Africa: Millions of African children at higher risk of child labour due to Covid-19
Celebrating the International Day of the African Child which happens on Tuesday, June 16, millions of African children are at risk as they go into child labour as a result of COVID-19 other than lacking education and movement rights. The United Nations warned that the COVID-19 crisis could lead to the first rise in child labor after 20 years of progress, according to a new brief from the International Labor Organization (ILO) and United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF). Zimbabwe has thousands of children who are toiling in the underground gold mines as the economy continues to shrink further. Malawi’s Labour minister also noted that, when crises such as the Covid-19 strikes, children are the first to suffer, because it has potential to push millions of vulnerable children, presently at home following closure of schools, into child labour in order to supplement declining family incomes.