Malawi Steps Up Action against Child Labour.
Read more article about child labour and child labour laws in Malawi at mywage.org. The civil society in Malawi has stepped up action against child labour which remains one of the major child rights issues in the southern African nation, Mywage Malawi reports.
By Madalitso Kateta
The civil society in Malawi has stepped up action against child labour which remains one of the major child rights issues in the southern African nation.
This follows a resolution at a national child labour conference held in the country's capital city, Lilongwe from March 18 to 19.
A communiqué of resolutions passed at the conference released to media observed that despite being a signatory to various international treaties that protect the rights of children, Malawi continues to register a high rate of child workers following the delay in the passing of important child laws by the Malawi Parliament.
Delegates to the conference observed that the delay in the passing of the national registration bill, the child care and justice bill and the amendments to the 2000 employment and labour relations are some of the barriers that have blocked efforts to monitor child labour.
"Noting that despite increased efforts on addressing child labour the fight against the problem remains far from being won in an effort to meet the desired standards to be enjoyed by Malawian children as expressed in both national laws and relevant international treaties to which Malawi is a party ,"reads part of the communiqué.
The conference further observed that the definition of light work is relative and needs to be clarified in the context of employing children under 18 as the country continues to register more workers in this group.
"Fines to child labour offenders perpetrators found guilty of employing children are generally too minimal to deter them from committing further offences," observed the conference.
While commenting on efforts that the country has taken in the response to child labour the delegates bemoaned that the country has put much emphasis on the regal strategy towards addressing the problem ignoring non regal means that can address the root causes of child labour.
Currently according to the communiqué Malawi has limited capacity at community and institutional level to enforce compensation of victims of child labour through legal systems as in criminal offences convicted offenders have to pay fines to government and not the victims.
The country continues to register a high population of child workers most of them orphans and other vulnerable children from very poor families.
The southern African country estimates that there are over a million orphans 13 percent of them under 17.
