ACERWC African Committee of Experts on the Rights & Welfare of the Child 3.2.2.3 Child Labour Search for work, economic opportunities or employment is one of the reasons children move within Africa.225 Child labour migration is a key feature of the contemporary economic migration in Africa. Globally, Africa has the highest incidence of child labour, estimated at 19.6% compared with 9.6% worldwide.226 The ILO points out that there is a ‘strong correlation between child labour and situations of conflict and disaster.’227 Considering that Africa is among the regions most affected by conflicts and disasters, globally, the risk of child labour is heightened.228 The incidence of child labour in states affected by armed conflicts is 77% higher than the global average, ‘while the incidence of hazardous work is 50 percent higher in countries affected by armed conflict than in the world as a whole.’229 It is worth noting that states are required to eliminate and prohibit the worst forms of child labour such as slavery, debt bondage, serfdom, compulsory labour, use of children for illicit activities and work by whose nature is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children and is prohibited under Article 1 of the ILO’s Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No.182). Article 32 of the CRC requires states to recognize the right of a child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any kind of work that is likely to be harzadous or to be harmful to the child’s physical, mental, moral or social development. The ACRWC under Article 15 provides that children should be protected from all forms of economic exploitation and from carrying out ‘any work that is likely to be harzadous or to interfere with the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral, or social development. The box below highlights the incidence of child labour in Africa compared to other regions in the world according to ILO:230 The Africa region and the Asia and the Pacific region together host nine out of every ten children in child labour. Africa ranks highest both in the percentage of children in child labour – one-fifth – and the absolute number of children in child labour – 72 million. Asia and the Pacific ranks second highest in both these measures – 7 per cent of all children, 62 million in absolute terms, are in child labour in this region. The remaining child labour population is divided among the Americans (11 million), Europe and Central Asia (6 million), and the Arab States (1 million). There are also other factors that underlie child labour or movement in search for work. One of these factors is poverty although social and cultural reasons also contribute to children’s migration in search of work.231 Research indicates that many children on the move are motivated by economic reasons.232 According to UNCTAD, contemporary economic migration in the African continent mainly involves low-skilled migrants and is predominantly concentrated in sectors such as agriculture, informal trade and domestic service.233 For instance, in West Africa, a large number of low-skilled migrants from Burkina Faso, including children, are found in the agricultural 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 50 S Punch, ‘Migration Projects: Children on the Move for Work and Education’ presented in a Workshop on Independent Child Migrants: Policy Debates and Dilemmas at Organised by the Development and Research Centre on Migration, Globalisation and Poverty, University of Sussex and UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, 12 September 2007, Central Hall, Westminster, London. UNCTAD, Migration for Structural Transformation: Economic Development in Africa Report 2018 p 71. ILO, Global Estimates of Child Labour: Results and trends, 2012–2016 p 12. As above. As above. As above. Punch (n 225 above) above p2. Punch (n 225 above) p3. UNCTAD, Migration for Structural Transformation: Economic Development in Africa Report 2018 p 84.