News Banjul The Gambia(MB)- Although the issue of child labour is not as serious here (in The Gambia) as it is in other countries, but still signs of it can be seen especially when girls below the age of 18 are encouraged, or sometimes, forced to work as housemaids, or to spend all day roaming the streets with a plate on their heads selling fruits or sweets, when they should be in school.
These kinds of labour could have child protection consequences such as sexual abuse and exploitation, and teenage pregnancy, it is against this background, UNICEF is calling for renewed urgency to tackle the world worst forms of child labour on the 11th World Day against Child Labour with the theme “Go for the Goal. Eliminate Child Labour”, UNICEF release said.
According to information made available by Madam Sally Sadie Singhateh Communication Specialist UNICEF office in Banjul, today 12th June 2010. UNICEF estimates that 150 million children 5-14 years old worldwide are engaged in child labour, which is both a cause and a consequence of poverty, and compromises children’s education and safety.
“We know that progress against MDG’s in Education, poverty, gender and HIV/Aids are being systematically undermined by Child Labour and that no single policy will unilaterally end child labour,” said Dr. Susan Bissell, Chief of Child Protection for UNICEF. “Evidence has shown that an effective, coherent response to child labour requires a mix of decent work employment measures, child sensitive social protection systems and the extension of basic services to the most vulnerable”, the release stated.
The release highlighted that an overall figures tend indeed to show that child labour is diminishing worldwide but earlier limited gains in Sub-Saharan Africa have now gone into reverse and the most recent data indicates that the current incidence of 1 child in every 4 involved in child labour-the highest in the world-has worsened. This compares to 1 child in every 8 in Asia Pacific and 1 child in every 10 in Latin America and the Caribbean. The number of children combining work and school has escalated in some regions too by as much as 300 per cent.
"But even these figures can be misleading, as migrant children, orphans, trafficked children and, above all girls, are too often frequently missing from current data sets and surveys which rely upon static household data. We must developed new data collection systems to ensure that these invisible children become visible and are systematically addressed."
It explained that at the recent global conference against the Worst Forms of Child labour which took place in The Hague, UNICEF committed itself to focus on developing new data methodologies to capture the invisible work of girls to ensure their visibility to the world.
Such visibility is key, since recent evidence suggests that the food, fuel and economic crises that have shaken the global order have had irreversible impacts upon children’s lives. Child labour – a key household buffer in some countries against economic shocks – has led to more children being propelled from school into labour force earlier and in more hazardous areas than would normally occur.”
While studies show that education for girls is among the best investment a country can make for its development, girls are the first ones to be taken out of school to work for the family in times of hardships. Keeping girls in school has been shown to raise family income, reduce child and maternal mortality and result in lower child marriage and fertility rates.
UNICEF calls upon governments and donors to increase investment in accessible and quality education, and to support the establishment of social protection measures that cover all children. UNICEF also calls upon the private sector to use its potential as agents of social change to ensure that children’s rights are protected in their supply chains.
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