Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2016, published 106th ILC session (2017)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Uganda (Ratification: 2003)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report has not been received. It is therefore bound to repeat its previous comments.

Repetition

Article 1. National policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labour and application of the Convention in practice. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that the Government acknowledged the problem of child labour in the country and recognized its dangers. The Committee noted that, according to the joint ILO–IPEC, UNICEF and World Bank report on understanding children’s work in Uganda of August 2008, an estimated 38.3 per cent of children aged 7 to 14 years, over 2.5 million children in absolute terms, were engaged in economic activity in 2005–06. Some 1.4 million children under the age of 12 years were engaged in economic activity, and 735,000 children aged less than 10 years were economically active. In this regard, the Committee previously noted that a national policy on child labour (NCLP), designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labour and progressively raise the minimum age for admission to employment or work, was adopted in 2006. It noted that the Government was cooperating with ILO–IPEC in the elaboration of a national action plan (NAP) in order to implement this national policy.

The Committee notes with concern that, according to the Uganda National Household Survey report of 2009–10, 2.75 million children aged 5 to 17 years are engaged in economic activities in Uganda; 51 per cent of them (1.4 million) are considered to be in hazardous child labour. The survey also indicates that child labour manifests itself in various forms and in different sectors, including domestic service, commercial agriculture (tea and sugar plantations), the informal economy, hotels and bars, commercial sexual exploitation, child trafficking, construction, fishing, stone and sand quarrying. Moreover, the Committee notes that a Child Labour Follow-up Survey was conducted in 2012 in the districts of Wakiso, Rakai and Mbale by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics with the collaboration of ILO–IPEC, in the framework of the Project of Support for the preparatory phase of the Uganda National Action Plan for the elimination of child labour (SNAP). According to the survey, children’s involvement in work remains common in these districts, with 35 per cent of children aged 6 to 17 years (about 353,000 children) being engaged in some economic activity. Out of this number, 121,000 children, i.e. 11 per cent of all children in the focus districts, were engaged in child labour. More specifically, about 49,000 children in Rakai, 7,800 children in Wakiso, and 21,700 children in Mbale below the age of 12 years were engaged in economic activity. An additional 6,600 children in Rakai, 4,900 children in Wakiso and 1,500 children in Mbale aged 12 to 13 years were in non light economic activities or hazardous work. Furthermore, 3,900 children in Rakai, 23,000 children in Wakiso, and 2,100 children in Mbale aged 14 to 17 were working in some hazardous forms of work or were working excessive hours. Putting these groups together yields an estimate of about 60,400 children aged 5 to 17 in child labour in the Rakai district, about 35,700 in Wakiso, and about 23,300 in Mbale (for a total of about 121,400 child labourers).

The Committee takes due note of the Government’s indication that the NAP on the elimination of child labour was launched in June 2012. This NAP is a strategic framework that will set the stage for the mobilization of policy-makers and for awareness raising at all levels, as well as to provide a basis for resource mobilization, reporting, monitoring, and evaluation of performance and progress of the interventions aimed at combating child labour. However, noting with concern that a significant number of children are involved in child labour, including in hazardous conditions, the Committee urges the Government to strengthen its efforts to ensure the effective elimination of child labour, especially in hazardous work. In this regard, it requests the Government to provide detailed information on the implementation of the NAP on the elimination of child labour in its next report. The Committee also requests the Government to continue to supply information on the application of the Convention in practice, particularly statistics on the employment of children under 14 years of age.

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

The Committee hopes that the Government will make every effort to take the necessary action in the near future.