INTERNATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF FREE TRADE UNIONS (ICFTU)

ICFTU online
188/251002/JL

ICFTU Report Denounces Massive Child Labour and Deteriorating Workers'
Rights in Zambia

Brussels, 25 October, 2002 (ICFTU online): In a new report on Zambia,
produced to coincide with the 23-25 October WTO review of that
countries' trade policy, the ICFTU has condemned "serious and
widespread" usage of child labour as well as a deterioration in workers'
basic rights.

With children working in dangerous occupations including portering,
street begging and domestic labour, child labour is a widespread problem
in Zambia. In contravention of the ILO's two core conventions on child
labour, children are still toiling in even the worst forms of child
labour such as small scale mining operations, agriculture and stone
crushing.
ILO figures estimate that over 550,000 children were working in 2001,
and 85 per cent of these were involved in the worst forms of child
labour. According to the ICFTU report, "as the number of Zambians dying
of HIV-AIDS continues to increase, the numbers of orphans, and the
number of households headed by a child, increases as well. Nearly all of
these children are working."

Neither are children safe from the perils of prostitution. The report
states that "there are reports of forced prostitution (in Zambia),
particularly of children, of the trafficking of women and children to
neighbouring countries for the purposes of prostitution, and of
combatants from neighbouring Angola kidnapping Zambians and taking them
back to Angola to perform various forms of forced labour."

In terms of the respect of trade union rights, the report is no less
critical. Many officials of municipal workers' trade unions have been
dismissed for union activities. In just one incident cited in the
report, "the General Secretary of the electricity workers' union was
recently made to face disciplinary proceedings by the public sector
electricity company for reporting the plunder of the company's resources
by management." And although the right to collective bargaining is
recognised in law, and collective bargaining is relatively widespread in
practice, a deteriorating situation as regards violation of basic
workers' rights in the private sector, including by multinationals
present in the country is also reported.

Women are severely disadvantaged in both employment and education in
Zambia, including in terms of lower remuneration and inferior conditions
of employment for working women. In addition, Zambians continue to catch
HIV-AIDS in ever increasing numbers, and those infected face
discrimination in employment as a result of their condition.

"Poverty is rife in Zambia, "explains Collin Harker, author of the
report, "and the situation for the majority of workers is dire. Without
concerted efforts on behalf of the Zambian government to respect the
eight core labour standards to which they have repeatedly agreed and
with the scourge of AIDS looming large, improvement for the beleaguered
population looks distinctly far off."

* Note: This report evaluating Zambia's adherence to
internationally-recognised core labour standards is part of a series
produced by the ICFTU since the Ministerial Declaration adopted at the
first Ministerial Conference of the WTO (Singapore, December 1996) and
re-affirmed on November 4, 2001 in Doha, by which all WTO members stated
their commitment to respect core labour standards. It is submitted to
the WTO trade policy review board.

For the full report, please go to:
http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?Index=991216610&Language=EN

The ICFTU represents 157 million workers in 225 affiliated organisations
in 148 countries and territories. ICFTU is also a member of Global
Unions: http://www.global-unions.org

For more information, please contact the ICFTU Press Department on +32 2
224 0232 or +32 475 67 08 33.