Child labour in Zambia slammed
2002-10-25 15:00
Johannesburg - An international trade organisation on Friday condemned the serious and widespread use of child labour and the worsening workers' basic rights in Zambia.
Children were still toiling in even the worst forms of child
labour such as small scale mining operations, agriculture and stone crushing, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) said in a report released in Brussels.
This was in contravention of two core conventions of the
International Labour Organisation on child labour.
"With children working in dangerous occupations including
portering, street begging and domestic labour, child labour is a
widespread problem in Zambia," the report said.
The document was released to coincide with the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) review of Zambia's trade policy. The WTO review was produced on October 23 to 25.
The ICFTU represent 157 million workers in 225 affiliated
organisations in 148 countries around the world. The ICFTU is also a member of Global Unions.
The ICFTU report stated that there were reports of forced
prostitution in Zambia, particularly of children. And women and
children trafficking was rife, it said.
"Many officials of municipal workers' trade unions have been
dismissed for union activities.
"Although the right to collective bargaining is recognised in
law, and collective bargaining is relatively widespread in
practice, a deteriorating situation as regards violation of basic
workers' rights in the private sector, including by multinationals present in the country is also reported."
The report said women were severely disadvantaged in both
employment and education in Zambia, including in terms of lower
remuneration and inferior conditions of employment for working
women.
"Without concerted efforts on behalf of the Zambian government
to respect the eight core labour standards to which they have
repeatedly agreed and with the scourge of Aids looming large,
improvement for the beleaguered population looks distinctly far
off," report said.
- SAPA