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child labourlatest news & developments
Trade unions: The key for unions to remain relevant to workers is to address their most basic needs. Photo: My_Cosatu

Unionised workforce still ideal

We are proud of how far Cosatu has come since it was launched 40 years ago in Durban and the role it has played in ending apartheid, securing our constitutional democracy,…

Reverend Jesse Jackson.

Born out of bondage, Jesse Jackson dies a master of social justice

He fought tooth and nail so that the transatlantic slave trade should not repeat itself anywhere, where our people faced brutal conditions and many lost their lives

Children in Africa are exposed to violence such as armed conflict, with some children recruited as child soldiers. Photo: Stefanie Glinski/AFP

Safeguard the rights and welfare of Africa’s children

About 50% of the continent’s children have experienced violence – emotional, sexual, physical and the added dangers of war

Digital content may seem harmless but children are being commodified and South Africa’s legal framework has not evolved to include the digital economy.

Pixels and protection: Strengthening legal frameworks against digital child labour

In many cases, the digital economy presents a perceived lifeline for families who are struggling to make ends meet

Energy demand: Tanzania’s transition minerals include an estimated 70-million tonnes of graphite ore (above), commonly used in electrodes for batteries and fuel cells. Photo supplied

Clean energy minerals: Tanzania’s dark side to ‘a new dawn’

Tanzania is banking on its natural resources during the global transition to clean energy, but analysts warn there are dangers ahead

Child labour: Young boys work at a brick factory in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena. (Djimet Wiche/AFP)

Chad’s children work to survive

The African country is the third least developed in the world, forcing parents having to send their children to work

Cheap and nasty: A plantation worker harvests palm oil fruits on Sumatra Island, Indonesia. More than 73-million tonnes was used in 2020, far more than other vegetable oils. Photo: Dimas Ardian/Getty Images

Palm oil: Useful but destructive

Palm oil contributes to deforestation, biodiversity loss, peatland destruction and climate change, and the biofuel is more polluting than fossil-based diesel

As the Covid-19 pandemic continues in its second year, the global organised crime network remains rife. (Fadel Senna/ AFP)

We must fight the scourge of child domestic labour

More than 17-million children around the world are involved in domestic labour. The recent death of 17-year-old Salome Zacharia in Tanzania highlights their plight

Around the world, the absence of paid maternity leave, childcare facilities or family-friendly job policies prevent women’s participation in the formal economy. (Reuters)

Go figure how women make a difference

At the current rate of progress, it will take more than 200 years to achieve gender equality and female empowerment at work

A trader ties a bundle of unprocessed tobacco in Bulawayo.

The high price of cigarettes

Child labour and other rights abuses on Zimbabwe’s tobacco farms

Two boys

Mercury rising: Gold mining’s toxic side effect

Across Africa, from Mali to Tanzania to Zimbabwe, millions of people, including children, work in dangerous gold mines.

Africa in China: Chinese vendors have come under fire for selling videos and photos of African children carrying personalised messages and advertising businesses.

Children exploited in custom videos

Chinese vendors have been selling videos of African children advertising products and sending messages amid criticisms of child exploitation

Ghana accused of using child labour in mines

Human Rights Watch has released a shocking report alleging that unlicensed mines in Ghana are profiting heavily from child labour.

Eritrea ‘tortured, enforced child labour’ – UN report

The Eritrean government may have committed crimes against humanity and was responsible for systematic human rights abuses, cites a UN report.

R3.30 an hour: De Doorns child labour probed

The Department of Labour is investigating allegations of child labour on a farm in the Hex Valley, outside De Doorns.

Malala Yousafzai challenges world leaders to ‘do better’

In an open letter to world leaders ahead of receiving her Nobel Peace Prize, activist Malala Yousafzai asks world leaders to raise their ambition.

HRW documents the shocking conditions on tobacco farms in the US

Child workers in danger on US tobacco farms

HRW documents the shocking conditions on tobacco farms in the US, where child workers are exposed to nicotine, toxic pesticides and other dangers.

Unicef estimates that 13% of Zimbabwean children are engaged in child labour.

Zimbabwe’s ailing economy fuels child labour

Unicef estimates that 13% of Zimbabwean children are engaged in child labour, a problem spurred by the demise of the country’s manufacturing sector.

Children are exposed to a minefield of labour, mercury for the sake of gold

Thousands of children are working in small-scale Tanzanian gold mines, with many using or being exposed to mercury, a new report says.

Children as young as eight face toxic gas

Child miners: ‘I do it to afford schoolbooks and uniforms’

Children as young as eight face toxic gas, mercury poisoning and death in Tanzania’s illegal mines.