P a g e | 70
Drafting of a Correctional Services Bill is budgeted for by the GoL in 2014.
Difficulties
Facilities could be improved in the prisons to cater for nursing mothers. This would
include better privacy for the woman, better sanitation in cells and provision of sanitary
pads. Some prisons in more remote districts do not provide a bed for each inmate.
Nursing facilities, particularly in female prisons, should be prioritized.
There is also currently no nursery for children in the correctional centres. Correctional
officers play with children while the mothers undertake their daily duties. It is however
not ideal to remove a child from a mothers care to place them with strangers in an
institution such as a place of safety.
9.7
Children in situations of exploitation and abuse
9.7.1 Economic exploitation including child labor (Article 15)
Legislative
The Lesotho Constitution at Article 29 provides its citizens with a guaranteed
opportunity to work where ever possible. Article 30 provides for just and favourable
conditions of work and article 31 protects workers rights and interests.
The CPW Act at Part XXIV covers minimum ages (section 228), types of employment
permitted for children (sections 229 & 231) and prohibitions on exploitative labour
(section 226), and night work and industrial undertakings (section 227).
A child from the age of thirteen 13 years may be employed in light work, provided it
does not interfere with their schooling or development. Children from the age of fifteen
(15) years may be employed in the formal sector.
The types of hazardous work disallowed for children below eighteen (18) years are
mining, carrying heavy loads, manufacture which includes dangerous chemicals,
working with dangerous machinery, herding animals, commercial sex work and tobacco
production and sale.
Children employed in manufacture must provide proof of age to the employer and the
employer must keep a register of children employed by them. These children are
afforded the same protections under the Labour Code Order (1993) as their adult coworkers.
The Anti-Trafficking In Persons Act protects against exploitation where a child has been
trafficked for the purposes of working.