Members of the local municipality hosting us today
MECs and other provincial representatives
Representatives of the International Labour Organisation
Our social partners and civil society
Members of the Child Labour Implementation Committee
All the children in attendance here today and across our beautiful land
It is a pleasure for me to be here today on the commemoration of the National Day against Child Labour. This is one of the issues that should be important to all of us and on this occasion, I speak to all of you wearing many caps. First and foremost, I am a Minister of State, a mother, an aunt, a sister, a grandmother but above all, as a concerned citizen committed to ensuring a better life for all our people.
The Freedom Charter, one of the pillars of our democratic state is very clear on the issue of child labour. It says: Child labour, compound labour, the tot system and contract labour shall be abolished.
In our Constitution, which is basis for all that we do, it is stated very clearly that:
1. Every child has the right
a. to be protected from exploitative labour practices;
b. not to be required or permitted to perform work or provide services that
i. are inappropriate for a person of that child's age; or
ii. place at risk the child's well-being, education, physical or mental health or spiritual, moral or social development;
It was in keeping with the spirit of the Freedom Charter and the Constitution that in May 2010 South Africa became signatory to the ILO Roadmap towards the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour by 2016. We are hosting this day again today to show our resolve and commitment towards this goal.
The Child Labour Programme of Action is South Africa’s roadmap towards the prevention, reduction and eventual elimination of child labour. It was first adopted in 2003 after extensive consultation within government, with a wide range of organisations outside government and with groups of teenage children involved in different forms of child Labour.
Since the first adoption of the programme, our country has made significant strides towards achieving this goal. There has been a significant expansion of measures to relieve household poverty which is the main driver of child labour. Legislation to address child labour has also been strengthened substantially and social grants were increased.
The second phase of the Child Labour Programme of Action adopted by Cabinet in February 2009 covered the financial years from 2008 to 2012. This programme identified a wide range of activities falling within the mandates of various Government departments and formed part of South Africa’s actions enabling this country to reach the 2016 target.
Key elements of the Child Labour Programme of Action are:
- Targeting the implementation of government and other stakeholders’ programmes and policies on poverty, employment, labour and social matters more effectively in areas where the work children do has serious negative effects on them;
- Promoting legislative measures against Worst Forms of Child Labour;
- Strengthening of national capacity to enforce legislative measures;
- Increasing public awareness and social mobilisation against Worst Forms of Child Labour.
In 2010, Statistics South Africa conducted a second Survey of Activities of Young People (SAYP) as an add-on module to the Quarterly Labour Force Survey.
Overall, 784 000 children were revealed by the SAYP as being vulnerable on at least one of the indicators. This is slightly less than the 847 000 found in this position in 2006 despite the expanded age group covered by the SAYP. (The 2006 survey covered the age group 10-17 years.) Girls were more likely than boys to be affected in 2010. This is different to 2006 when there was little gender difference. As in 2006, children aged 10-15 were the most likely to be in child labour.
The number of children involved in child labour seems to have fallen over the years. But this is cold comfort as the number of children affected still remain unacceptably high at an estimated 821 000. The data from this survey analysed by the Department and released on the National Day against Child Labour last year was used to report against the indicators established for the monitoring of the Child Labour Programme of Action.
It is heartening to report that Government and its partners have performed well in the areas of strengthening legislation, raising awareness, training and the development of materials as evidenced in the second phase report adopted by Cabinet in September 2012. Some of the legislation includes the proposed amendments in the Basic Conditions of Employment Bill that will strengthen the prohibition of child labour in the informal trading sector.
The recent Technical Workshop in India on disseminating the research findings on the study by ILO-IPEC on Business initiatives to combat child labour also showed that the most common form of employment-related child work takes place in the informal sector or family operations. This therefore means we should continue with campaigns to inform children and their parents of the rights.
The third phase of the Child Labour Programme of Action which has been submitted to Cabinet for noting focuses on service delivery and making a real difference in the lives of South Africa’s children. The revision was aimed to come up with a set of action steps that are “do-able” within the period April 2013 to March 2017 and will make a “direct” difference for children engaged, or at risk of being engaged in child labour.
Later in the year, the third Global Conference on Child Labour will take place in Brazil. Discussion will continue to centre on the findings of the study by the ILO-IPEC and to reflect on joint dialogue on progress made in the process towards the elimination of worst forms or other mechanisms to achieve this.
Ladies and gentlemen,
This day should serve as a sign of our commitment that we will do everything in our power to stop all forms of child labour. The theme that we have identified for this day and future campaigns says it all,
- allow our children to play and through that learn;
- allow our children the need and comfort of caring and through that build responsible citizens;
- allow our children to be at school and through that secure our future; but more importantly
- allow them to be children as once we were.
Lastly, allow me to thank the ILO for their continued support and also officials from my department for the leading role which they continuously play in ensuring that child labour issues feature in our day to day interaction for us to contribute towards elimination of child labour in South Africa.
I thank you.
