419.
The GoSL has taken action to address the situation. In 2011 Child Labour Survey was
undertaken by Statistics Sierra Leone in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour
and Social security with technical assistance from International Labour Organization
(ILO) through its International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour
(IPEC).The main objective of the study was to analyze the current child labour
situation in Sierra Leone so as to generate detailed up-to-date statistics on working
children to inform further and effective policy and programme development.
420.
The results of the study as to the number and percentage of children involved in
child labour in 2011 are provided in the following table. The results confirm the
MICS data, showing that in 2011, 55% of children aged 5-17 years were engaged in
child labour and 22% were engaged in hazardous work.
Table 5: Number and percentage distribution of children age 5-17 by sex and
child labour status
SEX
CHILD LABOUR STATUS
Boys
Girls
Total
Number
%
Number
%
Number
%
In employment
571,805
57.5
499,218
52.2
1,071,023
54.9
Child labour
467,534
47.0
427,894
44.8
895,428
45.9
Hazardous work (5-17 years)
221,742
22.3
207,034
21.7
428,776
22.0
Other child labour (5-14 years)
245,792
32.5
220,860
29.4
466,652
31.0
Not child labour
104,271
10.5
71,324
7.5
175,595
9.0
Other non-child labour (15-17 years)
90,661
37.8
61,250
29.9
151,911
34.1
Permissible work (13-14 years)
13,610
12.0
10,074
8.8
23,684
10.4
Not in employment
319,317
32.1
366,965
38.4
686,282
35.2
Total
995,259
100
955,503
100
1,950,762
100
Source: Statistics Sierra Leone, National child labour survey, 2011
421.
The Ministry of Labour and Social Security, supported with funds from the European
Union launched the TACKLE (Tackling Child Labour through Education) Project
in 2010. The primary objective of the project was to coordinate efforts, policies and
programmes on child labour matters. The project led to the establishment of the
Child Labour National Technical Steering Committee to coordinate efforts, policies
and programs on child labour matters. It has three key results areas: Strengthening
the legal and institutional frameworks; improving the GoSL’s capacity to formulate
and implement child labour strategies; and to engage in targeted activities to tackle
child labour. An evaluation at the end of the project period concluded that it had
succeeded in:
Strengthening
the legal and institutional framework through the establishment
of a national technical steering committee on child labour comprised of multisectoral role players such as Ministries of Labour and Social Welfare, Gender
and Children’s Affairs, civil society and trade unions. The technical steering
committee played a strong advocacy role which contributed to the ratification of
the two ILO conventions, the dissemination of information and the coordination
of networks among the partners.
108
Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone Initial Report on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child 2002-2014