Burkina Faso

Working too hard

Many children worldwide are obliged to work, simply in order to eat. But that is no excuse for them to be involved in the "worst forms of child labour" which is why, in Burkina Faso, young people are getting together to combat dangerous and unregulated gold mining

Marcia White
Saturday May 4, 2002
The Guardian

Child labour in Burkina Faso's gold mines

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates that, worldwide, 250 million children under 15 work. Up to 120 million children aged five to 14 have full-time jobs and a further 130 million are in part-time employment - ranging from jobs combined with education, to highly exploitative, dangerous work. The ILO has defined the "worst forms of child labour" as including prostitution, slavery, the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and forced labour.

The main reason that children work is poverty - and in the West African nation of Burkina Faso, poverty is endemic, with child labour widespread. Children as young as five work to eat and only 18% of those eligible attend school.

In rural areas of Burkina Faso, most people rely on farming and agriculture. But this cannot support everyone; droughts and crop failures in the Sahel region also force some children to seek work in nearby countries. Some end up in the hands of child traffickers and a life of sexual exploitation, slavery and debt bondage.

In particular, hundreds of children in rural Burkina Faso end up working in around 100 unregulated gold mines. Almost anyone can go there with a pickaxe and start digging. The dangers are obvious - not least to the child workers themselves. One young workers' delegate explains the situation:

"My name is Zoe-Wendsongo Gilbert Ouédraogo and I am 17. I live in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, with my mother and 12 brothers and sisters. My father died three years ago.

"My mother has seven kids (all boys) and my stepmother - my father's second wife - has six kids, four girls and two boys. We all live in the same compound. Only my two eldest brothers have full-time jobs. Two others work as apprentices: one is a driver and the other a carpenter.

"I am no longer at school. After my dad's death there was no money to pay for my school fees. So I had to leave after my first year of secondary school.

"I am a member of the Association des Enfants et Jeunes Travailleurs du Burkina Faso (Burkina Faso Child and Young Workers' Association). This year, I was elected as a delegate of the child workers. Later on, I was asked to attend a meeting in New York in preparation of the UN General Assembly Special Session on children. Save the Children helped me get all the administrative travel documents, the entry visa. They also gave me some money for the travel. But before I went to New York, they told me about what they were preparing for the Special

Session and about the film they wanted to make about child miners. I agreed to participate in the campaign on behalf of my association. I also wanted to know more about the living and working conditions of other child workers outside Ouagadougou.

"I have never worked in the mines but I've learnt a lot. At first I did not know that there were children working in mining. In fact, I didn't even know that there were gold mines in Burkina Faso. Now I can say more about child miners and the hardships of child workers in our country.

"Child miners are exposed to many dangers. Firstly, they can hurt themselves with their work tools. Secondly, the galleries [where they work] can cave in anytime. Thirdly, they work without any protection. They can catch tuberculosis because they are always in the dust. The place is also quite dirty, so they can catch cholera. They have no money, so they have very little food. Because of that, they are weak but still they work too much.

"We have met the government officials in the Dori region to explain the working conditions of the children. We have asked them to help these children find other activities that are better than mining. We have also talked to parents to convince them not to send their children to work in the gold mines.

"In fact, most of the child miners do not have a choice. They are obliged to work there to try and get some money for their family, otherwise they have no food. If they do not go to the gold mines they will face an even poorer life. We want better protection of child workers.

"The government should ban child labour in the mines. But they should open training centres to teach children carpentry, mechanics, welding and many other useful skills. These illegal mines are dangerous, they should be closed down.

"The government should help families to develop other activities that can provide them with money so that they can take care of their children. They must provide medical care to child workers and ensure that there is enough safe water for all. Children need to go to school; the government should open more schools that they can attend free of charge.

"My family is quite happy with what I'm doing. They support me and think that I am learning more about real life through my activities."

Of course, there is always more to be done to combat child labour. The ILO, for instance, works in up to 30 countries to reduce the involvement of children in hazardous and exploitative employment where there are no real alternatives to taking children out of work fully. Working closely with local agencies, they urge governments and the private sector to adopt codes of conduct and a responsible approach to child labour.

However, it is poverty that is the root cause of child labour. Tackling poverty could have a significant impact on work-related child migration, as could access to education, work training programmes and appropriate health care.

Poverty reduction strategies sponsored by the World Bank need, however, to recognise the conditions and lives of poor working children, and ensure they have a positive impact on them, if child labour is to be addressed effectively.

And while awareness of child labour issues among consumers in the developed world is welcomed, consumer boycotts and pressure from western governments can sometimes push children into more dangerous work.

Child labour needs to be considered alongside the rest of a young person's life if it is to be eradicated or reduced; children and their families must be involved in drawing up and implementing all plans of action aimed at limiting child labour.

For instance, in preparation for the UN Special Session, Gilbert and other child worker delegates in Burkina Faso, together with Save the Children, made a 10-minute video to show to world leaders, highlighting the plight of child miners. In the video, they secured an on-screen commitment by the government's director of labour to work with children and gold diggers to ensure a minimum of regulations are enforced at the mines.

Gilbert hopes the film highlighting the plight of child miners will prompt world leaders to help bring an end to child labour. As one young campaigner explains: "Gold is precious. But we are more precious than that gold."

 

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Young miners in Burkina Faso