Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2004, published 93rd ILC session (2005)

Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138) - Malawi (Ratification: 1999)

Article 1 of the Convention. National policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labour. Further to its previous observation, the Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in the Malawi Child Labour Survey 2002 (MCLS), carried out in collaboration with the ILO. The Committee observes that the focus of the existing programmes on combating child labour has been on the elimination of child labour, including its worst forms, capacity building in litigation on child labour, maintenance of child labour registers, inspection of child labour, rapid assessment of domestic child labour and executing the national study programme on child labour (which includes Children in Commercial Sexual Exploitation Study, the Street Kids’ Study and the National Child Labour Household Sample Survey). Existing governmental child labour intervention programmes have included the involvement of the organizations of employers and employees, i.e. the Employers’ Consultative Association of Malawi (ECAM), the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU) and other affiliates.

The Committee notes that action programmes carried out by the government institutions have included: capacity building of the field labour officers on how to handle child labour issues; the rapid assessment on the previous hunger crisis’ impact on child labour for the period between November and December in 2002; public awareness seminars and implementation of the national study programme on child labour. Moreover, the Committee observes that mainstreaming of child labour elimination activities are taking root in certain ministries, for example - the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology; Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, Ministry of Gender and Community Services; Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training - and in various non-governmental organizations in the form of awareness campaigns, rehabilitation of the children who no longer are engaged in child labour activities, impact studies, policy and programme formulation and implementation. The Committee further notes that the media are being used to disseminate awareness campaigns against child labour.

In addition to the action programmes undertaken by the Government, the Committee observes that with the financial assistance of the Norwegian Agency for Development (NORAD), UNICEF, in conjunction with a number of non-governmental organizations, has been able to implement several programmes on the elimination of child labour. For example, the organization Plan International is implementing agricultural and food security and food rationing programmes in a number of rural areas to help keep children stay in school. Another programme is being implemented by the Chisomo Club, which is focusing on the rehabilitation of street kids. There is also a programme dealing with the elimination of child labour in tobacco companies, a programme implemented by the association called Tobacco Exporter Companies (TECs). The TECs are intensifying public awareness on child labour and its elimination and has, for example, set up schools in the tobacco-growing areas.

The Committee observes that some nine districts, deliberately chosen in the country to pilot the elimination of the worst forms of child labour and also to undertake surveillance of the trends on the other forms of child labour, have benefited from the NORAD assistance. The UNICEF and the coordinating unit against child labour in the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training (MoLVT) are now implementing the scheme which includes the registering of child labour law violations, capacity building on child labour issues and setting up communication facilities within the districts.

The Committee further notes that the institutional framework on child labour has been strengthened. The MoLVT is coordinating activities through the labour relations department’s unit on child labour elimination. Furthermore, the various national steering and technical committee structures that have been established discuss pertinent issues on various programmes on the elimination of child labour. These structures were originally established to implement the ILO/IPEC child labour study programme. The Committee notes that the national child labour study programme is now completed and that it has established a database on child labour which the country will deploy to monitor the trends, character, and structure of child labour and the impact of various development programmes on the elimination of child labour.

The Committee observes that the local chiefs at the highest level of the traditional authority are now in the forefront in the advocacy activities that are spreading the message of restraining child labour use in general and also the complete elimination of the worst forms of child labour. This was due to public awareness seminars organized for local authorities on the elimination of child labour in the country.

The Committee notes with interest the detailed information on the measures taken to combat child labour but it observes once again that the Government has not provided information on the results attained.

The Committee is seriously concerned by the situation of the considerable number of children under 14 years of age who are compelled to work (according to the Malawi Child Labour Survey of 2002, more than 1 million children work, of whom approximately half are less than 9 years of age). The Committee strongly encourages the Government to renew its efforts to progressively improve this situation.

The Committee requests the Government to continue providing detailed information on the development of national policies designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labour, and on the results attained.

The Committee is also addressing a direct request to the Government on other points.