The recruitment of children from rural areas to work as domestic workers in urban areas is a practice that has gone unhindered for many years. In many communities in Africa, and in Uganda in particular, the placement of children in the homes of wealthier relatives or friends to perform domestic work in exchange for education and other benefits is considered a survival strategy. Like in many other societies, Ugandan communities find it culturally acceptable to use children to complement family income efforts. They hardly acknowledge that using children to undertake domestic activities, which at times may be hazardous to their health and education, amounts to exploitation of children. This is worsened by the fact that the use of children for domestic work co-exists with such other malicious practices, including the trafficking of children which violate their most basic and fundamental rights.
This dissertation argues that although the law on child labour has existed for a long time, this practice has flourished and in some cases it has contributed to the development of child trafficking and slavery. The study acknowledges that there are many international law and domestic instruments which seek to address these problems. While analyzing the available literature and the body of international and national legal instruments, the study challenges the extent to which these instruments are useful in delivering protection to children. It will show that, while it is evident that the UN Protocol on Trafficking in Persons brought significant contribution to international criminal law, it did not add much value in the fight against the trafficking of children for domestic work as its scope is limited to addressing transnational crimes and those involving an organized criminal group.
The dissertation also shows that neither international human rights law, nor national labour law have dealt with the question of exploitation of children adequately. It is highlighted in the study that international law has neither defined clearly the term ‘exploitation’, nor distinguished effectively between acceptable work and harmful work for children. The dissertation argues for a child-centred approach that values the full range of children’s rights and does not seek only to eliminate child labour, but also understand the reasons why children work, recognise their rights as workers and provide mechanisms that ensure decent work for children.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/11069 |
| Date | 18 January 2012 |
| Creators | Nyakato, Anne Mary |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf, application/pdf |
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