Commemoration of the 2022 World Day Against Child Labor. Theme: Universal Social Protection to End Child Labor
Posted on: 13th June, 2022 By: NRDO Uganda 8 min readKABAROLE - The State Minister for Labour, Employment and Industrial Relations, Col (Rtd) Charles Engola Macodowgo has said when children do not receive education, chances of them getting low paying jobs when they grow up are high. He added that the Ministry is planning to bring together all Resident District Commissioners (RDCs) and Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs) to devise strategies of strengthening Labour Officers in effort towards curbing child labour.
The remarks were made during the commemoration of the 2022 World Day against Child Labour in Kabarole District, with the 2022 theme “Universal Social Protection to End Child Labour”. He also revealed that Labour Officers are very critical in the fight against Child Labour and urged district authorities to make use of them.
Speaking at the same event Ms. Victoria Rusoke, the State Minister for Local Government and Kabarole District Woman MP who represented the Vice President Jessica Alupo, said she is going to task district authorities to provide detailed breakdown of statistics of children who are in school with in her region to make sure that all the Children return to school.
Uganda is grappling with increased incidences of Child Labour which happened mostly during the COVID-19 pandemic from 21% to 36% according to the Uganda National Household Survey 2019/2020. Busoga and Bukedi had the highest proportion of children aged 5-17 years involved in Child Labour at 29% and 28% respectively. More children in the rural (31%) than urban (20%) areas were involved in Child Labour (with household chores inclusive). According to figures by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef), even after schools were re-opened in January 2022, 1 in 10 school children did not report back to school.
On 11 June 2022. A day before the event, Children from Kiburara, Bunyonyi & Komyamperre primary schools located in Hakibale Sub county, Kabarole district, gathered together during a "Children's Conference to discuss the dangers of Child Labour and dialogued on strategies for Elimination of Child Labour in commemoration of WDACL (World Day Against Child Labour) which took place on the following day. The children split up in smaller groups while brainstorming ideas and came up with key action points for the government & other stakeholders to consider in fighting Child Labour.
A “call to action” document was prepared and presented to all stakeholders & government officials who attended the WDACL celebrations that took place in Kabarole on 12th June, 2022.
NRDO Uganda prepared children to march with in Kabarole villages together with other stakeholders as a way to create awareness on child labour. They also showcased numerous products during the event that were created by the beneficiaries from some of the projects directly tackling child labour issues in the region.
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