Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Eswatini (Ratification: 2002)

Article 3 of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes that section 10 of the Employment Bill prohibits the worst forms of child labour. Recognizing that the Employment Bill has been subjected to a thorough process of consultations, including with the ILO, the Government indicates that it hopes that the remaining legislative process will be undertaken without further needless delays. The Committee therefore urges the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure that the draft Employment Bill is adopted without delay. It once again requests the Government to supply a copy thereof, once it has been adopted.

Clause (a). Sale and trafficking of children. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s information, in its report, regarding investigations, prosecutions and convictions conducted under the People Trafficking and Smuggling (Prohibition) Act No. 11 of 2010. In particular, the Government investigated 14 suspected trafficking cases in 2018-19 – eight cases of forced labour, two sex trafficking cases, and three cases of an unknown type of exploitation – compared with 19 the previous year (2017). During the same year 2018–19 the Government initiated prosecutions of three alleged traffickers compared with one during the year 2017–18. The Committee further notes the Government’s information that two cases of trafficking went to prosecution in 2020/2021, one internal and one transnational. One of the cases concerned the offences of kidnapping and sex trafficking of a girl from 2017 to 2019, for which the perpetrator was convicted to 55 years of imprisonment. The Committee notes, however, the Government’s indication that resource constraints, both within the Government and NGOs providing prevention and protection services, have limited the levels of implementation of trafficking laws, investigations and prosecutions. The Committee encourages the Government to strengthen its efforts to ensure the effective application of the People Trafficking and Smuggling (Prohibition) Act, and to provide information on the progress made in this regard. It requests the Government to continue to provide information on the application in practice of the Act, including the number of infringements reported, investigations, prosecutions, convictions and penalties applied for the sale and trafficking of children under 18 years of age.

Clause (b). Use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances. The Committee notes with satisfaction that the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act (SODV Act) was adopted in 2018, which prohibits and penalizes sexual offences including, but not limited to: (i) commercial sexual exploitation, including of children (section 13); (ii) the procurement of or benefit from prostitution, including that of children (sections 15 and 16); (iii) the use of children for pornography (section 24); and (iv) the production of, benefit from, and distribution and possession of child pornography (sections 25 to 28). The Committee notes, however, that the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, in its concluding observations of 22 October 2021, remained seriously concerned at the high prevalence of sexual exploitation and abuse of children and that few cases were reported, even though the perpetrators are often known to the victims (CRC/C/SWZ/CO/2-4, para. 40). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application in practice of the sections mentioned above of the SODV Act, indicating the number of prosecutions, convictions and penal sanctions applied for the offences related to prostitution and pornography involving children.

Article 4(1). Determination of hazardous types of work. With regard to the adoption of the list of hazardous types of work prohibited to children under 18 years of age, the Committee refers to its detailed comments under the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138).

Application of the Convention in practice. Following its previous comments, the Committee takes due note that the National Employment Statistics Unit has generated the 2021 Integrated Labour Survey, which covers issues of child employment. According to the Survey, the prevalence of child labour in the country is estimated to be at 8.2 per cent. Moreover, according to the document of the Action Programme on Combating Child Labour in Eswatini (APPCL), critical areas of child labour include domestic work, children engaged in subsistence and commercial agriculture, street children working as traders and hawkers, children working in the public and private transport sector, children engaged in scavenging and recycling, children working in formal and informal bars, children working in factories, children working in informal tourism industry and children working in the construction industry. Many of the children engaged in these forms of child labour carry out work that is hazardous and falls under the category of worst forms of child labour. Examples include livestock herding, street work and factory work under hazardous conditions. Noting the prevalence of child labour, including in various types of hazardous work, in Eswatini, the Committee urges the Government to strengthen its efforts to eliminate hazardous child labour. The Committee also requests the Government to continue providing information on the nature, extent, and trends of the worst forms of child labour, the number of children covered by the measures giving effect to the Convention, and information on the number and nature of infringements reported, investigations undertaken, prosecutions, convictions and penal sanctions applied. To the extent possible, all information provided should be disaggregated by age and gender.

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