allAfrica: [Sierra Leone] Ranks Last in Child Labor

Concord Times (Freetown)
16 April 2008 Ibrahim Jaffa Condeh and Kevin Hill

Child Labor is a huge problem in Sierra Leone. Many of the JCC kids have been personally involved with it (some were even held as slaves) and to be worst among the countries surveyed--that's a huge deal!! "78% of children ages 7 to 14 in the country are engaged in child labor"--that's huge! Later in the article it cites that UNICEF that one in six children in the entire world are involved in child labor. So it's not only a Sierra Leone or Africa problem, it does affect countries around the world, just Sierra Leone is the worst of those surveyed.

An excerpt:
"According to a recently released report by UNICEF on child labour and school attendance, 78% of children between the ages of 7 and 14 in Sierra Leone are engaged in child labour. The study, which covered one quarter of the world's population, ranked Sierra Leone last among nations surveyed..."

"The achievement of universal primary education is one of the Millennium Development Goals. Child labour, which can exclude primary school aged children from accessing an education, is a major obstacle to reaching this goal The UNICEF report found that "children from poor households and from households without a formally educated household head are more likely to be engaged in child labour and less likely to attend school", a situation that shows that "poverty is the root cause of child labour." The survey considered both economic activity and household chores and tried to distinguish between acceptable work and child labour. Child labour is work done by children that should be eliminated because it violates international labour standards, harms the child, or interferes with school attendance."