By Kenneth Thompson
A nongovernmental organisation working to eliminate child labour in Sierra Leone has met a select group of journalists to sensitise them on child labour issues and the need to identify and report on them and to discuss two legal instruments dealing with the protection of children in the country – the Employer and Employed Act of 1947 and the Child Rights Act of 2007.
Karimu Conteh from the Ministry of Labour urged the journalists to study the two instruments and be vigilant to report when the rights of children are violated.
He said that in July 2011, nearly half of the country’s girls (44.8%) were subjected to child labour, while 47% of boys suffered the same fate. He disclosed further that at present the country was experiencing a high percent of child labourers.
Conteh also gave statistics of children involved in hazardous work across the country with the south the hardest hit at 26%. The north and east are at 24% and the western area 18%. He said that a total of 22% of children were involved in hazardous work in Sierra Leone.
Discussing the role of the media in combating child labour, media consultant Solomon Rogers called on journalists to investigate and report issues about child labour by going in search of the laws and issues, as well as reporting them in a simple way for the public to understand.
Rogers highlighted the possible reasons for the increase in child labour, including poverty and local customs and traditional beliefs. He said “most people in rural Sierra Leone are illiterate and do not know about the dangers of child labour”, noting that as journalists a better way to help in the fight against it would be by forming a coalition “to fight the scourge” in society
© Politico 03/10/13
