Child labour and health - policy implications for health planning
| Adapted from a workshop on Child
Labour MRC/NIEHS Meeting: BUILDING RESEARCH CAPACITY FOR CHILDREN, ENVIRONMENT & HEALTH IN SOUTH AFRICA |
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| May 2001 | |
| Leslie London, University of Cape Town |
Why focus on child labour now?
| New democracy, new approaches | |
| Developments in International Arena:
ILO coordinating IPEC (SAMAT) |
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| Child Labour Inter-sectoral Group (CLIG) | |
| SA Child Labour Action Programme | |
| Survey of Activities of Young People (SAYP) - StatsSA & Dept. of Labour | |
What constitutes child labour?
| Traditional notion of bonded labour or sweatshop workers | |
| But, what of: - informal sector (e.g. taxi tout)? - pocket money work? - household chores? - household task that frees an adult to work? - work at school, or after school? |
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| When does work become labour? |
| “All forms of economic exploitation and any work that is likely to be hazardous or interfere with the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development” | |
| “Child labour is remunerated or unremunerated work by a young person under a certain age, the work of which impairs the young person’s personal development, health, safety, well-being physically, mentally and psychologically, impairment of which is in violation of national or international law” | |
| Worst forms of CL: bonded labour, prostitution, drug trafficking, pornography, armed conflict, etc. | |
Child labour versus child work
| Not all child work necessarily bad | |
| Housework (limited) and chores plays role in socialising child | |
| Errands for reward part of self-identity / esteem | |
| ® distinction between child labour and child work | |
What makes child labour bad for children’s health and well-being?
| Health and safety threatened | |
| Educational deprivation | |
| Childhood development impaired | |
| Denial of a future | |
| Human rights abuse |
Child Labour: Harm versus Benefit
| 1973 Minimum Age Convention | |
| National policy | |
| Linked to schooling minimum: 15 (14) yrs | |
| Dangerous work: 18 (16) yrs | |
| “Light work” 13-15 yrs (12-14) | |
| Local flexibilty | |
| 1996 Worst forms of Child Labour | |
| Obligation on states | |
| Focus on free basic education | |
| Identify risk children | |
| Special focus girls | |
| “effective and time-bound measures…” | |
Child labour and health in SA What evidence? I. Agriculture
| DOPSTOP survey Stellenbosch, 1998:
1% self-admitted; 11% elsewhere on farm |
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| W Cape pestic. pois. Notifications
87-91: 7 cases children < 16yrs = occupational = 3% of total, 10% child poisonings |
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| PM review W Cape for occupational deaths ® high number of dam drownings | |
Child labour and health in SA What evidence? II. Other
| Lead in child newspaper vendors | |
| Lead poisoning due to family car battery recycling in Soweto backyard | |
| Anecdotal: service sector, street children, dump scavenging, | |
| Outsourcing ® increasing labour in families at home | |
| 2-stage survey in 1999: - 26 081 households interviewed to establish prevalence - 4494 in-depth interviews to characterise child labour |
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| Probability sample, rural and urban | |
| focus on children 5 - 17 years | |
| Statistical adjustments, weightings | |
| Economic child labour (ECL)
categories: 1. Work for pay, profit or family economic gain 2. Unpaid domestic work (not in family) |
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| 3. Fetching wood and water in child’s household | |
| Non-economic child labour (NECL): | |
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4. Household chores > 7hrs/week 5. School labour > 5 hrs/week |
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| CHILD LABOUR: | |
| Broad definition = ECL > 1 hr/wk / any NECL | |
| Narrow definition = ECL > 3 hr/wk / any NECL |
SAYP data (II): Prevalence of child labour
| Majority of child labour takes place in non-paid form - esp. fetching wood and water | |
| Paid work by children - only 1.8% (but this represents +/- 250 000 children!) |
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| Higher amongst Coloured children
(4.5%) Sectors - mainly agriculture (59%) and trade (33%) |
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| Hazardous conditions reported BY
working children doing economic work: heat (36%), tiring work (27%), cold (26%), dust (19%), long work hours (18%), work outside daylight hours (12%) |
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| (subjective assessment) | |
| Slightly higher for males | |
| Slightly higher for older children (15-17yrs) | |
SAYP data (V): Specific hazards
| Hazardous exposures (e.g. chemicals) - only 2.4% | |
| Most likely in rural other and commercial farms | |
| Self-reported illness or injury - 2% | |
| LOW RATES = UNDER-REPORTING | |
| 65% households rely on paraffin, wood, coal |
| Child labour mainly non-remunerated (but economic) work | |
| In economic work - mainly issues of climate, hours of work, dust | |
| Underestimation of occupational hazards, illness, injury |
Child labour in SA: Some gaps and research questions
| What impacts of fetching wood and water? | |
| Known risk sectors for child labour: agriculture, manufacturing, informal sector | |
| Impacts of agricultural policies; trade? | |
| Impacts of deregulation and outsourcing? | |
Child labour in
SA:
Policy questions
| How will HIV epidemic impact on child labour in SA? | |
| How will measures to control child labour avoid job losses and accelerated poverty? | |
| How can measure isolate the worst forms of child labour for eradication? |