Child labour widespread

IN Namibia’s journey towards development and industrialisation, can the many and varied cultures of its people be allowed to continue unchanged? This question of culture versus development was just one of a series of dilemmas confronted by participants at a recent workshop held in Outjo to try and find solutions to the country’s child-labour problem.

According to a 1999 survey conducted by the Ministry of Labour (Namibia Child Activities Survey or NCAS), 23 per cent of all children in rural areas were working, while in urban areas this figure stood at 2.3 per cent. More than half of these working children – 40 000 – were younger than 14, the survey found.In Outjo, the work some children are expected to do includes getting involved in the sex trade for family members who act as pimps, and in the charcoal producing industry.According to Kunene Regional Councillor Thomas Sheya, some children move into this area from the Kavango Region with their parents to work as charcoal burners.”These children don’t go to school.They live here in plastic make-shifts,” he told fellow participants.Farmers generally make use of a loophole in the law to clear themselves of responsibility for these children, workshop facilitator and International Labour Organisation (ILO) consultant Ulfried Schwacke said.While all farm owners interviewed by the organisation denied knowledge that children were working for them in charcoal production, some apparently said that they did not know whether or not there were cases of children “helping their parents”.This would not be their problem, as these parents are under “self-employed” contracts, Schwacke said.Participants, ranging from Police officers to teachers, farmers and civil servants, shared their own examples of children they thought were being exploited.These include the children of farm owners, or of farmers’ extended families, who especially on communal farms are expected to work in exchange for being allowed to live and eat on these farms.Whereas the work these children do would generally be worthy of compensation, the fact that the labourers are children and family members lead to a situation where they are forced to do this work for free, participants suggested.These children are often not sent to school either, participants said.Despite Namibia’s legal commitment to stopping the worst forms of child labour from occurring, a discussion document completed by the ILO and handed over to the Ministry of Gender and Child Welfare last week cites weak systems of enforcement and inspection, along with parental approval or insistence, as obstacles.”Legal protection in itself is not a guarantee that the practice will be abolished.”Poverty, short-sighted economic interest, lack of motivation, poor training, political interference, corruption, lack of will and failure to understand the importance of children all play a role,” the ILO states.”By the very nature of the worst forms of child labour, often illegal or concealed by the adults and children involved, there is limited access to information, particularly statistics in Namibia, as is true for the rest of the world,” it continues.As far as the sex trade goes, child pornography does not seem to happen in Namibia, Schwacke said, although children are being used in transactional sex work, or sex in exchange for food, clothes and other household support.In Outjo, a number of children were recently expelled from high school after it was found that they were engaged in the commercial sex trade, he said.The school where they had been enrolled apparently felt that they would have a bad influence on fellow pupils.The expulsion of these children, Schwacke said, was deemed as unfortunate, as they would now be in an even worse dilemma than before.More than half of these working children – 40 000 – were younger than 14, the survey found.In Outjo, the work some children are expected to do includes getting involved in the sex trade for family members who act as pimps, and in the charcoal producing industry.According to Kunene Regional Councillor Thomas Sheya, some children move into this area from the Kavango Region with their parents to work as charcoal burners.”These children don’t go to school.They live here in plastic make-shifts,” he told fellow participants.Farmers generally make use of a loophole in the law to clear themselves of responsibility for these children, workshop facilitator and International Labour Organisation (ILO) consultant Ulfried Schwacke said.While all farm owners interviewed by the organisation denied knowledge that children were working for them in charcoal production, some apparently said that they did not know whether or not there were cases of children “helping their parents”.This would not be their problem, as these parents are under “self-employed” contracts, Schwacke said.Participants, ranging from Police officers to teachers, farmers and civil servants, shared their own examples of children they thought were being exploited.These include the children of farm owners, or of farmers’ extended families, who especially on communal farms are expected to work in exchange for being allowed to live and eat on these farms.Whereas the work these children do would generally be worthy of compensation, the fact that the labourers are children and family members lead to a situation where they are forced to do this work for free, participants suggested.These children are often not sent to school either, participants said.Despite Namibia’s legal commitment to stopping the worst forms of child labour from occurring, a discussion document completed by the ILO and handed over to the Ministry of Gender and Child Welfare last week cites weak systems of enforcement and inspection, along with parental approval or insistence, as obstacles. “Legal protection in itself is not a guarantee that the practice will be abolished.”Poverty, short-sighted economic interest, lack of motivation, poor training, political interference, corruption, lack of will and failure to understand the importance of children all play a role,” the ILO states.”By the very nature of the worst forms of child labour, often illegal or concealed by the adults and children involved, there is limited access to information, particularly statistics in Namibia, as is true for the rest of the world,” it continues.As far as the sex trade goes, child pornography does not seem to happen in Namibia, Schwacke said, although children are being used in transactional sex work, or sex in exchange for food, clothes and other household support.In Outjo, a number of children were recently expelled from high school after it was found that they were engaged in the commercial sex trade, he said.The school where they had been enrolled apparently felt that they would have a bad influence on fellow pupils.The expulsion of these children, Schwacke said, was deemed as unfortunate, as they would now be in an even worse dilemma than before.