Date of publication:

07/05/2024

Uganda

Do domestic laws and policies prohibit the employment of children under specified ages?

ANALYSIS

Assessment by population

Refugees
Asylum-seekers
Analysis

The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, under article 34 (4) and (5), entitles every child in Uganda, under the age of sixteen, the right to be protected from social or economic exploitation and not to be employed in or required to perform work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with their education or to be harmful to their health or physical, mental, or spiritual, moral or social development. 

Section 32(2) of the Refugees Act (2006) provides that refugee children are entitled to the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms contained in The Children Act (cap.59), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRW) and the Convention Relating the Status of Refugees (1951) and the Protocol (1967). 

The Children Act (cap.59), under section 8, provides that, no child shall be employed or engaged in any activity that may be harmful to his or her health, education or mental, physical, or moral development. 

Section 32, subsections (1),(2),(3),(4) and (5) of the Employment Act (2006) address the employment of children and stipulate that: a child under the age of twelve years shall not be employed in any business, undertaking, or workplace; a child under the age of fourteen years shall not be employed in any business, undertaking or workplace, except for supervised light work, which does not affect the child's education; no person shall continue to employ a child under that age of fourteen years after being notified by the labour officer that the child's employment or work does not constitute light work; a child not be employed in any employment or work which is injurious to his or her health, dangerous or hazardous or otherwise unsuitable and an employer shall not continue to employ a child after being notified in writing by a labour officer that the employment or work is injurious to health, dangerous or otherwise unsuitable for that child; and that, a child shall not be employed between the hours of 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.

 

    LAW & POLICY

    Related provisions of domestic law or policy

    The Constitution of The Republic of Uganda

    Legal provision

    Article 34 - Rights of children

    (4) Children are entitled to be protected from social or economic exploitation and shall not be employed in or required to perform work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with their education or to be harmful to their health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. (5) For the purposes of clause (4) of this article, children shall be persons under the age of sixteen years.

    The Refugees Act (2006)

    Legal provision

    Section 32 - Rights of Refugee Children

    (1) Refugee children shall be accorded the same treatment as nationals with respect to elementary education. (2) Every refugee child is entitled to the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms contained in— (a) the Children Act (Cap. 59). (b) the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (1981); (c) the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989); and (d) the Geneva Convention (the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees done at Geneva on 28th July 1951 and includes the Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees done at New York on 31st January 1967). irrespective of the child’s parent’s or legal guardian’s race, ethnic group, colour, sex, language, relation, political or other opinion, national and social origin, fortune, birth or other status.

    The Children Act (cap.59)

    Legal provision

    Section 42A - Protection of children from all forms of violence

    (1) Every child has a right to be protected against all forms of violence including ... child labour,...

    Section 8 - Harmful Employment

    (1) A person shall not employ or engage a child in any activity that may be harmful or hazardous to his or her health, or his or her physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. (2) Subject to subsection (1), the minimum age of employment of a child shall be 16 years. (3) For the purpose of this section, “harmful or hazardous employment” includes work which exposes a child to physical or psychological torture, sexual abuse, work underground, work at dangerous heights or in confined spaces, work with dangerous machinery, equipment and tools, or manual handling or transportation of heavy loads, work with chemicals and dangerous substances, work under extreme temperatures, high levels of noise, or working for longer hours; or any other form of child labour which includes slavery, trafficking in persons, debt bondage and other forms of forced labour, forced recruitment for use in armed conflict, prostitution, pornography and illicit activities.

    Section 1 - Interpretation

    “Child labour” means work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to a child, and the circumstances under which it is performed jeopardizes the health, safety, morals and education of a child.