Child Labor and Forced Labor Reports

Eswatini

Bovines
Bovines
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Eswatini
2021 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor:

Minimal Advancement

In 2021, Eswatini made minimal advancement in efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labor. The Government of Eswatini launched a National Action Plan on the Elimination of Child Labor and created an interagency task force to oversee its implementation. The Deputy Prime Minister (DPM)’s office, which oversees child welfare, launched a campaign to ensure that children in Eswatini are issued identity documents, which will help orphaned and vulnerable children gain a greater access to education. However, children in Eswatini are subjected to the worst forms of child labor, including in forced domestic work, forced livestock herding, and commercial sexual exploitation. Significant gaps in the legal framework remain, including gaps in minimum age protections, a lack of legislation regulating the labor conditions under Kuhlehla and other customary practices, and a de facto compulsory education age that does not meet international standards. In addition, minimum age protections only apply to children working in industrial undertakings, which does not conform to international standards that require all children to be protected by the minimum age to work.

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