Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - United Republic of Tanzania (Ratification: 2001)

The Committee notes the observations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), received on 27 September 2023. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments in this respect.

Articles 3(a), 5 and 7(1) of the Convention. Worst forms of child labour, monitoring mechanisms and penalties. Trafficking in children. The Committee previously noted the establishment of the Anti-Trafficking Committee to implement the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act 2008. It also noted the measures undertaken by the Anti-Trafficking in Persons secretariat to combat trafficking in persons, including conducting training for key implementers of the Anti-trafficking Act, on identifying and dealing with victims of trafficking as well as rescuing and assisting them.

The Committee notes the Government’s information in its report that it has established Trafficking in Persons School clubs in primary and secondary schools to create awareness among children on the phenomenon of trafficking in persons; conducted community dialogues with local leaders on counter trafficking in most affected areas; established women and children protection committees at the local level to protect women and children against abuse and exploitation; and strengthened the police gender and children’s desks in order to effectively handle and fast track trafficking cases reported at the police stations. The Committee also notes the Government’s information that it continues to build the capacity of the law enforcement officers in identifying, investigating and prosecuting cases of trafficking in persons and a total of 1,650 officers have benefited from such programmes. The Government indicates that a total of 810 potential child victims who were trafficked from rural areas to the cites were rescued in addition to the 379 child victims of trafficking who were rescued from exploitation. It also notes the Government’s information that the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2008 was amended to include a new provision of “attempt to commit trafficking in persons” as well as to increase penalties for trafficking offences and to remove the provision of fines as an alternative to imprisonment.

The Committee notes the observations of the ITUC that trafficking in Tanzania largely affects impoverished children from rural areas, who are trafficked for forced labour in domestic work, mining, agriculture, forced begging and sex trafficking in urban centres such as Arusha, Dar es Salaam, Dodoma, Mbeya, and Mwanza. The ITUC also observes that Burundian children, mostly from the Hutu farming communities of Mwimbango, Mkididing and Jerusalema are trafficked or smuggled into Tanzania for exploitative domestic work. According to the ITUC, police and immigration officers have little understanding of trafficking which leads to various authorities viewing and treating trafficked children as illegal immigrants, rather than as vulnerable children in need of protection. The ITUC also refers to the lack of inter-agency collaboration in Tanzania in protecting children across the border as well as to the lack of adequate investigation and prosecution of persons involved in the trafficking and exploitation of children. Furthermore, corruption and official complicity in trafficking crimes remained significant concerns, hindering law enforcement action. The Committee urges the Government to strengthen its efforts to combat trafficking of children by ensuring that thorough investigations and prosecutions are carried out against persons, including complicit and corrupt officials, who engage in the trafficking of children and to provide information on the number of investigations, prosecutions and convictions, as well as the specific penalties imposed in this respect.In this regard, it requests the Government to continue to take the necessary measures: (i) to strengthen the capacity of law enforcement bodies in identifying and combating trafficking of children, including by means of training on anti-trafficking legislation and the provision of adequate resources; and (ii) to strengthen inter-agency cooperation and coordination of activities against cross-border trafficking of children. It requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken in this regard.

Articles 3(d) and 5. Hazardous work and monitoring mechanisms. Labour inspection. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the Government’s statement that children in Tanzania engage in the worst forms of child labour, including in mining, quarrying and domestic work. It also noted from the ILO report entitled Child Labour and the Youth Decent Work Deficit in Tanzania, 2018 that about 41 per cent of children (1,467,000 children) in the age group of 14 to 17 years are involved in hazardous work and that monitoring the implementation of legislation is a major challenge owing to limited resources for inspection.

With regard to the Committee’s previous comments concerning the measures taken to strengthen the capacities of the labour inspectorate, the Committee notes the Government’s information that about 35 labour officers have been trained with special labour inspection techniques for combating child labour and 30 new motor vehicles and new Occupational Health and Safety Equipment have been made available to the labour officers. Moreover, awareness-raising training and sensitization events on combating child labour and hazardous work has resulted in rescuing 119 children from hazardous child labour, including in mining. The Committee notes that, according to the findings of the Integrated Labour Force Survey (ILFS) 2020/21 Analytical Report, of the 5.02 million children aged between 5 and 17 who are engaged in child labour, about 4.85 million children are involved in hazardous child labour. The Committee once again express its deep concern at the significant number of children who are involved in hazardous work in Tanzania. The Committee therefore once again strongly urges the Government to continue to take the necessary measures to strengthen and adapt the capacities of the labour inspectorate particularly through the provision of the necessary resources and training to enable labour inspectors to have access to and identify hazardous child labour in difficult sites, especially mines and quarries as well as in the informal economy so that they can take effective action to combat the worst forms of child labour. It also requests the Government to take the necessary measures to promote collaboration between the labour inspectorate and other relevant stakeholders to detect cases of children engaged in hazardous work and remove them from this worst forms of child labour. It requests the Government to continue to provide information on the measures taken in this regard and on the results achieved.

Article 7(2). Effective and time-bound measures. Clause (a). Prevent the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour. Access to free basic education. The Committee previously noted from the UNICEF-Tanzania Country report, 2018 that a total of 3.9 million children between the ages of 7 and 17 are out of school in Tanzania, of which 1.7 million children of primary school age and about 400,000 children of the lower secondary school age never attended any school. It also noted from UNESCO statistics that the net enrolment rate at the primary level in 2018 was 81.33 per cent while at the secondary level it was 26.55 per cent. The Committee urged the Government to take the necessary measures to improve the functioning of the educational system, so as to ensure that all children have access to quality education.

The Committee notes the Government’s information on the various measures undertaken in this regard, namely: (i) introduction of the Fee-Free Basic Education Policy (FBEP) from pre-primary to upper secondary education through the National Education and Training Policy 2014 and 2023; (ii) issuance of the Education Circular No. 2 of 2018 to allow students to repeat and re-sit classes in both primary and secondary schools; (iii) introduction of the National Guidelines on School Feeding and Nutrition Services to basic education students; (iv) establishment of counselling and guidance clubs in schools to monitor and track students who are at risk of dropping out; (v) adoption of a guideline for re-enrolling students who had dropped out of school to primary and secondary schools under the Student Re-enrolment and Alternative Path of Education programme; and (vi) implementation of the cash transfer programmes to disadvantaged groups through the Tanzania Social Action Fund (TASAF).

Moreover, the Government in collaboration with other stakeholders, civil society organizations and other development partners have been implementing several programmes to ensure that all students complete their education, including: Educate a Child Programme (EAC) a global programme of the Education above All Foundation (EAA); the Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project (SEQUIP) with the objective of empowering girls through secondary education and life skills and improving completion of quality secondary education for girls and boys; and the Qatar and UNICEF programme to ensure equitable, accessible and quality education at all levels for all Tanzanian children.

The Committee notes from the UNICEF report entitled Data Must Speak: Unpacking Factors Influencing School Performance in Mainland Tanzania, 2024 that since the introduction of the FBEP, the net enrolment rates in primary schools have increased substantially from 84 per cent in 2016 to 95.3 per cent in 2020. Yet, an estimated 3.2 million school-age children were out of primary school of whom 1.2 million had never attended any school. Almost 25 per cent of students dropped out at primary level or did not transition to lower secondary school. According to the statistics from UNESCO, in 2021 the out of school rate for children of lower secondary school age and the upper secondary school age stood at 50.51 and 83.60 per cent, respectively. While noting the measures taken by the Government, the Committee must once again express its concern at the significant number of primary and secondary school age children who are out of school. Recalling thateducation is key in preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour, the Committee strongly urges the Government to intensify its efforts to improve the functioning of the education system and to facilitate access of all children to free basic education. It requests the Government to continue to take effective and time-bound measures in this regard, aimed, in particular at increasing the school enrolment and attendance rates and reducing school drop-out rates at primary and secondary levels as well as to provide updated statistical information on the results obtained, disaggregated by age and sex.

Clause (d). Identify and reach out to children at special risk. Children orphaned by HIV/AIDS and other vulnerable children. The Committee previously noted the Government’s reference to the National Strategy on the Elimination of Child Labour 2018–22, the National Action Plan on Violence against Women and Children (NAP VAWC) 2017–2022 and the Decent Work Country Programme as having measures to address the issues of vulnerable children and the worst forms of child labour, including improving their access to alternative forms of education. However, noting that according to the UNAIDS estimates of 2019, around 860,000 children under 17 years were orphans due to AIDS, the Committee urged the Government to continue its efforts to ensure that those children were prevented from being engaged in the worst forms of child labour.

The Committee notes the Government’s information that it has established a programme within the framework of the NAP VAWC and the National Costed Plan of Action for Most Vulnerable Children (NCPA MVC), to identify and register children living in vulnerable situations, including child orphans due to HIV/AIDS. The Government in collaboration with other stakeholders assess the needs of such children and provide for their education, food and accommodation. Accordingly, from 2021 to 2023, a total of 1,028,872 children, including 505,443 boys and 523,429 girls, living in vulnerable situations were identified and registered. The Committee once again notes from the UNAIDS estimates of 2022 that an estimated 890,000 children aged 17 years and under are orphans due to HIV/AIDS in Tanzania. Recalling once again that children orphaned by HIV/AIDS are at an increased risk of being engaged in the worst forms of child labour, the Committee strongly urges the Government to continue its efforts to ensure that those children are prevented from being engaged in these worst forms, in particular by increasing their access to education and vocational training and providing appropriate assistance and support. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the concrete measures taken in this regard and the results achieved in terms of the number of orphans and vulnerable children withdrawn from the worst forms of child labour and rehabilitated.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.