LUSAKA, June 14 (Xinhua) -- Zambian police recently retrieved five teenagers at a farm in Mumbwa district of Central Province where they were forced to work, revealing the serious problem of child labor in the country.
According to Central Province Police Commissioner David Chileshe, the five boys were among 13 boys aged between 13 and 17 years who were suspected to have been trafficked from Western Province and were being used as cheap labor in soya beans and maize fields.
Chileshe identified the owner of the farm as Golden Moyo who owns many farms and allegedly traffics children using a containerized vehicle during harvest time.
The culprit has since been arrested and will appear in court soon. But Moyo is not the only culprit subjecting children to child labor especially on big farms.
Media reports in the southern African country have highlighted the growing problem of child labor, especially in the rural parts of the country, and children are subjected to the worst forms of child labor, including commercial sexual exploitation, on big farms.
According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the government is concerned with the problem of child labor as it is detrimental to the development of children.
According to a 2020 child labor report, an estimated 430,075 children were engaged in child labor in Zambia.
At a global level, figures by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimate that there are about 160 million girls and boys engaged in child labor, with half of the children involved in hazardous work, with the agriculture sector alone accounting for 70 percent.
"Child labor is detrimental to a child's development and it is a global concern," said Collins Nzovu, acting minister of labor and social security, during commemoration of this year's World Day Against Child Labor, which is launched in 2002 and held annually on June 12 as an international day to raise awareness and prompt action to stop child labor.
The theme for this year's commemoration, "Social Justice for All, End Child Labor," raises one issue that could be fueling the problem of child labor.
According to ILO Director for Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique Wellington Chibebe, child labor occurs not because of bad parents but springs from a lack of social justice.
"The antidote to poverty-driven child labor is decent work for adults, so they can support their families and send their children to school, not to work. ILO is calling on the international community to support greater social justice and step up the fight against child labor," he said during the commemoration.
According to him, the abolition of child labor is a cornerstone of the aspiration for social justice.
Kennedy Njamba, vice president for the Zambia Federation of Employers (ZEF), agreed and said that society must address the need for social justice.
According to him, the current economic situation in Zambia is forcing families to send children into child labor to supplement meager incomes families get.
"They are survival tactics that the children's families employ just to put food on the table. We cannot protect our children, or guarantee social justice for them, if their parents, their guardians, their communities, have no social justice for themselves," he said.
Catherine Kantumoya, deputy secretary-general of the Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), also underscored the importance of social justice in creating a society where children can flourish free of exploitation and all forms of oppression.
She said social justice demands that the government should create opportunities for all parents to participate in decent work and entrepreneurship that enables them to meet the basic needs for their families.
The government is determined to find a lasting solution to the problem of child labor in the country through various measures it is putting in place.
Among the initiatives is the ratification of ILO's convention 182 and 138 that speak to the worst forms of child labor and the minimum age for work. The government has since domesticated the two conventions into the country's employment law which provides guidance on the employment of young people.
The government is also implementing the second action plan for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor launched in 2021.
According to the minister, the overall objective of the plan is to contribute to the effective and gradual elimination of child labor, especially in its worst form by 2025 with emphasis on coordinated and multi-stakeholder response that provides social protection to targeted children, their families and communities.
