Mozambique’s government approves list of dangerous work for children

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Mozambique’s government approves list of dangerous work for children

7:39 CAT | 19 Oct 2017

DW (File photo) / Children pick up stones by a road in central Mozambique

The Council of Ministers yesterday approved the list of dangerous work for children which is envisaged in the 1999 convention of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on the worst forms of child labour, ratified by the Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, in 2006.

The Convention obliges ILO member states to “take immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour as a matter of urgency”.

This includes “work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children”.

To implement this part of the protocol, member states are obliged to draw up a list of such dangerous work, which should be regularly revised in consultations with trade un ions and employers’ organisations. Only now, 11 years after the protocol was ratified, has the government drawn up this list.

Giving examples of what is on the list, Comoana said “we have some activities in agriculture – the driving of heavy machinery, or the exposure of children to substances that can be dangerous, such as pesticides”.

In fishing, she added, diving and the throwing of fishing nets count as activities dangerous for children.

A study on child labour in Mozambique, referring to the 2014-2016 period, says that about 1.1 million children are employed, 96 per cent of them in agriculture, fishing, hunting and forestry.

Also Read: Child Labour: More than 1 million Mozambican children and teenagers in work – report

Also Read: Mozambique has highest rate of child marriages in SADC

Also Read: NGO wants “urgent measures” against child labour in Mozambique

Source: AIM