The\nMinister of State for Gender and Culture Affairs, Hon. Mutuuzo Peace Regis has\ncalled on the Police attached to the minerals sector to enforce the ban on\nchildren working in mines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mutuuzo\nsays in many areas where elementary mining is being done, children are engaged\nin hard labour activities for small commissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She\ncited an example of gold mines in Namayingo and Busia districts where children\ntoil beyond their age and physical limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUnfortunately,\nthis has not translated into wealth for the abused children. This is the more\nreason police should step in and fight the vice,\u201d Mutuuzo noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She\nwas speaking at the occasion to commemorate the World Day Against Child Labour at\nMadibira Primary School playgrounds in Busia border town on Wednesday, June 12,\n2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nDay was marked under the theme: \u201cChildren shouldn\u2019t work in the fields, but on\ndreams\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nMinister noted that the choice to host the event in Busia was intended to raise\nthe profile of the fight against the vice of child labour in the area but also\nthe country at large.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaking\nat the same event, the Busia District Chairman Geoffrey Wandera observed that\naccording to the 2014 national population census, Busia had 99,217 children\nbelow the age of 18. Of these 24,919 (34.7%) are aged between 10-17 and are\nemployed for domestic labour, informal cross border trade, mining, fishing,\nbars, restaurants and hotels among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBecause\nof this, the region and Busia district in particular has suffered an increase\nin teenage pregnancies, early marriages, school dropouts, HIV\/AIDS, juvenile\ncrimes, street children and child trafficking and modern-day slavery,\u201d Wandera\nsaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\nblamed the high prevalence of child labour on the inadequate awareness, laxity\nin enforcement of child labour laws, parental neglect, low commitment from\nleaders and high levels of poverty and ignorance among the populace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\nrevealed that as a district they have had various interventions to curb child\nabuse including; formulating and passing a child protection ordinance 2019,\narresting and prosecuting perpetuators and creating awareness and engaging the\nbusiness community on labour related issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\ncalled for a cross border policy to tackle child labour and trafficking and\nalso build a children\u2019s home to accommodate abandoned children. He further\nappealed to Government to lift the ban on recruitment to allow districts employ\nlabour officers to address the emerging issues. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Minister of State for Gender and Culture Affairs, Hon. Mutuuzo Peace Regis has called on the Police attached to the minerals sector to enforce the ban on children working in mines. Mutuuzo says in many areas where elementary mining is being done, children are engaged in hard labour activities for small commissions. She cited […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":9681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-9680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n