Mozambique’s parliament on Friday ratified the International Labour Organisation’s Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention.
Signing the convention binds Mozambique to take steps to eliminate forms of child labor including slavery, forced labour, child prostitution, and the recruitment of people under the age of 18 into the armed forces.
The parliamentary Social Affairs Commission warned, however, that extreme poverty would make it difficult to enforce the convention.
”Without eliminating absolute poverty, society will always be living with child labour,” the Commission said.
It noted that in an effort to increase their income, rural families often sent their children to labor in the fields, particularly at harvest time.
The International Affairs Commission called on the government to tackle poverty through policies ”which have a direct impact on social progress”.
It also urged greater government efforts to establish free, compulsory education for all Mozambican children of school age.
Some opposition lawmakers claimed the government had no anti-poverty strategy.
”There’s a lack of political will to deal with absolute poverty,” said Jose Palaco, of the Renamo-Electoral Union coalition.
”There’s no general strategy, it’s just window-dressing,” he said.
The International Labour Organisation estimates that some 179 million children worldwide are exploited through child labour. – Sapa-AP