Selected Child Labor Measures Adopted by Governments
| Ratified Convention 138 4/9/1979 |
X |
| Ratified Convention 182 5/7/2001
| X |
| Ratified Convention 182 3/23/2001 |
X |
| National Plan for Children |
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| National Child Labor Action Plan |
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| Sector Action Plan |
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Incidence and Nature of Child Labor
The Kenyan Central Bureau of Statistics estimated that 15.2 percent of all children ages 5 to 14 years were working in Kenya in 1998-99.[2257] Children living in rural areas were more likely to work than children living in urban areas.[2258] The commercial and subsistence agriculture and fishing sectors employ the largest number of working children, followed by the domestic service sector.[2259] Children work in the informal sector, predominantly in family businesses, and are found on tea, coffee, sugar, and rice plantations, in restaurants and shops, and in the coastal salt harvesting industry.[2260] There are large numbers of street children in Kenya’s urban centers, many of whom are involved in illegal activities such as theft and drug trafficking.[2261]
There is a high incidence of child prostitution in Kenya, particularly in Nairobi and Mombasa.[2262] There are also reports of widespread prostitution among girls who hawk or beg by day, and work as prostitutes by night.[2263] Girls working in the agricultural sector are reportedly sometimes forced to provide sexual services in order to obtain plantation work. Sudanese and Somali refugee children are alleged to be involved in prostitution in Kenya.[2264]
Kenya is a source, transit and destination country for trafficked children.[2265] Kenyan children are reportedly trafficked to South Africa,[2266] and there are reports of internal trafficking of children into involuntary servitude, including for work as street vendors, day laborers, and as prostitutes.[2267] Children are also trafficked from Burundi and Rwanda to coastal areas of Kenya for purposes of sexual exploitation.[2268]
The government has provided tuition-free primary education since 2003.[2269] In 2001, the gross primary enrollment rate was 96.0 percent (96.8 percent for boys and 95.1 percent for girls), and the net primary enrollment rate was 69.9 percent (69.4 percent for boys and 70.5 percent for girls).[2270] Gross and net enrollment ratios are based on the number of students formally registered in primary school and therefore do not necessarily reflect actual school attendance. Recent primary school attendance statistics are not available for Kenya. School completion rates for girls have increased, and the completion rate among girls has been reported to be higher than that for boys. [2271] However, there remains a gender bias in access to education.[2272] As the government expands primary education, it faces the challenges of high numbers of overage students, lack of teachers in some areas, learning material shortages, large class sizes, lack of classrooms, and inadequate facilities.[2273] In 2001, 42 percent of teachers were untrained.[2274] To enhance access to free primary education, the government supports non-formal education schools, especially those for children in urban slums.[2275]
Child Labor Laws and Enforcement
The Children’s Act of 2001 prohibits all forms of child labor that are exploitative and hazardous, or that would prevent children under the age of 16 from going to school. [2276] The Children’s Act also prohibits child sexual exploitation.[2277] The Constitution prohibits slavery, servitude, and forced labor.[2278] The Penal Code prohibits procurement of a girl under 21 to have unlawful sexual relations in Kenya or elsewhere.[2279] There are no laws in Kenya prohibiting trafficking, but laws prohibiting child labor, the transportation of children for sale, and the commercial exploitation of children can be used to prosecute traffickers.[2280]
The Ministry of Labor and Human Resource Development is responsible for enforcing child labor legislation, with the Child Labor Division staffed by 10 officers.[2281] Based on new instructions issued by the Ministry, findings on child labor must be included in labor inspection reports, and labor inspectors and occupational health and safety officers have been trained to detect and report child labor.[2282] The Department of Children’s Services (Office of the Vice President and the Ministry of National Heritage) is responsible for the administration of all laws regarding children, particularly awareness raising regarding children’s rights and the management of rehabilitation institutions. [2283]
Current Government Policies and Programs to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor
The Government of Kenya is working with ILO-IPEC and the Central Organization of Trade Unions to eliminate child labor.[2284] The government’s National Development Plan 2002-2008 recognizes child labor as a problem and calls for an evaluation of the impact of child labor on the individual and the nation, as well as its implications on the quality of the future labor force.[2285]
Kenya participates in a 4-year ILO-IPEC regional program funded by USDOL to withdraw, rehabilitate, and prevent children from engaging in hazardous work in commercial agriculture in East Africa.[2286] The government is also taking part in a 3-year USDOL-funded ILO-IPEC regional project aimed at eliminating the worst forms of child labor in Anglophone Africa,[2287] and in a USD 5 million USDOL-funded Timebound Program that will focus on child labor in domestic service; commercial sex; commercial and subsistence agriculture, fisheries and pastoralism; and street working children in informal sectors.[2288] In 2003, a human trafficking unit in the police force was created with U.S. assistance.[2289] The government and ILO-IPEC are also working to train labor inspectors and to strengthen a database on abused children, particularly working children.[2290]
The Department of Children’s Services, in collaboration with agencies working with children, developed a Children Information Center (CIC) whose aim is to improve planning and management of children’s services, and strengthen partnerships between the government and NGOs.[2291] The government met with community service organizations, the private sector and local authorities in April 2004, to discuss the increase in the number of street children in Mombasa.[2292] The government operates programs to place street children in shelters, and assists NGOs in providing education and protection services to girls who have been abused by employers.[2293] The government also offers an employment program for orphans and abandoned youth that includes training and subsidized employment.[2294]
Education sector reforms undertaken by the government include strengthening the free primary education policy, promoting good governance and management, and curriculum review and development.[2295] The Government of Kenya has also received support from UNICEF to raise the enrollment and primary completion rates for girls.[2296] To support the government’s policy of free primary education, the World Bank is providing USD 50 million, the majority of which will be used to enhance the provision of textbooks.[2297] The World Bank has also been supporting an early childhood development project, which has among its objectives increasing enrollment and reducing dropout and repetition rates in lower primary school.[2298] The government has made a contribution valued at USD 2.9 million to the WFP’s school feeding program.[2299] The U.S. Department of Agriculture is also providing funds to support nutritious school meals for children.[2300] In June 2004, Kenya participated in a meeting in Nairobi that focused on ways to enhance good practices in girls’ education in Africa.[2301]
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