Child labour 750. The CRM agrees with the CSAR conclusion that, despite the adoption of ILO Conventions 138 and 182, the incidence of child labour in Tanzania remains high, especially in the main economic sectors of agriculture, mining, and quarrying114. Cases have been quoted of child labour in the tobacco growing area of Urambo, the Tanzanite Mines in Mererani, the tourism industry around Arusha and the salt mining areas in Kigoma. A Legal and Human Rights Centre Survey revealed that approximately 20 per cent of children under 17 years were employed in high risk sectors such as agriculture, mining, and fishing115. The same trend was noted in Zanzibar in the fishing and tourism sectors. In the commercial agricultural sector, a large number of children were employed to provide much of the manual and machine-based labour on tobacco, coffee, tea, sugarcane, and sisal plantations116. 751. In one area of the coastal region, the CRM was informed that about 30 per cent of sisal plantation workers are children aged 12 to 14. They labor up to 11 hours per day with no specific rest periods, six days a week. Their wages are half that of adults, while nourishment and lodging are inadequate. Only half have completed primary school. Some plantations require as much as 14-, 16-, or even 17-hour work days. Mines and quarries also employ large numbers of youth who spend most of their days toiling above or below ground in very hazardous conditions. They risk injury from dust inhalation, blasting, mine collapse, flooding, as well as illness from silicosis. (http://www.tanzaniagateway.org/docs/reducing_childlabor_tanzania_through_Education.pdf) 752. In response to this problem, the ILO - through its IPEC projects - intervened in some districts, including the district of Urambo where child labour in the tobacco industry was pervasive. Through the establishment of Child Labour Monitoring Systems (CLMS), identified children were given access to education. In addition, Child Labour Committees were created at village and district levels and Child Labour Coordinators appointed at village, district, and national levels117. However, the following implementation challenges remain: Committee members at village levels are not effectively monitoring child labour activities because of inadequate incentives; and, poor linkages between district and national levels has affected reporting and coordination. Table 5.7 - Child labour prevalence Kilwa Lindi Districts in Tanzania notorious for child labour Unguja North Micheweni Ilemela Source: Tanzania Human Rights Report 2010. 753. Tanzania’s National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (2005-2010) includes specific references to the elimination of the worst forms of child labor. The NSGRP commits the Government to reducing the per centage of children engaged in child labor to less than 10 per cent by 2010, by providing former child labourers with a range of educational alternatives. It also aims to increase the rates of primary school enrollment, attendance and completion for child labourers, as well as orphans and other vulnerable children. 754. Tanzania’s 2012 Draft National Human Rights Action Plan outlines additional steps taken to address the protection of children’s rights. These include the enactment of the 2009 Law of the Child Act, the Youth Employment Action Plan, the National Plan of Action for the Prevention and Eradication of Violence against Women and Children (2001 – 2015), the 2001 Zanzibar Child Survival, Protection and Development Policy, the 2005 Zanzibar Youth and Development Policy, and the 2006 Education Policy. It will be important, as has already been alluded to by the Action Plan, for Government to harmonise various laws and policies addressing the protection of children’s’ 114 Decent Work Tanzania, ILO Country Program for United Republic of Tanzania, http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/program/dwcp/download/ tanzania.pdf 115 Tanzania Human Rights Report 2010, Zanzibar Legal Services Centre and Legal and Human Rights Centre 116 “Helping children reclaim their lives – Reducing Child Labour in Tanzania. http://www.tanzaniagateway.org/docs/reducing_childlabor_tanzania_through_Education.pdf 117 Good Practices on Child Labour 2010 Africa, ILO – IPEC Child Monitoring System (Tanzania); 155