Child Labour And The Wellbeing Of Children: The Law And Practice In Uganda

The study "Child Labour and the Wellbeing of Children" has been carried out in Uganda with pat1icular observation of the law against child labour. It was carried out with specific aims of examining the relevance of laws relating to children and their welfare; finding out govemment development effm1s in eliminating child labour and in improving their welfare and offering proposals for reform to child labour laws and policies which promote the welfare of children in Uganda. Literature was reviewed to comprehend the study in order to enrich the study findings. The study relied on a qualitative research design with use of an interview guide administered on 30 respondents and review of secondary data. The law in Uganda was relevantly found to apply in preventing children from; participating in hazardous, being kept out of school, compulsory and forced labour, setting standard age at which a child can engage in child labour, defining a child's right work hours, and putting children under custody of parents or guardians who can best serve in the interest of a child. With government development efforts including; working in partnership with child development and protection agencies, developing policies from internationally recognized instmments, reviewing laws that are found inapplicable, and promoting child basic education and providing and suppmting the maintenance of children in school. The study concludes that, govemment has not effectively protected against child labour although there are existing laws to enhance this. This necessitates genuine cmmnitment to weaken the factors that lead to child labour and efforts need to be more practical than theoretical. The study recommends; imposing and enforcing legal penalties on child employers; strengthening family com1s; promoting employment conditions of adults; promoting growth of credit and saving schemes; reinstating a competent enforcement body; issuing scholarship funds; developing apprenticeship programmes to promote talents; promoting community welfare; building pattnerships with small local businesses; creating conununity awareness and; establishment of more schools as well as suppmting creches and pre-schools.