Despite the efforts that have been put in place to fight child labour in the country, through various initiatives and policies, some families continue to keep children in employment, mainly as domestic workers. 

Some of the children, besides being deprived of their right to education, are subjected to burdensome domestic work for long hours while others face different kinds of violence at the hands of their employers.

A case in point is Celine, whose second name The New Times withholds because, at 17, she is still a minor.

Born in Ruhango Cell, Rongi Sector in Muhanga District, Céline became an orphan at a tender age of two and was taken in by her maternal grandmother, who unfortunately passed on later.

Dropping out

Celine stayed with the grandfather who put her through school until Primary Five and due to old age, she had to stay home to take care of him.

In a candid interview, Celine says she was never a ‘bad’ student.

"I was not a bad student. I could not exceed 12th position in my class and once in Primary Four, I emerged second in class. I was good at English and I remember one teacher used to like me because I could answer well his questions,” says Celine.

She stayed at home with her grandfather until he died a few years later. She was 11.

"I stayed home alone but then it was not practical, so I decided to stay with my uncle, who also lived in Muhanga District,” she said.

Becoming a maid

Life was not easy at her uncle’s place because of the mistreatment she suffered at the hands of his wife, she says, which prompted her to leave and seek employment as a house-help for a family in the neighbourhood, where she was being paid a paltry Rwf2,000 a month.

She later relocated to Kigali and currently she is working for a family in Kicukiro District.

This teen in the past six years worked in several homes and experienced various kinds of mistreatment from employers, including physical attacks.

In August, she says, she was lured by a friend to the family she worked for with a promise that she would be given a chance to further her education only to be taken back into the harsh conditions of a house-help.

"They wanted me to work without rest and without pay. I was always tired and whenever I would fail to complete the menial tasks they assigned to me, they would beat me up,” Celine notes.

She later decided to leave that family with a colleague’s help to get a salaried domestic job elsewhere but she always wishes to continue studying.

Betty, 16, a house help in Gitega Sector of Nyarugenge District, was introduced to domestic work after her father refused to pay her fees because she had got poor grades in Primary Leaving Examinations.

She has been a domestic worker since August.

"My fellow classmates are now in Senior One, I get sad when I meet some of them,” says Betty.

The 2013/14 Integrated Household Living Conditions Survey 4 (EICV 4), by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR), showed that 13.4 per cent of children aged between six and 17 are employed and, among them, 3.4 per cent are under difficult conditions.

The recent 2015 domestic workers’ baseline survey focusing on child domestic workers and employers in Rwanda conducted in 15 districts indicates that among 2,480 workers who were asked, 6.3 per cent were children aged between six and 15.

Epimaque Karwana, the president of Inzira y’Akazi, a company that links workers with employers in Kigali, says they only enlist those aged 18 years and above and one has to show their ID to be registered.

"Our duty is not to just link jobseekers to employers. We also have an obligation to look out for children. We know some people employ children and assign them menial work that is at times hazardous,” he said.

Way forward

According to François Bisengimana, the National Children’s Council (NCC) Executive Secretary, they have partnered with children’s rights activists to track down and rescue children that are in such conditions.

He said that those that are rescued are integrated into either formal schools or taken to Technical and Vocational Education and Training centres.

"We are also working with the Ministry of Public Service and Labour to ensure no child is employed in hazardous working environment like industries; coffee, tea and rice plantations; mines, among others,” he said.

He said that, in April in Rusizi District alone, 200 children were rescued from hazardous work and returned to school with the support of ‘Winlock International Organisation’.

At the end of June, 2016, another 200 children were removed from rice plantations while others were working as porters at different trading centres in the district and all these have since been integrated in school.

According the labour code, a child should not be given assignments that prevent them from studying or that undermine their physical or moral life.

The law prescribes a fine of between Rwf5,000 and Rwf50,000 for anyone culpable to having in their employ a minor and an imprisonment of up to six months.

Speaking to The New Times, Marcel Sibomana, the Programme Manager and Child Rights Governance at Save the Children Rwanda, said that cases of child labour are still prevalent and should be addressed through case management approach, involving all stakeholders, from local leaders to partner organisations.

He said that it is important for the stakeholders to establish the reason why these children end up doing such work, adding that it always leads to a sustainable solution.

"Efforts should also be put in place to sensitise all people that it is prohibited to engage children in domestic work. You will not tell, for example, a local leader that employing a child is illegal and that he should fight it in his area when he himself does it, this is why everyone should be aware of this problem,” he added.

Speaking to The New Times, Esperance Nyirasafari, the Minister for Gender and Family Promotion, said that employing a child below 18 and subscribe them to hard labour is criminal, not only in Rwanda but internationally.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw