Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2023, published 112nd ILC session (2024)

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

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Article 3 of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour. Clause (a). All forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery. Sale and trafficking of children. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes that the Government has adopted the National Action Plan for the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons (NAP-TiP) 2019–24, according to which Uganda remains a source, transit and destination country for people, including children, subjected to various forms of exploitation. Ugandan children as young as seven years old are exploited in forced labour in agriculture, fishing, forestry, cattle herding, mining, stone quarrying, brick making, carpentry, steel manufacturing, street vending/begging, working in bars and restaurants, and domestic service. The majority of victims of trafficking in persons are aged 13-24 years. The NAP-TiP also indicates that studies conducted by a number of international organizations and civil society actors reveal that the number of cases of internal trafficking in persons are much higher than what has been registered by the Government authorities, because some of them have not been formally reported to the authorities.

The Committee observes that the Government itself does not provide any information, in its report, on the number of cases of child trafficking identified, nor on investigations and prosecutions of persons who engage in the sale and trafficking of children. In this regard, the strategic objectives of the NAP-TiP include strengthening institutional capacity to effectively respond to human trafficking incidents and strengthening investigation, prosecution and adjudication of human trafficking cases. In addition, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that the ILO CAPSA project, funded by USDOL, aims to strengthen the capacity of the Government to address child and forced labour, and to enhance the enforcement of the legal framework and policies pertaining to child and forced labour, including trafficking. The Committee strongly encourages the Government to take the necessary measures, in the framework of the NAP-TiP and/or the CAPSA project, to ensure that cases of trafficking of children under the age of 18 are detected and that investigations and prosecutions are conducted against persons who engage in child trafficking.It requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken and the results achieved, including with regard to the number and nature of convictions and penalties imposed.

Articles 5 and 6. Monitoring mechanisms and plans of action. Sale and trafficking. Regarding the general implementation of the NAP-TiP, as well as the activities of the Coordination Office for the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons (COPTIP), the Committee refers to its comments under the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29).

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (a). Preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour. Ensuring access to free basic education. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s information that it is taking measures to improve access to education, including through the Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE) policies. It also notes that UNICEF is collaborating with partners to improve access to and quality education, including by supporting the development of policies and strategies for better efficiency, equity and quality in education; providing out-of-school children and adolescents with relevant second-chance or alternative learning opportunities; and encouraging schools to innovate, and engaging with communities to promote learning, attendance and achievement.

The Committee notes, however, that, according to the UNICEF website and the UNICEF Uganda Annual Report of 2022, Uganda faces major challenges in providing quality and accessible basic education to children and adolescents. The COVID-19 pandemic came at a time when Uganda was already grappling with a serious learning crisis in which many children were not mastering the fundamentals of reading and numeracy even if attending school. With widespread school closures and other disruptions to the education system brought about by COVID-19, a teachers’ strike and the Ebola outbreak, the learning crisis has escalated to new heights. Schools in Uganda finally reopened in 2022 following a detrimental two-year closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, eight out of ten children aged 6 to 12 years attend primary school and more than one in four attend secondary school, but access remains inequitable: the secondary level enrolment of the richest 20 per cent of the population (43.1 per cent) is five times that of the poorest 20 per cent (8.2 per cent). While noting the measures taken by the Government, the Committee requests it to strengthen its efforts to improve the functioning and the quality of the education system, as well as to ensure equal access to free basic education for all children, by focusing on increasing school attendance and completion rates. It requests the Government to continue to provide information on the measures taken in this regard and on the results achieved, including updated statistical data on school enrolment and completion rates.

Clause (d). Identifying and reaching out to children at special risk. Refugee children. Following its previous comments, in which the Committee noted that there were over 730,000 refugee children in Uganda and that South Sudanese and Sudanese refugee children are subjected to child labour in the country, the Committee takes note of the adoption of the National Child Policy (NCP) in 2020. According to the NCP over 60 per cent of the 1.42 million refugees in Uganda are children and nearly 10 per cent of child refugees are unaccompanied and/or separated. One of the policy objectives of the NCP is to prevent, respond to, and protect refugee children from the range of child protection risks they face during displacement, including exploitation.

Moreover, the Committee notes that, according to a June 2021 UNICEF Education Case Study on refugee learners in Uganda, the number of refugees in the country having increased to 850,900 (419,561 girls), the Ministry of Education and Sports, with the support of UNICEF and other partners, developed in 2018 the Education Response Plan for Refugees and Host Communities (ERP) in Uganda 2018–20 to include refugee learners in the education system and prioritize shared learning services for refugee and host communities. As of 2021, UNICEF continues to support refugee learners, as well as roll out the UPSHIFT programme, in partnership with the ILO, to foster innovation and social entrepreneurship and launch a tailored Life Skills Toolkit supporting the life skills of approximately 45,000 refugee adolescents (22,500 girls). The Committee requests the Government to continue taking effective and time-bound measures to ensure the protection of refugee and unaccompanied children, including through education, from the worst forms of child labour and requests it to provide information on the impact of such measures in practice. The Committee also once again requests the Government to provide the necessary and appropriate direct assistance for the removal of refugee and unaccompanied children from the worst forms of child labour and for their rehabilitation and social integration, and to provide information on the results achieved.