In conflicts and disasters, protect children from child labour

You have probably seen that picture of a little boy seated at the back of an ambulance with blood on the right side of his face and the rest of the body covered in dust.

This picture of five-year-old Omran Dagneesh became the image of the brutality of the Assad regime and the suffering of children in Syria. Pictures of children in war and conflict areas show that despite their innocence, children are victims of war.

Globally, over 1.5 billion people live in countries that are affected by conflict, violence and fragility while 200 million people are affected by disasters every year; a third of them are children, according to the United Nations.

Conflicts and disasters do not only kill children, but ruin their life and impede their education. Consequently, the need for a means of survival rises, thereby making them vulnerable to work that is harmful and exploitative.

A significant portion of the 168 million children engaged in child labour live in areas affected by conflict and disasters.

This information is the gist of this year's World Day Against Child Labour, which is celebrated under the theme, ‘‘In conflicts and disasters, protect children from child labour''.

The theme focuses on the impact of conflicts and disasters on child labour. According to data from UNICEF, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the World Bank, 168 million children, aged five to 17, are engaged in child labour, depriving them of their childhood, health and education.

Child labour refers to the employment of children in any work that deprives them of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school and is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful.

It is a serious violation of their rights. The vice spans various sectors, namely, agriculture, quarrying and mining, manufacturing and domestic service.

The worst forms of child labour include slavery and practices such as forced and bonded labour, child soldiering, sexual exploitation and being used in illicit activities such as drug trafficking.

In Uganda, children below 18 years account for 58% of the country's total population of 31.3 million.

Out of these, about 1.5 million children in the age group of five to 11 are involved in work, according to the National Labour Force and Child Activities Survey 2011/12 by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS).

This is in addition to 252,000 children, aged 12-13, that work in non-light economic activities and 307,000 children, aged 14-17, who work in hazardous employment. CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON THIS STORY

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UGANDA WOMEN'S EFFORTS TO SAVE OPHANS (UWESO)