Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Lesotho (Ratification: 2001)

Articles 3(d) and 7(2)(b) of the Convention. Hazardous work and effective and time-bound measures to remove children from the worst forms of child labour and provide for their rehabilitation and social integration. Child domestic work. The Committee previously noted that girls performing domestic work face verbal, physical and, in some cases, sexual, abuse from their employers, and that these children generally did not attend school. It also noted the Government’s statement that it would consider promulgating regulations on domestic work to prohibit hazardous work in this sector to children under 18 years of age. The Committee further noted from the compilation report prepared by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights for the Universal Periodic Review that children continued to work in domestic service. Moreover, the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (CMW), had also expressed concern about the high number of children engaged in domestic work. The Committee urged the Government to take immediate and effective measures to ensure that child domestic workers were protected from hazardous work, including by developing and adopting regulations prohibiting hazardous domestic work by children under 18 years of age.

The Committee notes the absence of information on this point in the Government’s report. However, it notes from the Progress Report on the implementation of the Action Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (APEC) 2013–2018 that the draft Labour Code Bill has integrated provisions promoting the fundamental principles and rights of all workers, including domestic workers. Furthermore, the National Advisory Committee on Labour has made a proposal on having special regulations for domestic workers. The Committee notes that the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), in its concluding observations of June 2018 expressed concern that children in domestic work are exposed to the worst forms of child labour (CRC/C/LSO/CO/2, paragraph 55(a)). The Committee therefore once again urges the Government to take effective and time-bound measures to provide the necessary and appropriate direct assistance to remove children engaged in domestic work from hazardous working conditions and ensure their rehabilitation and social integration. In this regard, the Committee expresses the firm hope that the Government will take the necessary measures to ensure that the Labour Code Bill which guarantees protection to domestic workers, is adopted in the near future. It once again requests the Government to consider adopting special regulations which prohibit hazardous domestic work by children under 18 years of age. It requests the Government to provide information on any progress made in this regard.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (d). Identify and reach out to children at special risk. 1. Children engaged in animal herding. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that children engaged in animal herding often worked under poor conditions for long hours and during the night, without adequate food and clothing, were exposed to extreme weather conditions in isolated areas, and did not attend school. It also noted that between 10 and 14 per cent of boys of school-going age were involved in herding, about 18 per cent of whom were not employed by their own family. The Committee noted that the Government had adopted guidelines for the agricultural sector, with special attention to herd boys. According to the guidelines, children under 13 years of age should not herd livestock, except under the supervision of parents, employers or an adult, while children under 15 years were prohibited from herding in remote areas. The guidelines also require that herd boys should be provided with adequate clothing to suit the extreme weather conditions, adequate food and medical assistance as well as safe and proper accommodation. Moreover, their working time should not exceed more than 21 hours during school weeks and not more than 30 hours during school holidays, and night work is prohibited. It requested the Government to provide information on the implementation of the guidelines for the agricultural sector and the results achieved.

While noting an absence of information in the Government’s report on this point, the Committee notes from the APEC Progress Report that the Ministry of Labour and Employment conducted six awareness-raising campaigns on the guidelines in the districts of Botha-Bothe and Qacha’s Nek. The Committee notes that according to the UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey results of 2018, nearly one in three children aged 5–17 years were engaged in child labour, of which two thirds of children are involved in herding animals. The Committee notes in the concluding observations of the CRC of June 2018 that children involved in herding are still exposed to the worst forms of child labour (CRC/C/LSO/CO/2, paragraph 55(a)). The Committee therefore once again urges the Government to take effective and time-bound measures to ensure that children who are engaged in hazardous work in animal herding are removed from this worst form of child labour and are rehabilitated and socially integrated. In this regard, it requests the Government to continue providing information on the implementation of the guidelines for the agricultural sector and the results achieved.

2. Orphans of HIV/AIDS and other vulnerable children (OVCs). The Committee previously noted the various support and assistance measures taken by the Government for OVCs, including school bursaries, feeding scheme programmes, the Child Grants Programme (CGP), the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme and the National Strategic Plan on Vulnerable Children 2012–17, as well as the results achieved. Further, noting from the 2014 estimates from UNAIDS that about 74,000 children aged 0–17 are orphans due to HIV/AIDS in Lesotho, the Committee urged the Government to strengthen its efforts to ensure the protection of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS and other vulnerable children from the worst forms of child labour.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that the Ministry of Social Development (MOSD) with the help of UNICEF and the European Union Lesotho have assisted in collecting data for the National Information System for Social Assistance. The Committee also notes from the APEC Progress Report that: (i) scholarship programmes for needy children for access to senior secondary schools have been adopted; (ii) District Child Protection Teams (DCPT) and Community Child Protection Teams (CCPT) were established as OVC coordinating mechanisms along with other stakeholders and labour inspectors; and (iii) a National Standards and Guidelines for Care of Vulnerable Children has been adopted for DCPTs, CCPTs, civil society organizations and other caregivers. This report further indicates that within the CGP, 33,000 households have benefitted in cash and 8,063 individuals benefited in kind. The Committee notes, however, that according to the 2019 estimates from UNAIDS, about 85,000 children aged 0–17 are orphans due to HIV/AIDS in Lesotho. While taking due note of the various measures taken by the Government for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS and other vulnerable children, the Committee requests the Government to continue its efforts to ensure that such children, who are at an increased risk of being engaged in the worst forms of child labour, are protected from these worst forms. It requests the Government to continue to provide information on specific measures taken in this regard, and on the results achieved, particularly the number of OVCs benefiting from these initiatives and the nature of the assistance provided.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.