Ministry and ILO start drive against child labour

The government through the Ministry of Labour and Public Service in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Tuesday launched a campaign to intensify the fight against child labour. Speaking during the launch held in Kigali, the Director of Labour in the ministry, Anna Mugabo, said the initiative, which is the latest among strategies the government has taken, would mainly focus on awareness sessions to educate the population about children rights among other activities. “We have to sometimes accept that there might be limited access to information about children`s rights, but this time round, we are going to sensitise the population about rights of our children,” Mugabo said. Mugabo wondered why some parents and guardians still expose their children to child labour at the expense of school even after the introduction of the 9-Year Basic Education. She acknowledged that although there are cases of child labour in the urban centres, it is most prevalent in rural areas. “In addition to the measures in place to fight child labour and rights abuse, we will maintain the fight to ensure all children under 16 years are not engaged in economic activities, which apart from being illegal, is also against their will,” she said. Some of the measures put in place by the government include recruiting labour inspectors in all districts to help participate in taking the message to the local population. Reports indicate that in Sub-Saharan African countries, over 49 million children between the ages of 5-17 are involved in child labour. Zaina Nyiramatama, the Executive Secretary of the National Commission for Children (NCC) said that her commission will work hand in hand with other stakeholders in making the campaign a success. The agriculture sector is said to involve the largest percentage of children in child labour in the country, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics in Rwanda.