Thousands of children as young as eight toiling in hazardous pits despite stringent child labour laws, warns Human Rights Watch
Thousands of children, some as young as eight, work in licensed and unlicensed small-scale gold mines in Tanzania, despite strong laws prohibiting child labour in mining, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report.
The report, Toxic Toil: child labour and mercury exposure in Tanzania's small-scale gold mines, describes how children dig and drill in deep, unstable pits, work underground for shifts of up to 24 hours, and transport and crush heavy bags of gold ore. They also risk injury from pit collapses and accidents with tools, as well as long-term health damage from exposure to mercury, breathing dust and carrying heavy loads.
Rahim T, 13, explained how he dug for gold because he was hungry and in need of money. Despite being knocked unconscious and sustaining internal injuries when a mine shaft collapsed, he returned to the pits, although he was scared.
"Whenever my aunt travels is when I go, because I need something to sustain myself," he told HRW, which interviewed more than 200 people late last year, including 80 children between the ages of eight and 17, in artisanal gold mining areas. The group visited 11 mining sites in the Geita and Shinyanga regions of northern Tanzania, and Mbeya in the south.
Tanzania is Africa's fourth-largest gold producer, although a sustained slump in gold prices threatens to shut mines and curb investment in the country. Roughly 5% of Tanzania's GDP and one-third of its exports come from mining. Experts estimate that about 10% of the country's gold comes from small-scale mining.
In 2011, Tanzania earned $2.1bn in mineral exports, of which more than 95% came from six gold mines. The top destination for gold from Tanzanian small-scale mines is the United Arab Emirates. Gold is also exported to Switzerland, South Africa, China, and the UK.
According to government figures, Tanzania has more than 800,000 small-scale gold miners, thousands of whom are children, said HRW. Most of the small-scale mining takes place on unlicensed, unauthorised mines. Some unlicensed mines exist for many years and are usually controlled by the land owner or a prominent community member.
HRW says child labour is used in mining and in many other sectors in Tanzania, including agriculture, domestic work and fishing. Agriculture is the biggest employer of children. Where mining is concerned, children work long hours, suffer from fatigue, headaches, muscular pain, blistering and swelling. Research suggests that long-term problems might include respiratory diseases, musculoskeletal problems and mercury poisoning.
Mercury is used to extract gold after the gold ore is mixed with the highly toxic liquid metal. The mixture is then burned over an open flame to evaporate the mercury to recover the gold, exposing miners, including children, to poisonous mercury fumes. Even small children who are not working are often present during this process, which is sometimes carried out in the home.
Children often contributed some or all of their earnings to their families. HRW interviewed girls who work on or near mining sites and found they sometimes became victims of sexual exploitation and abuse. Child labour in artisanal mining also affects school attendance and performance and can cause children to drop out of school entirely.
Children work in gold mines despite Tanzania's national action plan for the elimination of child labour, launched in 2009. The government also bans under-18s from engaging in hazardous work, including mining.
"On paper, Tanzania has strong laws prohibiting child labour in mining, but the government has done far too little to enforce them," said Janine Morna, children's rights research fellow at HRW. "Labour inspectors need to visit both licensed and unlicensed mines regularly, and ensure employers face sanctions for using child labour."
HRW urged the Tanzanian government to expand access to secondary school and vocational training and improve child protection. It said the government and donors should provide financial and political backing for the new action plan on the most vulnerable children and include orphans from mining areas in the Tanzania social action fund's programme of grants and conditional cash transfers to vulnerable populations.
HRW called on the World Bank and other donors to the mining sector to support steps to end child labour in mining and reduce the exposure of children and adults to mercury. For example, they should help children move away from work in unlicensed mines to schooling, and ensure that newly licensed mines do not use child labour.
A $55m World Bank project to support the mining sector does not directly address child labour, said HRW.
