Govt reaffirms fight against child labour
Malawi Government has reiterated its commitment to fight child labour in the agriculture sector.
Regional labour officer (S) Lenius Daiton reaffirmed government’s commitment on Monday when he opened a day-long workshop for child labour trainer of trainers in Blantyre.
He said government has demonstrated its commitment by ratifying Convention 183 on the minimum age of entry into employment and Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labour.
“Malawi has also ratified the United Nations Convention on the rights of children. We have also domesticated these conventions in our Constitution, Employment Act of 2000 and in the National Code of Conduct on child labour.
“Besides, government in partnership with the International Labour Organisation carried out a national survey to determine the state of child labour in the country,” said Daiton.
The workshop drew together officers from the ministries of Labour, Agriculture and Gender from Phalombe, Chiradzulu, Mulanje, Blantyre, Nsanje, Chikhwawa, Mwanza, Thyolo and Neno.
ILO monitoring and evaluation officer Gracious Ndalama said they targeted the agriculture industry because of rampant child labour in that sector.
“About 53 percent of child labour takes place in the agriculture sector,” he said.
Ndalama said in the sector children work in harzadous conditions with little or no pay at all.
