VZCZCXRO2280
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHHM RUEHMR RUEHRN
DE RUEHJO #0468/01 3211431
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 171431Z NOV 06
FM AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5467
INFO RUCNSAD/SADC COLLECTIVE
RUEHXI/LABOR COLLECTIVE
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RUEHJO/AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG 2146

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 JOHANNESBURG 000468 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DOL FOR ILAB-PWHITE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ELAB PHUM SOCI ECON SW
SUBJECT: SWAZILAND: RECLISA CHILD LABOR CONFERENCE URGES FREE AND 
COMPULSORY PRIMARY EDUCATION 
 
JOHANNESBU 00000468  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1.  Representatives of the Swazi Ministries of Education and of 
Enterprise and Employment, academia, NGOs and media, as well as 
the International Labor Organization (ILO), attended a 
conference on Child Labor in Manzini, Swaziland, from November 
7-8.  The conference, held under the auspices of the U.S. 
Department of Labor-funded project on Reducing Exploitative 
Child Labor in Southern Africa (RECLISA), produced a statement - 
the "Manzini Declaration" --  calling on the Government of the 
Kingdom of Swaziland (GKOS) to take a variety of actions, 
including establishing a child labor action program, making 
education free and compulsory, and reconciling domestic 
legislation to be both internally consistent and in accord with 
those ILO conventions on child labor which Swaziland has 
adopted.  The conference also noted that the number of orphans 
in Swaziland, which currently has an HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of 
over 40 percent, is likely to double by 2010.  End Summary. 
 
Overview 
-------- 
 
¶2.  Approximately 50 people attended the Manzini Child Labor 
conference from November 7-8.  Participants in the conference 
included the Labor Commissioner, who chaired the bulk of the 
sessions; representatives of various Ministries; the Director of 
Public Prosecutions; academics; representatives from the ILO, 
NGOs and the media.  The conference was organized by the project 
on Reducing Child Labor in Southern Africa (RECLISA) which is 
funded by the U.S. Department of Labor.  Charge d'Affaires a.i. 
Peter Piness presented remarks on behalf of the USG at the 
opening of the conference. 
 
Outline of Child Labor Issues in Swaziland 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶3.  Velephi Riba, an independent researcher working on a sister 
ILO child labor project, outlined the push and pull factors 
behind child labor in Swaziland based on census data and that 
provided by statistical office surveys.  She said that in 2000, 
11.8 percent of sampled children between the ages of 5-14 had 
been engaged in child labor.  Only one percent of children were 
in paid work, while 1.5-4 percent of children were doing unpaid 
work for someone other than a family member.  She noted that the 
survey on which this information was based did not investigate 
children's activities in subsistence agriculture, leading to 
results that emphasized the amount of domestic work being done 
by children.  She noted that children were visible on streets or 
in towns in Swaziland working as traders and hawkers, porters, 
car wash attendants, bus or kombi (minibus) drivers and 
conductors. 
 
¶4.  Riba noted that poverty levels had increased from 66 percent 
in 1995 to 69 percent of the population in 2001, and that 
unemployment rates had similarly risen from 22 to 29 percent - 
reaching 55 percent in the rural Shiselweni region.  Children's 
labor was seen as an important asset for poor families. 
Children worked to produce family income and/or pay for school 
fees.  The death, separation and divorce of parents adversely 
affected the ability of children to stay in school.  One study 
showed half of all commercially sexually exploited children were 
orphans.  Swaziland's official statistics put the number of 
orphans at 69,000 with estimates that the number will increase 
to 150,000 by 2010. 
 
¶5.  High HIV prevalence rates have also affected household 
income and increased poverty.  Household savings are depleted in 
caring for ill family members, and often children are pulled out 
of school to care for ill or dying family members and/or take 
over the work normally done by these family members.  Once 
withdrawn, children are unlikely to return to school due to cost 
and other factors.    Food insecurity and hunger are another 
factor affecting child labor, especially in subsistence 
agriculture. 
 
¶6.  According to Riba, high costs of schooling were cited in a 
1999 UNICEF study as reasons for why children worked, and the 
main reason for dropping out of school.  Riba also noted that 
GKOS grants to orphans and vulnerable children had been reduced 
in 2005 to allow the government to subsidize the costs of 
workbooks and supplies to primary school students through grade 
¶4.  Riba said the average Swazi child took 11 years to complete 
the first seven years of schooling, and that the World Bank 
estimated Swaziland's primary school completion rate to be 60 
percent, while secondary school completion rates are judged to 
be 36 percent.  Girls in particular were apt to drop out, often 
because of pregnancy.  Roughly 25 percent of children were not 
 
JOHANNESBU 00000468  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
enrolled in primary school.  Riba also noted that the high costs 
of vocational education and lack of a pre-vocational curriculum 
limited opportunities for further education of children and that 
violence, especially sexual violence against girl children, also 
contributed to high dropout rates.  The Swaziland National 
Association of Teachers reviewed the issue of school violence 
against girls at their August 2006 conference, said Riba. 
 
Prosecutor Notes Lack of Cases and Influence of Tradition 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
¶7.  Mumsy Dlamini, the Director of Public Prosecutions, made an 
extremely insightful presentation on the difficulties of 
prosecuting offenses against children in Swaziland.  She noted 
that in most instances, courts relied on statutory laws passed 
by Parliament, since the Roman Dutch law on which Swazi Law was 
based did not distinguish by age.  The Employment Act defined a 
child as under age 15, and allowed employment of children under 
certain circumstances, including in agriculture and in families. 
 She added that the prosecutor's office did not go looking for 
offenses, but worked based on cases reported to her.  She said 
that no/no dockets of child labor had been brought to her 
courts.  She also noted that the penalty was a fine of less than 
E3000 (or about $400) or sentence of not more than a year in 
jail. 
 
¶8.  The constitution protected a child from work, Ms. Dlamini 
emphasized.  However, children in the households of their 
parents and relatives were often exposed to harsh conditions of 
work, in which the child became a servant.   Many underage 
children were adopted or married but the purpose behind the 
adoption or marriage was to use the child to do work at the 
homestead or home.  In one case, an elderly man had slept with a 
young girl and then undertook a traditional marriage with the 
girl.  Ms. Dlamini, under whose tenure prosecutions for child 
abuse have increased substantially, noted that judges, following 
the constitution, allowed traditional marriages for which no 
legal minimum age was defined, and that she had been 
unsuccessful in prosecuting that case cited.  Children who were 
married did not attend school.  Since birth certificates were 
also not prevalent in Swaziland, prosecutions for statutory rape 
of child sexual abuse generally did not succeed, since the age 
of the child was considered "debatable." 
 
Commissioner Urges "Manzini Declaration" on Child Labor 
--------------------------------------------- ---------- 
 
¶9.  Labor Commission Jinoh Nkhambule, who chaired the bulk of 
the conference, noted that labor inspectors under his authority 
performed a variety of inspections in the formal sector of the 
Swazi economy, which accounted for roughly 10 percent of all 
economic activity.  Child labor was not an issue in the formal 
sector, he said.  Nkhambule noted that he required additional 
resources and training for labor inspectors who are required to 
perform inspections in the formal sector, especially given that 
the Employment Act did not restrict employment of children in 
agriculture or family enterprises. 
 
¶10.  At the close of the conference (in the absence of the 
Minister of Education who was scheduled to speak), the Labor 
Commissioner successfully pushed for the conference to adopt a 
declaration calling on the GKOS to take steps to combat child 
labor.  The "Manzini Declaration" calls for the drafting and 
adoption of a child labor action program by 2008; the alignment 
and harmonization of Swazi legislation dealing with the 
interests of children to conform with ILO conventions; the 
establishment of government and community structures to assist 
children; a public awareness campaign; and creation of 
structures to implement free and compulsory primary education 
consistent with the Swazi constitution.   Additional 
recommendations were also made regarding food aid and food 
insecurity, vocational and non-formal education, culture and 
tradition, HIV/AIDS and health relief. 
 
Public Awareness 
---------------- 
 
¶11.  Despite the absence of the Ministers of Education and of 
Enterprise and Employment from the conference, media coverage 
included print, radio and television.  The "Swazi Observer," a 
government-oriented publication, had several reports on the 
labor conference published over three days (November 6-9).  PAO 
Peter Piness was quoted extensively in a report of November 9. 
The GKOS radio station, Swaziland Broadcasting and Information 
Services, provided an accurate and well-articulated report on 
the labor conference.  Both local television stations, the 
Swaziland Television Authority Corporation and Channel Swazi, 
also provided coverage on the conference and showed clips of the 
 
JOHANNESBU 00000468  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
conference proceedings. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶12.  The conference was notable not only for the commitment 
shown by some of the Swazi participants in addressing child 
labor issues, but also for clarifying just how many steps still 
need to be taken in order for children to be less vulnerable to 
exploitation.  Both poverty and a strong sense of tradition 
impede acceptance of child labor norms and the importance of 
education in building capacity necessary to economic growth. 
Several participants were clearly on the defensive in espousing 
traditional cultural practices, but upheld them nonetheless. 
End Comment. 
COFFMAN##