Govt allocates shs2b to child labour fight as victim numbers skyrocket

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The Government says it has earmarked shillings two billion towards efforts to combat child labour in the 2025/26 national budget.

The development follows the number of children trapped in exploitative work surging to 6.2 million, according to officials.

Speaking to journalists at the Uganda Media Centre on June 11, 2025, ahead of the World Day Against Child Labour today, June 12, the gender ministry permanent secretary, Aggrey David Kibenge, said there is an urgent need to tackle child labour, which he termed as an endemic and growing crisis.

“We now estimate that 6.2 million children in Uganda are engaged in child labour. "That’s nearly a third of all our children.”

Gender ministry permanent secretary Aggrey David Kibenge speaking to journalists at the Uganda Media Centre on June 11, 2025, ahead of the World Day Against Child Labour on June 12, 2025. (Photo by Maria Wamala)

He cited figures from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics and ministry estimates that indicate an alarming increase since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The commemoration of this year’s World Day Against Child Labour is held under the global theme: End Child Labour: Let Us Speed Action.

Kibenge said Uganda, a signatory to key international conventions on child labour, including the International Labour Organisation Convention on the worst forms of child labour, is recommitting to the 2025 goal of eliminating all forms of child labour.

He said the shillings two billion allocation will bolster ongoing interventions under the National Action Plan for the Elimination of Child Labour, enhance labour inspection, support withdrawal and rehabilitation of affected children, and intensify community awareness campaigns.

“This allocation is part of a broader strategy to accelerate progress. Child labour must not be normalised in our communities. We are going to use LC leaders, churches, NGOs and social partners,” he said.

"Before March 2020, the rate was 14%. It has since more than doubled in some areas, especially rural Uganda, where 31% of children are involved in child labour compared to 20% in urban centres," he explained.

This rise is attributed to economic shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic, poverty, and limited access to education, especially in marginalised regions.

Kibenge outlined a raft of interventions the Government is implementing or planning to roll out in co-ordination with development partners. Kibenge stressed the importance of Uganda's free education policies and implored families to prioritise schooling over child labour.

“When families have stable incomes, they are less likely to send children into hazardous work. We are attacking this problem from the roots—poverty and vulnerability—through poverty eradication avenues like PDM,” said Kibenge.

“There is no justifiable reason for any child to be out of school when the government has made provisions for universal primary and secondary education,” he said. “Education is a right, not a privilege,” he added.

Kibenge highlighted that the agriculture sector and the mining sector contribute a lot to this crisis.

Jackqueline Banya Acayo, the national project co-ordinator at ILO, commended the Government for the efforts made and enforced against child labour. She noted that Uganda is up-to-speed on enforcing the global policies.

“The biggest call is to strengthen prevention, protection and partnerships against child labour,” Banya noted. 

This year’s celebration will take place at the Golden Tulip Hotel Kampala with key stakeholders.

Prevalence of child labour across the world

The United Nations says since 2000, for nearly two decades, the world had been making steady progress in reducing child labour. But over the past few years, conflicts, crises and the COVID-19 pandemic have plunged more families into poverty, forcing millions more children into child labour.

"Economic growth has not been sufficient, nor inclusive enough, to relieve the pressure that too many families and communities feel, and that makes them resort to child labour. Today, 160 million children are still engaged in child labour. That is almost one in ten children worldwide."

"Africa ranks highest among regions both in the percentage of children in child labour — one-fifth — and the absolute number of children in child labour — 72 million. Asia and the Pacific ranks second highest in both these measures — 7% of all children and 62 million in absolute terms are in child labour in this region," the UN says.

It adds that the Africa and the Asia and the Pacific regions together account for almost nine out of every 10 children in child labour worldwide. The remaining child labour population is divided among the Americas (11 million), Europe and Central Asia (6 million), and the Arab States (1 million). In terms of incidence, 5% of children are in child labour in the Americas, 4% in Europe and Central Asia, and 3% in the Arab States.

"While the percentage of children in child labour is highest in low-income countries, their numbers are actually greater in middle-income countries. 9% all children in lower-middle-income countries, and 7% of all children in upper-middle-income countries, are in child labour. Statistics on the absolute number of children in child labour in each national income grouping indicate that 84 million children in child labour, accounting for 56% of all those in child labour, actually live in middle-income countries, and an additional 2 million live in high-income countries".