There is no doubt that the international, regional, and domestic communities agree that child labour is a problem that needs to be addressed. This commitment and unity of thought are reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Specifically, SDG Target 8.7 commits countries to take immediate and effective measures to eradicate all forms of child labour by 2025, this year.[1]
Gift Mauluka: “Are these targets meant to and geared for failure?“
This commitment is further reflected in the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child as well as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Both instruments frown at the exploitation of children.[2] Furthermore, the African Union adopted a Ten-Year Plan from 2020 to 2030 to end child labour and modern-day slavery. One would not be wrong to think that the embedding of these commitments in the African Agenda 2063, which aims to empower youth and children, is a direct and well-meaning indication that the problem of child labour is regarded as one of the ills facing children on the continent and calls for immediate eradication.
Nonetheless, this is 2025, when the targets meant to be met and aspired to in the SGD are supposed to have been achieved. Are these targets meant to and geared for failure? Perhaps it’s time to set more realistic targets, or maybe we don’t need these targets after all.
Domestic protection of children from Child labour
At the national level, Malawi has domesticated the targets set at the international and regional levels. The country has even taken concrete, actionable steps meant to achieve these targets. For instance, the Alliance 8.7 Pathfinder Country. This is where Malawi is recognized as a pathfinder country, making commitments to taking more actionable and fast-tracked efforts to eliminate child labour.[3] This status further serves as a model for Malawi and other countries on what needs to be done to eradicate child labour. Whether this is on track, being done positively or negatively, depends on who is talking and from which perspective.
Gift Mauluka: “Ideally, we should have been taking stock of what we have achieved, formulating a successor plan for sustainability.“
Together with the International Labour Organization (ILO), Malawi developed a Strategic Roadmap that outlines clear priorities and interventions to achieve SDG 8.7. Among other things, the roadmap has specific focus interventions for eliminating child labour by this year and all forms of child labour by 2030.[4] Relatedly, this roadmap is linked with the National Action Plan (NAP II) on Child Labour. Among other things, NAP II includes legal reforms, public awareness campaigns, capacity building of key stakeholders, and collection of valuable and relevant data, including its monitoring.[5] All these actions are aimed at eliminating child labour and align with the target in the SDGs. Of course, this plan directly talks to the legal and policy frameworks that explicitly prohibit child labour in all its forms.
Roadmap and Targets unattained? What if…
But this is 2025. Ideally, we should have been taking stock of what we have achieved, formulating a successor plan for sustainability. We should have been sharing best practices on how we have eliminated child labour. Sadly, more plans and more strategies are in the making.
Gift Mauluka: “Such involvement needs to extend beyond the conferences, the publication of work on children, and public campaigns against child labour.“
While the likelihood of us painting a very rosy picture about our battle against child labour might not be very promising. We may need to examine the root causes of child labour and address them honestly and transparently. That is, if we vividly imagine painting a clear picture of our battle against child labour.
Suppose children and their families continue living in poverty and have limited access to resources. In that case, child labour will continue taking its toll on the lives of children and robbing them of their childhood. There is no denying the fact that poverty is one of the main drivers of child labour. Thus, addressing poverty is most likely to be a good and well-paved roadmap towards a child labour-free community.
What if we start looking at the working conditions of adults who support the lives of these children? Such working conditions include non-exploitative pricing of cash crops, such as tobacco, tea, cocoa, and other similar products. If the prices of these crops continue to be determined by the buyers at the expense of immediate producers in the supply chain, child labour will surely be here to stay.
It also needs to be recognised that in some instances, children are involved in work because that is the only available option for their survival. It is time, therefore, to consider working conditions for such working children and not completely ban their involvement in work.[6]
What if we try nuanced ways of involving the children in finding solutions to these problems? Such involvement needs to extend beyond the conferences, the publication of work on children, and public campaigns against child labour. Maybe, reinvesting the resources that have been realised through the proceeds of child labour back into communities where such exploitation is happening. Maybe reflecting on our appetite for chocolate from child labour-related cocoa farming in Ghana? Perhaps re-examining our comfort in the cobalt and lithium battery-powered vehicles passing through the hands of children in Congo, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
In light of these what-ifs, we may need to start acting on our individual commitments to end child labour, lest we continue to reflect on the goals and see no meaningful outcome beyond 2025.
[1] Sustainable Development Goal, Target 8.7 < https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/economic-growth/> accessed 11 June 2025.
[2] African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, art 5; African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, art 15.
[3] Ministry of Labour (Malawi), National Alliance 8.7 Strategic Road Map (2023–2030) (2023) 1 https://www.ilo.org/media/482181/download accessed 12 June 2025
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ministry of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development, National Action Plan on Child Labour 2020-2025.
[6] Neil Howard, Hope and Hardship: Children’s Perspectives on their Work and Life in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining. Child Labour Report 2025, ed Antje Ruhmann and Lena Janda (Terre des Hommes 2025) 6 https://www.tdh.de/en/inform/topics/children-39-s-work-report accessed 12 June 2025.
