Child labour in Botswana is defined as the exploitation of children through any form of work which is harmful to their physical, mental, social and moral development.ILO. (2017). What is Child Labour. Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org/ipec/facts/lang--en/index.htm Child labour in Botswana is characterised by the type of forced work at an associated age, as a result of reasons such as poverty and household-resource allocations.Edmonds. E. (2008) Handbook of Development Economics, Chapter 57 Child Labor, Elsevier, p. 3607–3709. Child labour in Botswana is not of higher percentage according to studies. The United States Department of Labor states that due to the gaps in the national frameworks, scarce economy, and lack of initiatives, "children in Botswana engage in the worst forms of child labour". The International Labour Organization is a body of the United Nations which engages to develop labour policies and promote social justice issues.ILO. (2018). Child Labour. Retrieved from https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/child-labour/lang--en/index.htm The International Labour Organization (ILO) in convention 138 states the minimum required age for employment to act as the method for "effective abolition of child labour" through establishing minimum age requirements and policies for countries when ratified. Botswana ratified the Minimum Age Convention in 1995, establishing a national policy allowing children at least fourteen-years old to work in specified conditions. Botswana further ratified the ILO's Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, convention 182, in 2000.
The ILO's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) funded the country in regard to the Towards the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour programme (TECL) in Botswana. In 2004 the Programme Advisory Committee on Child Labour (PACC) was founded to overlook the Towards the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (TECL) in Botswana . Some studies have argumentative stances upon the dealing of child labour in Botswana. As stated by Eva Procek in her 2006 Discussion document on Child Labour in Botswana "explicit time-bound strategies to address child labour and worst forms of child labour specifically have not been developed".
Current findings of child labour in Botswana
The United States of Labour has carried out a study into the issue of child labour in Botswana and has reported findings. The United States Department of Labor in their 2018 Child Labor and Forced Labor Reports, for Botswana, has stated that "Botswana has made minimal advancement towards eliminating child labour in 2018". The United States Department of Labor further states that "Botswana engages in the worst forms of child labor, including in commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor in cattle herding, and forced domestic work, each sometimes as a result of human trafficking". Gaps in the legal system alongside poorly directed social initiatives, as stated by The United States Department of Labor have resulted in contemporary accounts of child labour in Botswana.
Causes The International Labour Organization accounts that Children "work for survival" and for other reasons which have repressed their ability to act freely. Underlying factors such as geographic location, demographics and poverty are some causes of child labour in Botswana.
Geographic
Botswana is a landlocked country situated in the south-west division of Africa. Sonia Bhalotra in her OECD SOCIAL, EMPLOYMENT AND MIGRATION WORKING PAPERS study states that due to "stagnated economic growth, HIV/AIDS, conflict, famine and poor hygiene has escalated the issue of child labour in Sub-Saharan Africa".Bhalotra.S (2003). OECD SOCIAL, EMPLOYMENT AND MIGRATION WORKING PAPERS. The 2016 Global Estimates of Child Labour ILO report states that "one in five African Children face child labour". The report states that in the continent 72.1 million children work as labourers and 31.5 million work in hazardous conditions, with this being more than-twice the amount in comparison to other regions. Findings from the 2016 Global Estimates of Child Labour ILO report show that the agriculture sector across the continent accounts for 85% of child labourers, of many working in family enterprises and farms, primarily engaging in commercial farming or livestock herding. Further, traditional approaches in African communities have seen children leaving schooling to enter the workforce. This is seen in an African context to promote the development of life and physical skills contrary to western methodologies . An example of this can be seen through the rural Pare people of Tanzania, Sub-Saharan Africa, involving 5 year olds to tend crops.
Transmission to Botswana A transmission of the child labour issues from an overall African context can be seen in Botswana. The United States Department of Labor states in their 2010 Worst Forms of Child Labour Report that a poor economic outlook for families and resource allocations influences the integration of Children in the labour force in many instances such where "parents from rural areas send their children to the city to live with wealthier families and to work as domestic servants".United States Department of Labor, Bureau of International Labor Affairs. (2010). Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labour. Retrieved from https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2013/11/08/2010TDA.pdf The report further establishes that many children are heavily engaged in hazardous forms of agriculture, where children "manage herds of livestock in isolated areas for days without proper food and shelter". Botswana is a key source and destination for commercial sexual exploitation of children. Impoverished children are forced as workers and trafficked to clientele through high-ways and truck drivers.
Communities
Botswana is home to many ethnic groups such to the San people and the Okavango Delta people. Matyas Baan in his article Realising Children's Rights in Botswana states that these communities are "disadvantaged and vulnerable due to being displaced remotely or considered as outcasts". The San community is a minority ethnic group, which is remotely located, distant from main-land services, which has led to social-protection issues in regards to children. Children of these communities have reduced access to services such as education and are open to take upon roles primarily in family enterprises and farms or to be exploited into sexual exploitation and trafficking.
Changing Demographics Changes in demographics reflect changing social behaviours and actions of people to satisfy specific circumstances. Changes in demographics through intra-household resource allocation, parental investment and household requirements in Botswana has seen children work for individual and household needs, being excluded from schooling and uptaking "small scale entrepreneurship". The Caldwell theory of wealth (1982), reflects how countries with upward net flow wealth, such through peasant farmers, are inclined for higher rates of reproduction to satisfy for old age care and political status. Higher reproduction rates greatly influence the investment of parents towards their children and their activities such as schooling. The limited distribution for household resources and wealth towards children gives rise to child labour. The impact of intra-household resource allocation can be investigated in the Okavango Delta People of Botswana. A 1992 study into five ethnic groups of the community reflect that out of 122 children 20 attended school, of which 15 had to travel 30 km or further, resulting in trade-offs to the local economies of herding, milking and graining. A study by John Bock in his Evolutionary demography and intra-household time allocation, has resulted in findings for the correlation of time and resource allocation in relation to Children education and participation in labour. The study shows how changing parental investment, marital status, availability of alternative productivity tasks, birth order and sex of children "have implications to understand child labour and time allocations and consequent welfare".
Poverty Poverty is the condition where a community or individuals lack the access to basic necessities and financial resources to sustain a minimum standard of living. Botswana accounts for 36.7% of families living under the poverty datum line, which has seen the youth to be vulnerable. In 2012 the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Peter Siele, visited and talked to a 12 year old out-of-school worker about not attending school. The response recorded was "lehuma ke lone le le ntireleng gore ke tlogele sekolo, ke bolawa ke tlala" (poverty forced me out of school, I suffer from hunger). Negative macroeconomic indicators have influenced the inefficiencies of budget allocations towards children-based initiatives. Eva Procek in her 2006 Discussion document on child labour in Botswana investigates that children in rural and remote area's are vulnerable. Procek states that children of rural groups such as from the San community experience high levels of poverty due to high illiteracy rates, being prone to join the labour force early to support their households as they are "caught between conflicting cultural expectations". Issues of debt and financial constrains also result in children to uptake roles in the labour force.
Extent and Scope The United States Department of State in their 2017 Botswana Human Rights report states that the widespread scale of the issue sees "children within the country engaging in the worst forms of labour" including: commercial sexual exploitation, agriculture and forced domestic work.United States Department of State: Bureau of Democracy. (2017). BOTSWANA 2017 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT, p.20-21. Retrieved from. https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Botswana.pdf The Ministry of Labour and Health accounts for 25000 Children under the age of 15 working on farms. A further 1500 are accounted for domestic work in wealthy households. Botswana further engages to be a source and destination for commercial trafficking of children, specifically through truck and highway clientele.
2005/2006 Labour Force Survey The 2005/2006 labour force survey from the Central Statistics Office is an early study analysing the trends of the labour force in relation to children employment status in Botswana.Okurut, F. and Yinusa, D., 2010. Determinants of Child Labour and Schooling in Botswana: Evidence from 2005/2006 Labour Force Survey. Botswana Journal of Economics, 6(10), pp.1-19. The survey of 415,751 children saw that 72.4 percent were engaged in full time schooling, 21.2 percent were involved in the labour force alongside schooling and 2.6 percent were primarily working. A gender based analysis in the study shows that only 69.2% of males at the time were participating in schooling in comparison to the 75.1% of females. 39,170 children explicitly stated the reason for their employment with the two most prevalent reasons accounting for family assistance (62.8%), and personal financial needs (12.8%). +Child Employment and Schooling Status by Gender of ChildChild employment and schooling statusGenderTotal %
(N= 415,751)Male % (N=207,713)Female % (208,038)Working and schooling24.118.321.2Working and not schooling3.51.82.6Not working and schooling69.275.172.0Not working and not schooling3.24.84.0Total100.0100.0100.0 Source: Authors' calculations based on CSO Labour Force Survey (2005/06)
Impacts The impacts of child labour can be seen interlinked in affecting the welfare of many involved children . Impacts are seen through education and the consequences of poverty.
Education