Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

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

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Articles 3(a), 5 and 7(1) of the Convention. Sale and trafficking of children, monitoring mechanisms and penalties. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s information, in its report, regarding the activities it has undertaken, in particular in the framework of the National Action Plan on Human Trafficking, Mixed and Irregular Migration 2018-21. For instance, the Government indicates that capacity-building was conducted on human trafficking for the benefit of 19 frontline officials and 30 gender officers from various Government ministries and civil society organizations. In addition, the Committee takes note of the detailed information provided by the Government under the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29), regarding the activities and trainings undertaken by the National Prosecution Authority (NPA), which is the principal authority for all prosecutors in the country. The Committee further notes that, in the framework of the new National Policy on Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants 2022-25 (NAP-TiP), one main objective is the enhancement of the capacity of the criminal justice system to investigate, identify and prosecute human trafficking cases effectively and efficiently by 2026.

The Committee observes, however, that the Government does not provide information on the investigations and prosecutions of perpetrators of child trafficking, despite the fact that a total number of 2,782 cases of trafficking (including of cases involving child victims) were handled by the District Social Welfare Officers between January 2020 and June 2023. During the first quarter of 2023, 80 cases were recorded, including 23 cases involving child victims. The Committee also notes that the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), in its concluding observations of 27 June 2022 (CRC/C/ZMB/CO/5-7, para. 42), noted the increasing number of child victims of trafficking in border areas and recommended that Zambia strengthen the training of professionals concerned with identifying and referring child victims of trafficking and take urgent measures to investigate, penalize and prevent commercial exploitation of children, particularly girls. The Committee therefore strongly encourages the Government to continue to take the necessary measures to ensure that cases of trafficking of children under the age of 18 for labour or commercial sexual exploitation are detected, and that investigations and prosecutions are conducted against the perpetrators. It requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken, in the framework of the NAP-TiP or otherwise, and the results achieved, including with regard to the number and nature of convictions and penalties imposed.

Articles 3, 7(1) and 7(2). Worst forms of child labour, penalties and direct assistance for the removal of children from the worst forms of child labour. Clause (d).Hazardous work. Mining. The Committee notes that, according to section 3 of the Prohibition of Employment of Young Persons and Children (Hazardous Labour) Order, 2013 (Statutory Instrument No. 121 of 2013), the employment of children or young persons in work involving exposure to lead (h) or in underground work (bb) is prohibited. Yet, the Committee observes that according to a press release of 10 May 2022, found on the website of the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services (MoCDSS), entitled “Child labour worries Government”, the MoCDSS has expressed concern about the increase in the number of children engaging in labour in the mining sector. Similarly, in a press release of 24 May 2022 found on the website of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights entitled “Experts of the Committee on the Rights of the Child Ask Zambia about the Exposure of Children to Lead Contamination in Mines and about Child Marriage”, reports the serious concern expressed by the CRC about the use of child labour in artisanal mining and the exposure of these children to high-level lead contamination. The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure the effective application of Statutory Instrument No. 121 of 2013 as regards the prohibition of the employment of all children under 18 in underground work in mines, and to provide information on inspections undertaken, violations detected and penalties imposed in this regard. It also requests the Government to provide information on the effective and time-bound measures taken or envisaged to protect children from becoming engaged in such hazardous work and removing those who are involved in this worst form of child labour and providing for their rehabilitation and social integration.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (a). Preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour. Access to free basic education. Following its previous comments, the Committee observes that the preliminary 2018 Zambia Child Labour Survey Report (ZCLSR) estimated that out of 6,035,481 children aged between 5 and 17 years, 1,308,994 children had never attended school (i.e. one in five children). Of the children who had never attended school, 77 per cent were in the rural areas and 54 per cent were boys. Some of the main reasons the 2018 ZCLSR respondents gave for the high proportion of children who had never attended school relate to inadequate public spending on primary education.

In this regard, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that it continues to implement the Free Education for All Policy, which extends from early childhood to secondary education, and introduced school subsidies on user fees, and that this has positively impacted school attendance. The Government also continues to implement a series of interventions to promote schooling and reduce drop-out rates, in particular for girls, children in vulnerable situations and children living in rural areas. These include the “Keeping Girls in School” initiative (social cash transfers targeting girls from extremely poor households); the Improved Learner Support systems, which are school support structures aimed at improving learner retention; and the Stakeholders Engagement and Collaboration, which is a collaborative effort between the Government and civil society partners to ensure that school dropouts are given an opportunity to come back to school (by 2020, the programme had expanded its operations across four provinces, covering 62,611 girls). The Committee further notes that, under the National Action Plan for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour 2020-2025 (NAP-II), one of the priorities is to increase access to education through increased enrolment and retention of children at school. This is to be done, for instance, through cash transfer schemes to the benefit of identified vulnerable households, the scaling up of school feeding programmes and the allocation of 20 per cent of the budget to education.

The Committee notes, however, that the CRC, in its concluding observations of 27 June 2022, expressed concern about, among others: (1) the persistently high dropout rates, particularly among girls, due to teenage pregnancy, child marriage, discriminatory traditional and cultural practices and poverty; (2) the enrolment and retention rate disparities between boys and girls in primary and secondary school, particularly in rural areas; and (3) the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to education, particularly for children from poor households and children with disabilities (CRC/C/ZMB/CO/5-7, para. 37). The Committee therefore once again strongly encourages the Government to continue its efforts to improve the functioning of the education system through measures aimed at, inter alia, reducing the school drop-out rates, particularly of girls, and increasing the enrolment and attendance rates in primary and lower secondary education. In this regard, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken in the framework of the NAP-II and the results achieved in terms of statistics on school enrolment, attendance and drop-out rates.

Clause (d). Identifying and reaching out to children at special risk. Child orphans of HIV/AIDS and other vulnerable children (OVCs). Following its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s information that the Bursary Support programme to OVCs continues to be implemented. This intervention provides financial support to orphaned and vulnerable learners who have dropped out of school or are at risk of dropping out of school due to socio-economic factors. The Committee, however, notes with concern that according to 2022 UNAIDS statistics, there remain an estimated 580,000 child orphans due to AIDS in Zambia, representing a considerable increase since the Committee last took note of the estimated 470,000 child orphans due to AIDS in 2018. Recalling that children orphaned by HIV/AIDS and OVCs are at an increased risk of being engaged in the worst forms of child labour, the Committee urges the Governmentto pursue its efforts to ensure that they are protected from the worst forms of child labour and to facilitate their access to education. It requests the Government to provide information on the specific effective and time bound measures taken in this regard, as well as the results achieved in terms of number of OVCs who have benefited from such measures.

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