By Ganzi Muhanguzi

ABOUT 17% of children aged 5-17 are engaged in child labour, a joint report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Uganda Bureau of Statistics has revealed. Of these, 96% are working in the agriculture sector and 27% in the manufacturing sector.

Addressing journalists in Kampala yesterday, Akky de Kort, the ILO chief technical advisor, said: “Not only is child workers’ education compromised, they are also vulnerable to workplace abuses and exposed at risk of work-related ill-health or injury.”

The report states that by 13, half of the children in the country are economically active.

Over 35% of 7 to 14 year-olds work while they attend school, while 3% of them do not go to school.

The report states that 600,000 children either drop out of school or do not attain formal education as a result of child labour.

“We need to embark on a holistic approach to combat child labour,” Kort said.

She added that the report was the first of its kind in Uganda and gives well researched statistics which would be used by policy makers to address child labour.

Kort stressed that it is everyone’s responsibility to tackle child labour.
James Muwonge of the Bureau of Statistics said child labour was highest in eastern and central regions, followed by western Uganda.

“We also found that girls are more likely to perform household chores than boys,” he said.

He added that several children aged between 7 and 17 were neither working nor studying.

“We suspect that these children are being trafficked or forced into illegal employment.”

Muwonge called for the establishment of more education centres to cater for school drop-outs.

Tanzania has the highest number of child labourers, followed by Uganda and Kenya. Other African countries that have high numbers of children involved in economic activities include Sierra Leone, Guinea, Togo and Zambia.