More than a fifth of children on the African continent (about 87 million children) are working children, and what raises more concerns is that these numbers do not include the effects of the Covid-19 epidemic, which almost certainly pushed more children to work due to school closures and high rates poverty.

In its report, the British magazine "The Economist" said that recent data issued by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the International Labor Organization revealed that between 2016 and 2020, the number of working children around the world rose for the first time since 2000 to 160 million, and the increase mainly included sub-Saharan Africa.

In the Central African Republic, a survey of 102 diamond mines found that between 2019 and 2020, the number of workers under the age of 15 increased by 50%.

Edward Baka, a school principal in the Kono district, adjacent to Sierra Leone's largest gold mine, says:

Of the 700 children between the ages of 4 and 13 in his school, about 80% work in mines and farms.

Baka confirms that it is easy to identify working children, as they are less active and focused than their colleagues, and often suffer from health problems. A student from a nearby school was killed in a mudslide in one of the mines in the area.

Countries such as Zambia, Nigeria and Kenya suffer from millions of children under the age of 5 being employed (Shutterstock)

child exploitation

In a quarry on the outskirts of the Sierra Leonean capital, Freetown, 12-year-old Osman, whose muscular muscles suggest he is much older, works.

Osman wants to be a doctor, but now he spends 4 hours a day breaking rocks and turning them into gravel, which has caused him many cuts and scars.

The International Labor Organization believes that some 39 million African children are exploited in hazardous work, such as fishing and working in the mines.

James Riach - who works in Freetown for the Irish NGO "Goal" - says that many children whose families send them to cities for education are exploited in the labor market by relatives, friends or criminal gangs, which may pave the way for child trafficking and others. forms of abuse.

In addition, countries such as Zambia, Nigeria and Kenya are suffering from employing millions of children under the age of 5 as domestic servants.

Controversy among experts

Some academics argue that work can sometimes benefit children, says Jim Somberg of the University of Sussex's Institute for Development Studies;

A child working an hour before school on his parents' farm is a good thing.

But others are concerned that such actions may negatively affect children, and point in this context to the International Campaign to End Child Labor in the cocoa industry, despite the fact that 94% of children in this industry work for their parents or relatives.

The International Labor Organization considers child labor on farms a dangerous activity and lists it among the "worst forms of child labor", a classification that includes the recruitment of children into conflict and prostitution.

The criminalization of child labor on farms led to many raids in which NGOs removed children from cocoa farms and remote fishing villages in countries such as Ghana.

"Removing a child from their family or preventing them from working is never a solution," says Samuel Okier of the University of Bristol. "You can't put all working children in orphanages."

The African Movement for Working Children and Youth (an organization that operates in 27 countries) says that its members have no choice but to work, and believes that instead of criminalizing child labor, work should be done to provide better conditions for working children.

According to The Economist, these views face severe criticism by governments and international organizations, and child labor expert at the World Health Organization, Benjamin Smith, says that the idea of ​​​​establishing two standards for children's rights;

One standard for richer kids and one for poorer kids, a "slightly weird" idea.

"It's not a big mystery; poverty is the main cause" of child labour, he adds.

Studies that the International Labor Organization relies on in this field indicate that the high rate of poverty in a country leads to an increase in its share of at least 0.7% in child labor.

“I didn't choose that much for my children,” says Mabinti Doukuri, who works in a quarry with her six children, adding that making some money to start a business - such as a kiosk or a hair salon - would allow her children to stop working.