CHILD LABOR IN SOMALIA
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| What we want to achieve |
Child
labor: is work that deprives children of
their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and that is harmful to
physical and mental development.
It is first necessary to clarify what is not meant by the term child labor. Children's or adolescents' participation in work that does not affect their health and personal development or interfere with their schooling, is generally regarded as being something positive. This includes activities such as helping their parents care for the home and the family, assisting in a family business or earning pocket money outside school hours and during school holidays. It contributes to children's development and to the welfare of their families; it provides them with skills, attitudes and experience, and helps to prepare them to be useful and productive members of society during their adult life. In no way can such activities be equated with child labor.
Child labor also refers to work that is mentally, physically, socially
or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and interferes with their
schooling:
- By depriving them of the opportunity to attend
school.
- By obliging them to leave school prematurely.
- By requiring them to attempt to combine school
attendance with excessively long and heavy work.
In its
most extreme forms, it involves children being enslaved, separated from their
families, exposed to serious hazards and illnesses and/or left to fend for
themselves on the streets of large cities - all of this often at a very early
age.
Worldwide 218 million children between 5 and 17 years are in
employment; 152 million are victims of child labor. 19.6% or one-fifth of all African children are in child labor
with 9% of African children being in hazardous. In absolute terms, 72.1 million
African children are estimated to be in child labor; including 31.5 million in
hazardous work. Sub-Saharan Africa has
the highest number of child laborers in the world – 59 million children
between the ages of five and 17 are in the worst forms of hazardous work, with
the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimating that more than one in
five children in Africa are
employed against their will in quarries, agricultural and household jobs, such
as farming and cleaning.
Decades
of conflict and civil war has brought unspeakable violence and devastation
to Somalia. The war had displaced 1.4 million people and left
60 percent of the population below the poverty line. Most frightening of all
are the effects the conflict has had on the children. The mortality rate of
children under 5 is 85 percent, and countless children are forced to
engage in child labor. Due to poverty and the
inability to provide for all family members, some Somalis willingly turn over
custody of their children to extended family members. Some of these children
may be used in forced labor.
However, half of all children between ages 5 and 14 from
central and southern Somalia are employed. Even
in the more stable regions of Puntland and Somaliland, a quarter of
the child population is employed. Many of these tasks
include agricultural and household jobs, such as farming and cleaning. Although
many children are employed by choice.
Most of the working
children are also not attending school. Indeed, most of the working children
have never been to school. Thus, child labor may be an indicator of non‐attendance of school, and
to a larger extent, never‐enrolling
in school. The children combining schooling and working seem to have access to
the ‘closed‐space’
jobs, like selling in shops. On the other hand, children who have never been to
school seem condemned to the ‘open‐space’
jobs, mostly hawking of cleaning services. Thus, combining schooling and
working may be a probable strategy for elevating children to closed‐space jobs. The
following table will provides the key indicators on children’s work and
education in Somalia
Statistics
on Children’s Work and Education
|
Children |
Age |
Percentage |
|
Working
(% and population) |
5-14
yrs. |
39.8
(1,012,863) |
|
Attending
School (%) |
5-14
yrs. |
48.9 |
|
Combining
Work and School (%) |
7-14
yrs. |
20.2 |
|
Primary
Completion Rate (%) |
|
Unavailable |
The International labor code allows children between ages 12 and 14 to perform light work as long as it doesn’t impede their school attendance. Child labor persists even though laws and standards to eliminate it exist. Main causes of child labor in Somalia are:
· Poverty:
Children who come from poor families
may be forced to work to support their siblings and parents or supplement the
household income when expenses are more than the parents’ earnings. It is a
huge problem especially in developing countries where parents are unable to
generate income due to the lack of employment opportunities or education.
· Huge demand for unskilled laborers: The demand for
unskilled laborers is another cause of child labor. Children are mostly
unskilled and provide a cheap source of labor, making them an attractive option
for many greedy employers. These types of employers can also force children to
work under unfavorable working conditions.
· Laws and enforcement are often inadequate: Child labor laws around the world are often not enforced or include exemptions that allow for child labor to persist in certain sectors, such as agriculture or domestic work. Even in countries where strong child labor laws exist, labor departments and labor inspection offices are often under-funded and under-staffed, or courts may fail to enforce the laws. Similarly, many state governments allocate few resources to enforcing child labor laws.
Reference
https://www.ilo.org/moscow/areas-of-work/child-labour/WCMS_249004/lang--en/index.htm
https://borgenproject.org/10-facts-about-child-labor-in-somalia/
https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/57f4e8ab2.pdf
http://ahsankhaneco.blogspot.com/2018/08/child-labour-meaning-causes-effects-and.html
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