I am in the process of revising a paper on child labour in African artisanal mining camps, and find myself seriously struggling. Not because it is something that I cannot do; the paper will be revised, and likely accepted. I just find that there are way too many generalizations about child labour in rural sub-Saharan Africa.
You have, on the one hand, an ILO and supporters calling for a ban on child labour, even in rural areas. The view being espoused by this school is that child labour is ‘bad’, irrespective of where, and the conditions under which, it takes place. Children, proponents argue, should not be working, regardless of the circumstances; rather, they should be in school. On the other hand, you have a group which argues that in rural sub-Saharan Africa, child labour is a part of the culture – that ‘going to farm’ has been, and continues to be, an integral part of rural livelihoods. Both sides are, for the most part, inflexible, unwilling to embrace the other’s views.
After reading the slew of ILO documents on child labour in sub-Saharan Africa, however, you are left with the impression that parents are forcing their kids to work – that they are cruel, and wish to deprive them of their education. In my experience, however, it is quite the opposite: that poor African families make incredible sacrifices to send their children to school, irrespective of what few opportunities may lie at the ‘end of the tunnel’ for high school, college and university graduates. Indeed, many of the first postcolonial African leaders – Nyerere, Nkrumah and even Mugabe before he became senile – preached the value of education. Whether or not it is because the messages of the Fathers of Independence continue to resonate, the rural African family continues to attach enormous value to education.
In many cases, African children work to generate sufficient funds to pay for their school fees. But – and thanks to the ILO – all we, the ignorant public, are provided, is one side of this: conclusions drawn from the terrible images of young children lifting sacks of ore at a mine site, or carrying firewood for miles. Someone needs to tell the ILO that these scenarios are not a result of exploitation, cruelty, or families’ ignorance of school or education. On the contrary, it is the value rural African families place on education which leads to children pursuing work. Rather than condemning the African village for ‘forcing’ their children into work, should we not be praising families for the lengths to which they go in order to ensure that their children attend school? A more logical means of ‘eradicating’ the child labour ‘problem’ in rural sub-Saharan Africa, therefore, would be to support families by providing them with the finances to send children to school; or, in instances where children are ‘breadwinners’, to provide families with the finances equivalent to that which would be lost as a result of removing a child from work.
But the ILO has a policy of not paying for school fees. Alas, we are forced to endure all of these nonsensical claims…
