2001 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor - Tanzania

Government Policies and Programs to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor

The Government of Tanzania became a member of ILO-IPEC in 1994. Since 1995, ILO-IPEC has implemented 40 action programs in Tanzania to address child labor.^[2450] At the community level, Child Labor Monitoring Committees identify and monitor cases of child labor.^[2451] In 2000, Tanzania joined four other countries participating in an ILO-IPEC program, funded by USDOL, to remove children from exploitative work in commercial agriculture.^[2452] The government in 2000 also conducted a child labor survey with technical assistance from ILO-IPEC's SIMPOC.^[2453] In June 2001, the Government of Tanzania announced that it would initiate an ILO-IPEC Time-bound Project, a comprehensive, national level project to eliminate the worst forms of child labor over a defined period. Phase 1 of this project aims to eliminate child labor in the commercial sex sector, mining, abusive forms of domestic work, and commercial agriculture by 2010.^[2454]

Tanzania's Basic Education Master Plan aims to achieve universal access to basic education, increase primary school gross enrollment, and ensure that at least 80 percent of children complete primary education by the age of 15.^[2455] The Ministry of Education and Culture, with support from UNICEF, has launched a 3-year program to help reintegrate children who have dropped out of the system into schools and has made it illegal to expel students because of pregnancy.^[2456] The Ministry of Education has launched a Community Education Fund with World Bank support to improve the school infrastructure. The Ministry of Education is working to improve pre-primary education, in collaboration with ILO-IPEC.^[2457] In 1997, Tanzania joined ILO-IPEC's Action Against Child Labor through the Education and Training Project, which has mobilized teachers, educators, and their organizations, and the general public to launch campaigns against child labor at the local and national levels.^[2458]

Incidence and Nature of Child Labor

In 2001, a child labor survey conducted by the Tanzania Ministry of Labor, Youth Development and Sports, in cooperation ILO-IPEC, estimated that 40 percent of children between the ages of 5 and 17 in Tanzania were working.^[2459] Approximately 27 percent of working children are between the ages of 5 and 9, and 44 percent are between the ages of 10 and 14.^[2460] In rural areas, 34 percent of children work, while in urban areas, 11 percent of children work.^[2461]

Children work on commercial tea, coffee, sugar cane, sisal, cloves, cut-flower, and tobacco farms and in the production of corn, green algae (seaweed), pyrethrum, rubber, and wheat.^[2462] In mining regions, children work in surface and underground mines. In gemstone mines, children, known as "snake boys," crawl through narrow tunnels hundreds of meters long to help position mining equipment and ignite and assess the effectiveness of explosions.^[2463] Children also work as domestic servants, often for 18 hours per day and for low pay.^[2464] Others work as barmaids, street vendors, car washers, shoe shiners, carpenters, and auto repair mechanics.^[2465] They also work in skilled crafts such as carpentry and auto repair as "apprentices," where they receive little pay for their work.^[2466] Girls as young as 9 years old reportedly engage in prostitution.^[2467]

Education in Tanzania is compulsory for seven years, until the age of 15; however, education is not free, and costs include enrollment, books, and uniforms.^[2468] In 1997, the gross primary enrollment rate was 66.5 percent, and the net primary enrollment rate was 48.4 percent.^[2469] In 1996, Tanzania's gross primary attendance rate was 78.1 percent.^[2470] Forty-eight percent of working children attend school.^[2471]

Child Labor Laws and Enforcement

The Employment Ordinance of 1956 sets the minimum age for employment at 15 years and prohibits children from using, working near machinery, or engaging in underground work. Current laws do not restrict children from working in agriculture.^[2472] Under the Employment Ordinance, employers are obliged to keep registers that indicate the age of workers, working conditions, the nature of employment, and commencement and termination dates.^[2473] The Sexual Offences Special Provisions Act of 1998 criminalizes child sexual assault or abuse, and the Penal Code prohibits procuring a female under the age of 21 for prostitution.^[2474]

Several government agencies have jurisdiction over areas related to child labor, but primary responsibility for enforcing the country's child labor laws rests with the Ministry of Labor and Youth Development (MLYD). A Child Labor Unit within MLYD serves as a liaison between the various. government ministries and stakeholders. It is responsible for child labor-related projects, conducts the child labor component of the labor inspector training, and gathers and disseminates data on child labor.^[2475] At the community level, Child Labor Monitoring Committees have been established in areas with a high frequency of child labor. The committees are reported to be effective in their initial efforts to raise awareness, withdraw and rehabilitate children from child labor, protect working children, and provide support to families. However, over time, the motivation of the committees often wanes and their effectiveness lessens.^[2476] Tanzania ratified ILO Convention 138 on December 16, 1998, and ILO Convention 182 on September 12, 2001.^[2477]

[2450] ILO-IPEC, Tanzania: Focusing on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (Geneva, 2001) [hereinafter Tanzania: Focusing on the Worst Forms of Child Labour].

[2451] ILO-IPEC, Supporting the Time-Bound Programme on the Worst Forms of Child Labor in Tanzania (Phase I), project document, January 1, 2002, 18 [document on file].

[2452] ILO-IPEC, Prevention, withdrawal and rehabilitation of children engaged in hazardous work in the commercial agricultural sector in Africa, programme document, November 1, 2000.

[2453] ILO-IPEC, SIMPOC Countries, at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/ipec/simpoc/countries.htm on 2/26/02.

[2454] ILO-IPEC, "Labour Force Survey Preliminary Results (Quarter 1)," Time-Bound Program: Tanzania, RAP Reports (Tanzania, 2001) [CD-ROM] [hereinafter Time-Bound Program: Tanzania]. See also Benjamin Mkapa, president of the United Republic of Tanzania, "Special High-Level Session on the Launch of the Time-Bound Programme on the Worst Forms of Child Labour," speech at the International Labour Conference, Provisional Record, Eighty-ninth Session, June 12, 2001, Geneva.

[2455] The Education for All (EFA) 2000 Assessments: Country Reports – Tanzania, at http://www2.unesco.org/wef/countryreports/country.html on 4/2/01.

[2456] Time-Bound Program: Tanzania.

[2457] Ibid.

[2458] ILO, "Action Against the Worst Forms of Child Labour through Education and Training," outline paper (Geneva: ILO-IPEC, January 1999), 6, 7.

[2459] Statistics on the number of working children refer to "usual" work activities for children who worked during the 12-month reference period. See Time-Bound Program: Tanzania.

[2460] Statistics on the number of working children refer to "current" work activities for children who worked during the last week of the reference period. The number of children who were currently working was 3.4 million. Statistics measuring "usual" work activities during the 12-month reference period by age or location are unavailable. See Time-Bound Program: Tanzania.

[2461] Time-Bound Program: Tanzania.

[2462] USDOL, By the Sweat and Toil of Children: Efforts to Eliminate Child Labor, vol. 5 (Washington, D.C., 1998) [hereinafter Sweat and Toil of Children], 165. See also Tanzania: Focusing on the Worst Forms of Child Labour at 15.

[2463] ILO-IPEC, Situation Analysis Report on Hazardous Child Labor in the Three Sectors: Plantations and Agriculture, Domestic and Allied Workers Union, and Tanzania Mining and Construction Workers Union (Dar es Salaam: Federation of Free Trade Unions, 1997), 10. See also Linda Diebal, "Small Mines Huge Hazard for Child Labor," Toronto Star, May 17, 1999.

[2464] Ibid. at 14.

[2465] By the Sweat and Toil of Children at 165.

[2466] ILO, Child Labour in Tanzania (Geneva, 1992), 12.

[2467] Alakok Mayombo, "Rights: Tanzania – Children Drawn into Sex Trade," Tanzania Media Women Association (TAMWA), Associated Press, April 27, 1998, as cited in Factbook on Global Sexual Exploitation (Amherst, Mass.: Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, 1999).

[2468] Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2000 – Tanzania (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of State, 2001) [hereinafter Country Reports 2000], Section 5, at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2000/af/839.htm.

[2469] World Development Indicators 2001(Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2001) [CD-ROM].

[2470] USAID, GED 2000: Global Education Database (Washington, D.C., 2000) [CD-ROM] and at http://www.usaid.gov/educ_training/ged.html.

[2471] Time-Bound Program: Tanzania.

[2472] The Employment Ordinance states that any employer found to be in violation of child labor laws is subject to a fine of 2,000 to 4,000 shillings (USD 2.15 to 4.30) and/or 3 to 6 months of imprisonment. See Report of the Commission on the Law Relating to Children in Tanzania (Dar es Salaam: Law Reform Commission of Tanzania, 1996) [hereinafter Commission on the Law Relating to Children], 131, Cap. 366, Sections 77, 85.

[2473] Commission on the Law Relating to Children at 131, Cap. 366, Section 85.

[2474] Country Reports 2000 at Section 5. See also Human Rights Reports: Tanzania, Protection Project Database, at http://www.protectionproject.org.

[2475] IPEC, "Time-Bound Program on the Worst Forms of Child Labor in Tanzania: Summary of the Institutional and Policy Study," National Roundtable Discussion on the Time-Bound Program on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, Dar es Salaam, April 23-25, 2001, at 12.

[2476] Ibid.

[2477] ILOLEX database, International Labour Standards and Human Rights Department, at http://ilolex.ilo.ch:1567/english/.