The Children’s Act 2022 defines “child labour” to mean work done by a child, which work is (a) is exploitative, hazardous or otherwise inappropriate for a person of that age; and (b) places at risk the child’s well-being, education, physical or mental health, or spiritual, moral, emotional or social development.
Section 18 of this Act states that (i) No person shall subject a child to child labour, domestic servitude, economic exploitation or any work or employment which is hazardous, interferes with the child’s education or is likely to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, moral or social development.
Sub-section (3) states that No person shall use, procure or offer a child for slavery or practices similar to slavery, including begging, debt bondage, servitude, or forced or compulsory labour or provision of personal services, whether or not for gain.
According to the US Department of Labour, Kenya made minimal advancement to eliminate the worst forms of child labour in the country. Many children in Kenya are subjected to the worst forms of child labour, including in commercial sexual exploitation, sometimes as a result of human trafficking, drug trafficking, forced commercial labour and forced domestic service. Children also perform dangerous tasks in agriculture, like farming, herding, fishing and lumbering. They are also used in activities like construction, quarrying, brick making, mining minerals and sand harvesting.
Key institutions and committees responsible for and mandated to eliminate child labour lack adequate resources to carry out their mandates and the labour inspectorate does not have sufficient financial and human resources, affecting its ability to ensure that child labour laws are enforced.
Studies show that 11.6% (1,468,203) of children aged 5-14 years work. Sexual exploitation is facilitated by hotel and lodge owners, bar owners, local tour guides and local women recruiters in tourism-heavy areas like Nairobi, Kisumu and at the Coast.
This is despite the express requirement in the Act that the Cabinet Secretary for Labour should have, within one year of the commencement of the Act, made regulations prescribing the terms and conditions of work and the kind of work that may be engaged in by children that (a) have attained the age of 13 years but have not attained the age of 16 years; and (b) children who have attained the age of 16 but have not attained the age of 18 years
The Kenyan government can and must do more by, for example, increasing the labour inspectors, ensuring the labour ministry has sufficient financial and human resources to address labour violations, by imposing penalties for violations, training criminal law enforcement investigators, enhancing efforts to eliminate barriers and making education accessible for all children including refugees and pregnant girls, increasing the number of schools and teachers, addressing sexual abuse in schools and expanding existing programmes to address the scope of the child labour problem.
Everyone responsible, including teenagers, are encouraged to be aware of the child laws and potential abuse of the same so that we can all safeguard our future generation, Kenya’s future.