Africa-Press – Uganda. A new report by the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has exposed alarming levels of child labour in Uganda’s refugee settlements and the poverty-stricken Busoga sub-region, painting a stark picture of widespread exploitation driven by poverty, weak enforcement of child protection laws, and entrenched cultural practices.
The situational analysis, launched Thursday at Fairway Hotel in Kampala, focused on Adjumani, Lamwo, Kamwenge, Luuka, and Kamuli districts. It highlights how thousands of children—many of them out of school—are trapped in hazardous and exploitative labour, including sugarcane cutting, charcoal burning, sand mining, street hawking, and in some cases, transactional sex.
“This brief sheds light on the urgent challenges, but also provides practical solutions to end child labour—particularly among refugee populations and vulnerable communities in Busoga,” said Adriana Franco Chitanana, LWF Uganda Country Representative.
Between 2022 and 2024, the organization reached 400,000 children annually, including over 300,000 refugees, through education, protection, psychosocial support, and health services.
In Busoga, targeted interventions removed 921 children from child labour, cut household involvement in child labour from 94% to 45%, and reached nearly 10,000 learners through child rights clubs. Additionally, LWF supported Kamuli District to pass a local ordinance on child rights, currently awaiting clearance from the Attorney General.
Despite these gains, Chitanana warned against complacency.
“Child labour remains a persistent threat—violating rights, damaging health, and disrupting education. The fight requires stronger laws, improved access to education, responsible supply chains, and joint action at all levels.”
Speaking during the launch of the report, the Minister of State for Labour, Employment and Industrial Relations, Esther Davinia Anyakun, acknowledged that Uganda’s dual burden—being Africa’s largest refugee-hosting country and grappling with entrenched rural poverty—has heightened the child labour crisis.
“With foreign funding in decline, refugee families face increasing pressure. In Busoga, widespread land loss and sugarcane out-grower schemes are pushing families to send their children into plantations rather than classrooms.”
Anyakun reaffirmed government’s commitment to protecting children under Article 34(4) of Uganda’s Constitution.
She revealed that shs2 billion has been earmarked in the 2025/2026 national budget to intensify anti-child labour efforts and that the 2006 National Child Labour Policy is being updated to cover previously omitted sectors like agriculture and refugee contexts.
She also revealed that the 2006 National Child Labour Policy is undergoing revision to incorporate agricultural value chains such as sugarcane growing and the refugee context—two areas previously not addressed.
Edrine Wanyama, a law lecturer at Uganda Christian University, who presented the analysis, painted a disturbing picture of the conditions many children endure.
In agriculture and fishing, children face hazardous tools, pesticide exposure, and extreme weather. In charcoal burning and firewood collection, they suffer burns, respiratory issues, and other health complications. Construction, sand mining, and stone breaking subject children to heavy labour, often leading to injuries and permanent school dropout.
In urban areas, many children engage in street work—hawking, boda-boda riding, and begging—exposing them to frequent accidents. Girls, in particular, face sexual exploitation and survival-based transactional sex, resulting in widespread teenage pregnancies.
Wanyama revealed that by mid-2024, refugee settlements recorded more than 712 child-headed households, where minors are solely responsible for supporting their younger siblings.
He added that in Busoga and other affected regions, education is increasingly being traded for survival, perpetuating generational cycles of poverty and vulnerability.
The LWF policy brief calls for a coordinated, multi-sectoral response. It urges the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development to increase funding for district-level labour and probation officers and to tighten regulation of informal labour brokerage.
It also calls on Parliament to take a more assertive oversight role, ensure adequate budgeting for child protection and education, and support vocational training programs that offer children and youth alternative life skills.
The report further recommends that the Uganda Police strengthen enforcement in child labour hotspots through operations such as roadblocks, raids on illegal “boarding houses” that conceal underage workers, and the prosecution of employers exploiting minors.
The role of communities is also emphasized. LWF encourages them to declare market days and festivals “child-labour free,” reinforce Parent-Teacher Associations to reintegrate school dropouts, and mobilize cultural and religious leaders to denounce all forms of child exploitation.
Chitanana closed the event with a powerful appeal for joint action. She urged all stakeholders—government, civil society, the private sector, and communities—to work together to protect the nation’s most vulnerable.
“Together, we can ensure that every child enjoys a life of dignity—free from exploitation and full of promise. But this requires bold, coordinated action,” she said.
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