in the United Republic of Tanzania. Moreover, the Committee observes that in its recommendations, the draft document gives a list of the types of hazardous work which by their nature or the circumstances in which they are carried out, are likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children. This list indicates the following types of hazardous work: any work in agriculture, mining, and construction, the informal sector including retail, manufacturing, repair, and constructions service, child prostitution, pornography, domestic work, bar/restaurant/guest house keeping, dumpsite scavenging and street hawking. The Committee observes that the types of hazardous work include the sectors targeted by the TBP. It requests the Government to provide information on any progress made towards adopting the above list of hazardous work.

Paragraph 2. Identification of hazardous work. The Committee notes from the project document entitled "Supporting the Time-Bound Programme on the Worst Forms of Child Labour in the United Republic of Tanzania" that the Government has identified where the types of hazardous work, so determined exist. Hence, the four sectors selected as priority target groups for the TBP initiative, namely prostitution, the domestic service, the mining sector, and commercial agriculture have been identified as those where hazardous work exists.

Paragraph 3. Periodical examination and revision of the types of hazardous work. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the list of the worst forms of hazardous child labour will be periodically examined.

Article 5. Monitoring mechanisms. The Committee notes that, for the purpose of monitoring and coordinating the intervention activities against the worst forms of child labour, the Government has established the National Inter-sectoral Coordination Committee (NISCC) at the national level, with representation by the employer’s association, trade union organizations, key government ministries and the non-governmental organizations. The NISCC consists of four subcommittees, namely: on commercial agriculture and mining; domestic service and prostitution; education; and a technical subcommittee. The first three committees are responsible for advising on interventions in their respective sectors while the technical committee (also called as "Technical team for programming") is vested with the responsibility of technically advising on the best and appropriate interventions for the sustainable elimination of the worst forms of child labour. The NISCC meets once in three months or at times of emergency to discuss issues pertaining to the implementation of the activities against the worst forms of child labour including approval of action programme proposals submitted by the actors. The Committee also notes that at the local/district level, the Government has established the District Child Labour Committees (DCLC) which oversee the intervention activities against the worst forms of child labour. The DCLC consists of all key stakeholders including local government officials of the districts. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the functioning of the NISCC and the four subcommittees, and coordination between them, in particular in relation to the implementation of the provisions of the Convention.

Article 6. Programmes of action to eliminate the worst forms of child labour. The Committee notes the Government’s statement that all action programmes against the worst forms of child labour have to be discussed by concerned sectoral subcommittees and the technical subcommittee and approved by the National Inter-sectoral Coordination Committee. As the National Inter-sectoral Coordination Committee involves all the tripartite partners and other groups (NGO), all approved programmes accommodate the views of all groups. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any programmes of action approved by the National Inter-sectoral Coordination Committee for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour.

Article 7, paragraph 1. Penalties. Under section 254 of the Penal Code, any person who imports, exports, removes, buys, sells or disposes of any person as a slave, or accepts, receives or detains against his will any person as a slave, is guilty of a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for seven years. Section 255 of the Penal Code imposes a penalty of imprisonment of ten years on any person, who habitually imports, exports, removes, buys, sells, traffics or deals in slaves. Section 122 of the Employment Ordinance provides that, any person who exacts or imposes forced labour of any other person shall commit an offence and shall be liable upon conviction to a fine not exceeding 2,000 shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or to both such fine and imprisonment. According to section 139A of the Penal Code, any person who commits the offence of trafficking is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term not less than 20 years and not exceeding 30 years and a fine of not less than 100,000 shillings and not exceeding 300,000 shillings or to both the fine and imprisonment and shall, in addition, be ordered to pay compensation of an amount to be determined by the court, to the person in respect of whom the offence was committed. By virtue of section 139 of the Penal Code, any person who commits the offence of procuration for prostitution is liable on conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than ten years and not exceeding 20 years or to a fine of not less than 100,000 shillings and not exceeding 300,000 shillings or to both the fine and imprisonment. Under section 138B of the Penal Code, any person who commits the offence of sexual exploitation of children is liable upon conviction to imprisonment for a term of not less than five years and not exceeding 20 years. Section 154 of the Employment Act (Cap. 366), states that, any person who commits an offence against this Ordinance for which no penalty is expressly provided shall be liable upon conviction to a fine not exceeding 2,000 shillings (approximately US$1.8) and in the case of a second or subsequent offence against the same provision of this Ordinance to a fine not exceeding 3,000 shillings or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or both. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the practical application of the penalties laid down in the relevant national provisions. Moreover, the Committee observes that, due to devaluation, most monetary penalties mentioned in the legislation have become very low. It asks the Government to provide information on measures taken or envisaged to review these monetary penalties in the light of the current value of the national currency.

Paragraph 2. Effective and time-bound measures. The Committee notes with interest that the Government demonstrated its initial commitment to the elimination of worst forms of child labour by choosing to become one of the first three countries to design and implement a Time-Bound Programme (TBP). In late April 2001, a national round table on the worst forms of child labour, particularly on hazardous work, was held with a wide range of social partners and high-level government participation. During this national round table, four sectors were selected as priority target groups for the TBP initiative, namely prostitution, the domestic service, the mining sector and commercial agriculture including tea, coffee and tobacco. Moreover, the Committee notes that, in order to develop a more comprehensive overview of the selected sectors and others, ILO/IPEC undertook eight rapid assessments in the United Republic of Tanzania investigating the worst forms of child labour in the informal sector, mining, prostitution, commercial agriculture including tea, coffee and tobacco, in the horticultural sector, and on HIV/AIDS. The Government indicates that the strategies adopted include awareness raising and community mobilization, capacity building of poor families whose children are working or at risk of entering into the worst forms of child labour, withdrawing and providing them with suitable alternatives, e.g. education and skills. The Committee notes with interest that the Government has set targets of reducing the involvement of children in the above sectors by 75 per cent by the year 2005 and of eradicating the problem completely by the year 2010. To contribute to this goal, the TBP will follow a dual strategy of helping to mobilize the largest possible coalition of partners and resources for scaling up interventions while initially focussing on currently available resources in a limited number of sectors and districts, with a view to rapidly demonstrate results. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the results achieved in reducing the involvement of children in the four sectors selected.

Clause (a). Prevent the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour. According to the project document entitled "Supporting the time-bound programme on the worst forms of child labour in the United Republic of Tanzania", between 300,000 and 500,000 children are at risk in the four sectors targeted by the TBP. The number of direct beneficiaries of this project is restricted by the available resources. Thus, about 30,000 children under the age of 18 years will be prevented from engaging in, or withdrawn from hazardous working conditions associated with the selected priority sectors and will benefit from the transitional education, vocational education and other services; and about 15,000 children under the age of 18 years will be prevented from undertaking such work through enrolment drives, increased awareness, school feeding programmes and economic empowerment of target families. According to the information available at the Office, a total of five action programmes are being implemented by the Child Labour Unit (CLU) for building the capacity of district officials in the planning and implementation of activities regarding child labour and its worst forms for: (i) the prevention and withdrawal of 5,000 children from prostitution; (ii) the prevention and withdrawal of 7,500 children in domestic services; and (iii) the prevention and withdrawal of child workers in commercial agriculture. In addition, three action programmes have been approved by the NISCC technical subcommittee and submitted to ILO/IPEC, Geneva, for clearance. These include: (a) the prevention and withdrawal of 2,500 children in the mining sector; (b) vocational education and skill training for 3,000 children by the Vocational Education Training Authority; and (c) the provision of transitional education by the Complementary Basic Education and Training Programme (COBET) for 15,000 children identified for prevention. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the impact of the abovementioned five action programmes on preventing children under 18 from engaging in the worst forms of child labour in the four sectors targeted by the TBP.

Clause (b). Direct assistance for the removal of children from the worst forms of child labour and for their rehabilitation and social integration. The Committee notes that, according to the project document mentioned above, a wide range of direct support has been given to partners to withdraw working children from hazardous work in mining sites (with UK-DFID support), domestic services, street work and prostitution. Moreover, the United Republic of Tanzania is one of the five countries (along with Kenya, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia) participating in a Subregional Project (2001-04) on the prevention, withdrawal and rehabilitation of children engaged in hazardous work in the commercial agricultural sector. The Committee also notes that ILO/IPEC has been supporting the Kiota Women Health and Development Organization (KIWOHEDE), to address the problem of children in prostitution and, in the last few years, has implemented several direct action programmes to rehabilitate the victims withdrawn from prostitution. KIWOHEDE, through group counselling has withdrawn 240 girls from prostitution who has been reintegrated into basic education and vocational training. The Conservation, Hotels, Domestic and Allied Workers Union (CHODAWU), with ILO/IPEC support have withdrawn 1,000 children from domestic services and provided them with alternatives. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the achievements of the TBP, and its impact with regard to removing children in the worst forms of child labour in the four sectors targeted by the TBP, and providing for their rehabilitation and social integration.

Clause (c). Access to free basic education. Section 35 of the National Education Act, 1978, provides for compulsory primary education for every child that has attained the age of 7 years and requires the parent or parents of every child enrolled for primary education to ensure that the child regularly attends primary school until he completes the primary education. According to section 2 of the Act, primary education is defined as "full-time education given during the first seven years". In the United Republic of Tanzania, primary education is free and compulsory for all children who are 7 years old but not yet 13. The United Republic of Tanzania’s Basic Education Master Plan aims to achieve universal access to basic education, increase primary school gross enrolment and ensure that at least 80 per cent of children complete primary school education by the age of 15. Currently, there are only two programmes in place targeting the out-of-school population. The first is the Complementary Basic Education and Training Programme (COBET), which is a special programme for children: (i) whose age is above enrolment age; (ii) who have been withdrawn from labour; or (iii) who could not be enrolled on the basis of gender discrimination or for lack of school fees. The second programme is the Appropriate Cost-effective Centres of Education within the School System (ACCESS). The Committee notes that ILO/IPEC Tanzania, through a regional programme entitled "Action against child labour through education and training" has worked with teachers and their organizations to use education as a tool for: creating awareness of child labour issues; strengthening the quality, relevance and accessibility of education for children at higher risks of child labour; influencing national policy programmes and budgets on education to better reflect child labour concerns; and addressing the issues that will make quality education relevant, accessible and free for all children.

Clause (d). Identify and reach out to children at special risk. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is affecting every community in the United Republic of Tanzania. According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, UNAIDS, 1.5 million people are believed to be affected in the United Republic of Tanzania. The Committee notes that according to the Rapid Assessment document entitled "HIV/AIDS and child labour in the United Republic of Tanzania", more than 60 per cent of children working in the informal sector were either single or double orphans. Most of their parents had died from HIV/AIDS. About 70 per cent of orphaned children were involved in self-employment, 60 per cent in domestic work and 55 per cent in prostitution. Among those engaged in prostitution, close to 60 per cent of the children were aged 15 years or younger. In the domestic service, this was true of about 30 per cent of children and in self-employment, about 40 per cent of children were below 15 years. The United Republic of Tanzania has formulated a national policy on HIV/AIDS and the Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS) was established to regulate the roles of the various actors in containing the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the measures envisaged or taken through its national policy on HIV/AIDS to address the situation of children engaged in the worst forms of child labour, especially those who are self-employed as well as those engaged in domestic work, and in prostitution.

Clause (e). Take account of the special situation of girls. The Committee notes that COBET provides for the education of children, especially girls who could not be enrolled on the basis of gender discrimination. It asks the Government to provide more information on the number of girls targeted by the COBET programme.

Paragraph 3. Designation of the authority responsible for the implementation of the provisions giving effect to the Convention. The Committee notes the information provided by the Government that no specific authority has been designated for the implementation of the provisions giving effect to this Convention. The responsibility remains with the central Government as these strategies fall within the overall National Development Plan. The Committee requests the Government to indicate by what methods such implementation is supervised.

Article 8. International cooperation and/or assistance. The Committee notes that the Government has other objectives for 2010 in the National Development Vision 2025 and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) specifically relevant to child labour which include, a reduction of absolute poverty by 50 per cent (current absolute poverty is estimated at 43 per cent of the population) and the reduction of unemployment rates to less than 10 per cent. The United Republic of Tanzania is among the 17 African countries implementing a joint ILO/UNDP funded regional project entitled "Jobs in Africa - Poverty Reducing Employment Strategies for Africa" (JFA-PRESA). A number of key donor agencies at the national level such as UNICEF, the African Development Bank (ADB), World Food Programme (WFP) and DANIDA have committed to join the partnership and work together with ILO/IPEC and the Government in addressing the problem of the worst forms of child labour. Moreover, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that it, with other East African countries of Uganda and Kenya, is undertaking a programme entitled "Strengthen Labour Relations in East Africa" (SLAREA) with the support of ILO. The programme is intended to strengthen the economies of the three countries through harmonizing laws governing labour relations. Furthermore, the Committee notes that the United Republic of Tanzania is a member of Interpol which helps cooperation between countries in the different regions especially in the fight against trafficking of children. The Committee asks the Government to supply in its future reports any relevant information on international cooperation and/or assistance received to tackle the worst forms of child labour. Noting that the poverty reduction programmes contribute to breaking the cycle of poverty which is essential for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour, the Committee also requests the Government to supply information on any notable impact of such poverty reduction programmes (PRSP and JFA-PRESA) on eliminating the worst forms of child labour.

Parts IV and V of the report form. According to the Government’s report, there are no difficulties in the application of the Convention. The Committee notes however that according to the preliminary data from the first round of the IPEC sponsored 2000-01 Child Labour Survey, only 58 per cent of the estimated 12.4 million children aged 5-17 years were at school, whilst 39 per cent were engaged in economic activities or housekeeping. In an effort to investigate the worst forms of child labour, ILO/IPEC has conducted eight rapid assessments in the United Republic of Tanzania, concerning children in prostitution; children working in commercial agriculture - tea, tobacco, coffee; child labour in mining; child labour in the informal sector; child labour in the horticultural sector; and in HIV/AIDS. The rapid assessment studies suggest a significant number of children engaged in the worst forms of child labour. The Committee notes from the information contained in the TBP project document that the problem of child prostitution is on the rise especially in the high-density urban and sub-urban areas. Studies carried out in the key locations in four regions (Ruvuma, Mwanza, Dar es Salaam and Singida) show that an estimated 2,000-3,000 children are engaged in prostitution including girls as young as 9 years. A conservative estimate of 132,000 children are at risk from the worst forms of child labour in domestic services. The largest group of children in the mining sector are those aged between 14-17 years who accounted for 59 per cent of the total children interviewed. Girls in this sector were less (19.7 per cent) compared to boys (80.3 per cent). Children as young as 10 years were involved in the drilling of rocks, washing of rock dust, and collecting and carrying pieces of crushed rocks. A total of 82,850 children aged 5-17 years are estimated to be working in the commercial agriculture sector (tea, tobacco and coffee).

Moreover, the Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report that a total of 2,671 boys and girls have been identified and withdrawn from labour and provided with alternatives. Eight hundred poor families have been supported to undertake income-generating activities. The Government also indicates that it expects to identify and withdraw more children under the TBP. The Committee encourages the Government to continue to supply information on the worst forms of child labour through copies or extracts from official documents including inspection reports, studies and inquiries, and information on the nature, extent and trends of those forms of child labour, the number of children covered by the measures giving effect to the Convention, the number and nature of infringements, investigations, prosecutions and convictions. As far as possible, such information and statistical data should include data disaggregated by sex, age group, occupation, branch of economic activity, and status in employment, school attendance and geographical location.