Labour inspectors countrywide and other law enforcement officials have been urged to play a core role in the elimination of child labour. This was said at the beginning of a three-day training organised by General Directorate of Labour and Employment in collaboration with International Labour Organisation (ILO) that kicked off this week in Musanze district. Java Nkundabakura Kalima, the chief labour inspector in the Ministry of Public Service and Labour, urged employers not to employ children below 16 years. Officials also argued that there is need to streamline the recently passed labour law to clearly outline the punitive measures to be meted out on anyone found employing a minor. “By the end of this year the law protecting children will be established, those who employ children should know there are going to be legal implications. Children less than 16 years cannot be employed in any way or have an employment contract with any company,” said Kalima. He called upon parents to treat every child as their own adding that this will decrease the number of children employed by various companies. Alexandre Twahirwa, another official from the ministry said that since the introduction of the nine and 12-year basic education programmes, child labour has significantly declined. “A study done around the time nine years basic education was introduced by the Ministry of Education, indicated that the number of children employed declined and children who had left schools for various reasons started rejoining schools,” he said. The nine-year basic education was rolled out countrywide in 2009, before it was upgraded two years later to 12 years. Officials said that child labour was at 11. 2 per cent after 1994 but declined to 1.2 percent in 2012. Participants in the training said that they were committed to collaborate with other actors to eliminate child labour. A recent report by ILO indicated that the global number of child labourers had declined from 222 million to 215 million, or 3 per cent, over the period between 2004 and 2008. The report also expressed concern that the global economic crisis could “further brake” progress toward the goal of eliminating the worst forms of child labour by 2016.
