Angola: SOS-Child helpline registered 1,894 cases of child labour in 2023

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Angola: SOS-Child helpline registered 1,894 cases of child labour in 2023

9:46 CAT | 11 Jun 2024

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

The Angolan authorities registered 1,894cases of child labour in 2023 via the SOS-Child helpline, with the highest number being recorded in the province of Bié, followed by the provinces of Lunda Sul, Luanda and Zaire, an official source told Lusa.

According to Gabriel Mbilingue, an advisor to Angola’s secretary of state for labour, the authorities registered a total of 1,894 reports of child labour exploitation on the 15015 SOS-Child line in 2023.

Just over half of the cases involved girls, at 958, with 936 involved boys.

The complaints came from all of the country’s provinces, “but the province of Bié is at the top of the list, followed by the province of Lunda Sul and then Luanda and Zaire,” he said, without giving any figures for 2024.

The senior technician from Angola’s Ministry of Public Administration, Labour and Social Security (MAPTSS) said that the current framework for child labour in Angola is supported by a legislative package that is enshrined above all in the National Action Plan for the Eradication of Child Labour (PANETI) in the country.

PANETI, which was approved in 2021 and has a multisectoral team coordinated by MAPTSS, has as its main objective the implementation of measures that promote the practical application of children’s rights as a way of preventing and eradicating child labour in its worst forms.

“The implementation of these measures has been carried out since the plan was approved by a multisectoral commission coordinated by MAPTSS,” said Mbilingue.

For the second half of 2024, PANETI plans to carry out actions to eradicate child labour in the country’s 18 provinces, namely training civil society, including the media, with the aim of curbing child exploitation.

The implementation of a PANETI counter and actions to publicise the list of prohibited and conditional work for minors, updated in 2022 by presidential decree, are also among the activities planned for 2024.

According to Mbilingue, the plan to eradicate child labour also includes a series of campaigns and competitions, as part of the ‘PANETI Songs Project’ – which aims to revitalise children’s songs with a new concept.

In addition to recording the best-known Angolan children’s songs, he explained, the project also aims to produce new songs about the eradication of child labour.

Hundreds of children in Angola continue to work for a living and even to support their families.

In the country’s streets, avenues, neighbourhoods, villages and markets, children can be seen carrying out various activities, such as selling products, agricultural work or other precarious jobs, like taxi collectors, shoeshine boys and car washers.

Source: Lusa