Many everyday items are produced by child labor in Africa such as clothes, soccer balls, carpets, coffee and chocolate.
Child Labor in Africa
The International Labor
Organization (ILO) defines child labor as work that deprives children of their
childhood, their potential and their dignity. Nine percent of African children
are in hazardous work; this is the highest of all the world’s regions.
UNICEF 2006 survey on sex tourism along Kenya's coastline reported that around 3,000 girls worked as commercial sex workers, and nearly half of
them started as young as 12 or 13 years of age. Some African regions with high child labor rates have been
among those most affected by situations of war, military coops, poor government
and crisis, which in turn heightens the risk of child labor.
The agricultural
sector is the largest employer of children worldwide, accounting for 70 percent
of global child labor. Domestic work is the leading employment for girls under
the age of 16. In Africa, it is estimated that between 56 and 72 million
children work in agriculture.
This is a
particularly dangerous activity for children because of the risks faced when
working with pesticides, tools and machinery. In Eastern and Southern Africa, it
is an issue of particular concern in Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania and Zimbabwe,
where many children work in the tea and tobacco industry.
The Eastern and
Southern African region has the highest proportion of children involved in
child labor in the world, 36 percent of all children between the ages of five
and 14. This regional average, however, hides large differences between
countries, ranging from 9 percent in Swaziland to 53 percent in Ethiopia.
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| Child working in Madagascar |
Did you know?
In Africa and
throughout the world, the East African country of Eritrea is ranked number one
as one of the worst country for child labor.
