Countries need to create favourable conditions for job creation to eradicate child labour: Wissing

The head of the International Labour Organisation Thomas Wissing says countries need to create favourable conditions for job creation. At least 2000 delegates from over 180 countries are attending the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour, which President Cyril Ramaphosa, has opened at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban.

It’s the first time that the conference is being hosted in Africa.

Wissing stressed on the importance of proper labour practices as well as the need to ensure parents are employed to help eradicate child labour.

“We need to make sure that the parents have a decent income, decent work and they have access to a job that provides a sufficient family income. We need to make sure that workers can defend their rights. We need to make sure that they have social protection and that the worker’s rights are respected.

“We need to make sure that the parents are really the ones that are receiving the family income and that jobs are created. I think that at the end of the day it has very much to do with creating the conditions to prevent the children from being trapped into child labour.”

Thomas Wissing speaks to SABC News at the 5th Global Conference on the Elimination of Child Labour:

Africa leads world in child labour cases

Wissing pointed out that more than half of the 160-million children that work are in Africa.

“A number of countries are struggling with economic crisis, others are dealing with conflict with war with displacement of people with migration so it’s not an easy environment and the pandemic has hit them very hard in the African continent. It’s no surprise that it’s not an easy one we see that out of this 160 million that are in child labour world wide 92 million are in Africa so more than half of them and half of these 92 million children are more or less what we call hazardous labour which is immediately dangerous for their live for their health,” he adds.

Child labour around the world

Child labour around the world by SABC Digital News