Summary:

• Authorities in Biiso town council, Buliisa district, are cracking down on parents who engage their children in prohibited labor, particularly involving the sale of goods; children as young as five have been observed participating, prompting arrests and prosecutions, as this violates Ugandan law and infringes on fundamental rights, according to Denis Oyewa, the Biiso Sub County chairperson.

Authorities in Biiiso town council, Buliisa district have launched an operation to arrest and prosecute parents who subject their children to child labour. The operation follows a visible rise in the children involved in selling edibles within the own council.

Ugandan law prohibits the employment of children aged under 12 and stipulates that the involvement of children in any employment should be limited to light work carried out under the supervision of an adult aged above 18. But children as young as five years have been seen wandering across the streets of Biiso town with baskets containing foodstuffs, eggs, vegetables and fruits, polythene bags, and face masks.

Denis Oyewa, the Biiso Sub County chairperson notes that the practice is a violation of the fundamental rights of the children. According to Oyewa, they will not hesitate to arrest any parents who subject children to any kind of work which is above their capacities.

Oyewa tells Examiner that some parents have failed to guide, control and counsel their children, saying many school going age are cited on trucks ferrying casual workers for sugarcane cutting in Masindi District.

Child rights activists say that child labour denies the youngsters fundamental human rights such as the right to education, the right to rest and leisure and freedom from the country’s unfair working conditions.