A whopping 2.7 million children in Uganda are subjected to hazardous child labour, according to the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Affairs. One out of three children aged 5 to 17 are forced to work, either because they are pushed by their parents or out of poverty, report Anne Mugisa and Aminsi Lubwama. “Child labour is a wide-spread phenomenon in Uganda where approximately 2.7 million out of 7.9 million girls and boys are working prematurely,” said minister Syda Bbumba. Addressing journalists on the eve of the World Day against Child Labour, she said one of the root causes of child labour was HIV/AIDS, which had killed about 1.8 million Ugandans and left almost one million children orphaned. Children who head families are forced to work to sustain their siblings, she explained. Of the 950,000 AIDS orphans, at least 300,000 are engaged in hazardous labour, which sometimes exposes them to HIV infections. Bbumba cited household poverty as another factor contributing to child labour. “Many children are forced by their parents to beg on the streets.” The vice, she said, was fuelled by people whose cultural convictions tell them that their luck increases when they give out small donations. Other children, she noted, were exploited by unscrupulous people who use them for sex work. She said the Government was investigating a racket of women in Kampala who acquire young girls and make money out of them by forcing them into prostitution. The minister said the 2.7 million did not include children who engage in normal domestic work. Domestic work only becomes hazardous labour when it denies a child education and normal development, she clarified. The Government is trying to eliminate child labour through Universal Primary Education, the Poverty Eradication Action Plan and the Prosperity For All programme, she said. She hoped that the Policy Dialogue, which is part of tomorrow’s activities, would come up with recommendations for assistance to orphans and would lead to educational sector reforms to keep children in school. Gilbert Ssendugwa from the International Labour Organisation said according to a 2006 study, 165,000 children had never enrolled in school, while 495,000 had dropped out that year.[new vision]
