The increasing numbers of children being forced into child labour sets back “our efforts to eliminate child labour by 2025,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday.
Addressing the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination on the Elimination of Child Labour in Durban, Ramaphosa said such exploitative labour practices “impacted the child’s spiritual, moral, and social development.”
“Such labour practices rob children of a childhood,” he said, adding that “they deny them the opportunity to explore, learn, develop and fulfil their potential.”
According to the International Labour Organisation, over 160 million children are part of the workforce globally, with more than half of them aged between five and 11 years.
Although there are laws that protected children against child labour and forced labour, members of the public needed to increase their efforts in reporting such incidents, Ramaphosa said.
The country’s labour law bans anyone under 15 years old from working since he or she is considered a child and should be in school.
NM/jn/APA