The Malawi government developed the second National Action Plan on Child Labour (NAP II) from 2020 through 2025 to provide guidance on implementing the National Child Labour Policy. Experts believe that the interventions outlined in NAP II have the potential to combat child labour and work towards its eradication effectively.[1] However, with only two years left before the NAP II expires, the National Child Labour Policy (NCLP) remains in draft form. Furthermore, Malawi is yet to ratify the ILO Convention 189 on Domestic Child Labour.[2] These delays jeopardize the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal Target 8.7 to end all forms of child labour and increase the risk of children being forced into the worst forms of child labour.
Current child labour situation in Malawi
It was discovered in the 2015 National Child Labour Survey (NCLS) that 38% of children between the ages of 5 and 17 are involved in child labour in Malawi.[3] The survey also revealed that male children (39%) were slightly more involved in child labour than female children (37%). Additionally, the survey found that child labour is more prevalent in rural areas (39.3%) than in urban areas (30.3%), and the southern region had the highest proportion of children in child labour (43.5%) compared to the central and northern regions (33.3% and 33.8% respectively).
To improve the situation, Malawi has ratified two critical conventions: The International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions 138[4] and 182.[5] These conventions, along with national legislation such as the Constitution, Child Care Protection and Justice Act 2010, Employment Act 2000, and Education Act 2012, contain provisions to promote child education and prohibit child labour.[6]
These efforts are on top of other programmes meant to deal with poverty eradication, improving access to free and compulsory education, and addressing household vulnerability to shock, all contended as push factors to child labour.[7] More recently, the Malawi government has aligned itself with the ILO, Durban Call to Action on the Elimination of Child Labour, 2022. Among other this, this call for action prioritises making decent work a reality for adults and youth above the minimum age for work; ending child labour in agriculture; preventing and eliminating child and forced labour through data-driven policy and programmatic responses; realizing children’s right to education; achieving universal access to social protection; and increasing financing and international cooperation.[8]
Call for action to address child labour
With only about two years before the assessment of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of 2025, and the expiration of Malawi’s second National Action Plan on Child Labour (NAP II) 2020-2025, it is high time that the Malawi government set priorities of the Durban Call to Action on the Elimination of Child Labour. It is most likely that the target of eradicating child labour by 2025 will not be achieved. However, there is still time for the government to expedite the approval for the NCLP. Furthermore, the government can still put in place measures towards ratifying and implementing the ILO Convention 189 on Domestic Child Labour before 2025. These measures can contribute towards eradicating child labour as Convention 189 provides power to the Labour inspectors to monitor child labour within domestic settings,[9] which is one of the significant gaps in the current child labour legislation. On the other hand, the finalisation and subsequent implementation of the NCLP will most likely provide policy direction and a direction on how government can implement the Durban Call to Action.
Overall, there is still a little time for the government to implement these steps, and there is no better time to take these actions than today, when the world is observing World Day Against Child Labour. Among other things, the 2023 World Day Against Child Labour calls for more action for achieving social justice; universal ratification of ILO Conventions 138 and 182; and effective implementation of the Durban Call to Action.[10]
[1] ECLT Foundation, ‘National Action Plans to fight child labour’ https://www.eclt.org/en/news/national-action-plans-to-fight-child-labour accessed 09 June 2023.
[2] Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development, National action plan on child labour, 2020-2025 (Lilongwe: Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development, 2020) 24.
[3] National Statistics Office of Malawiand International Labour Office, Malawi: 2015 National child labour survey report , Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work Branch, – Geneva: ILO, 2017< https://www.ilo.org/ipec/Informationresources/WCMS_IPEC_PUB_29055/lang–en/index.htm> accessed 09 June 2023.
[4] https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C138.
[5] https://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=NORMLEXPUB:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C182.
[6] Employment Act, 2000, S 21 (1).
[7] Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development, National action plan on child labour, 2020-2025 (Lilongwe: Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development, 2020) 10.
[8] ILO, Durban Call to Action on the Elimination of Child Labour, 2022 <https://www.cocoainitiative.org/sites/default/files/resources/Durban_Call_to_Action_EN_20220607_0.pdf > accessed 09 June 2023.
[9] ILO, Domestic Workers Convention, C189, 2011, Art. 17(3).
[10] ILO, ‘World Day Against Child Labour’<https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/child-labour/campaignandadvocacy/wdacl/lang–en/index.htm> accessed 09 June 2023.
