Hiring children to perform inappropriate work could land faulting Rwandan employers into jail following the recent deliberations aimed at designing a new policy that seeks to control child labour in the country.
Subject to international standards, children below 15 years are prohibited from employment or engaging in any family related work, unless they are allocated light tasks for less hours to avoid jeopardizing their education.
In Rwanda majority of children especially those aged from 10-14 are involved in menial work. National statistics conducted three years ago show that 83.2% are in agriculture while domestic work constitutes 51.3% others include manufacturing 3.8% and services 5.3%.
Two thirds of children work in family related duties and only 14.6% get allowances. Child labour is prevalent in Kigali city compared to provinces. Most jobs in the city given to minors could instead be assigned to youths .The report shows that the employers opt for kids since there paid less and easy to manage.
The Ministry of Public Service and Labour (MIFOTRA) is currently involved with stakeholders with the objective to design a policy that would address child labour in the country.
Scott Lyon, an expert with Understanding Child Works (UCW) advises that among priorities to consider in a child labour policy is incorporating adequate social protection. Enough support to those living in poverty conditions and once they have a better welfare their children should be taken back to school. This involves giving a second chance to school dropouts. Those that cannot return to class can be referred to vocational schools to obtain working skills.
It is not clear though about the effectiveness of punishing such employers that violate the children’s rights by exposing them to poor working conditions. Most of the employed children work for over 50 hours a week a fact that affects their health and reduces their school life expectancy.
In most cases, the employed children do not have a choice since they have to assist their poor families despite existing government initiatives that would address the issues if consolidated.
Moses Kayihura the human resource assistant at Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA- Rwanda) explains that they facilitate with feeding school children through the support from World Food Program (WFP) to improve class attendance. ADRA has also patterned with UNICEF to provide financial assistance to vulnerable households, the same funds are also used to buy scholastic materials to support pupils.
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