The International Labour organization (ILO) in collaboration with Mombasa County Government, convened a stakeholders’ consultation meeting to deliberate on strategies for mitigating and reducing child labour.
The 3-day forum’s primary focus was directed towards a comprehensive examination of the prevailing conditions in Mombasa concerning the critical issues of child labour, forced labour, and human trafficking.
Speaking at the Pride Inn Flamingo Resort, Mombasa, ILO Project Manager, Grace Banya said that Mombasa is one the county’s that has been very pro-active in the fight against child labour stating that they started with passing a motion at the county assembly that says “No to child labour,”.
Banya added that the County Government has plans underway to develop a stand-alone child labour policy that is going to be one of a kind in the country.
The meeting kicked off with pointing out the forms and drivers of child labour in the county and the team came to a conclusion that the biggest driver of the vice is cultural and traditional practices of most of the communities that do not believe in education and that most families are dwelling in poverty.
“The impact of Covid has left many families especially the most vulnerable, poorer than before and so the adults who would normally provide sustainable income for their families are opting to send children to beg on the streets, work on family shambas and also domestic work by working in homes for other people,” noted Banya.
According to child labour report 2022 statistics prepared by ILO and UNICEF, at least 160 million children are victims of child labour globally.
Out of the 160 million child labourers between the ages of 5-17years globally, 92.2million of the children come from Sub-Saharan Africa with most of them being boys.
“We are currently carrying out a national child labour survey which will give us more appropriate data in Kenya,” stated Banya.
On his part, Gabriel Kitili, Mombasa County Coordinator, Children Services, noted that at least 5,000 child labour cases annually are reported in Mombasa via the “child protection volunteers” at the grass root level.
Kitili also pointed out the two major forms of child labour forms being child begging and the “njugu” groundnuts selling business.
“We are working with the county government via a committee that is looking at how we can address the issue of street families in Mombasa County,” said Kitili
According to the project manager, online abuse of children is increasing as perpetrators are now moving online where they bring children aboard for child labour unknowingly.
She pointed out that the most common way of child trafficking involved young women moving to other countries in search for employment where they naively find themselves in prostitution.
Among the measures that Kenya has on board to combat the menace include efforts to have bilateral agreements between the workers from Kenya as well as the receiving countries, pre-departure training programs as well as registration of workers on arrival in the country.
By Nuru Soud
