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Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Eswatini (RATIFICATION: 2002)

Article 1 of the Convention. National policy. National plan of action. The Committee notes with interest the adoption of the Action Programme on Combating Child Labour in Eswatini 2021-26 (APCCL). The main objective of the APCCL is to address the issues that have been identified as the main drivers of child labour, mainly: poverty; the high prevalence of HIV/Aids; the low quality of education; employers’ preference for child labour; and the lack of public awareness. One of the overall goals of the APCCL is to lay strong social, policy and institutional foundations for eliminating all forms of child labour in the long term, through the pursuit of specific objectives, including the improvement of legislation and its enforcement, the empowerment of vulnerable households, improvement of education and training, and strengthening of institutional capacities. The Government indicates that a Task Team has been appointed in 2021 to drive the implementation of the APCCL and whose functions include providing guidance on child labour policies and programmes; serving as an inter-sectoral forum for consultation on and discussion of APCCL implementation; monitoring progress of APCCL implementation; and mobilizing resources for child labour programmes and action plans. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the implementation of the APCCL and its impact on the progressive elimination of child labour in the country, including the issues that have been identified as the main drivers of child labourmainly: poverty; the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS; the low quality of education; employers’ preference for child labour; and the lack of public awareness.