Our Correspondence, Dar es Salaam
Tanzania has renewed its commitment to eliminating child labour by 2030, with the government calling for stronger collaboration among communities, businesses and development partners to address a practice that continues to affect thousands of children across the country.
Speaking during the commemoration of the World Day Against Child Labour on June 12, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office responsible for Labour, Employment and Industrial Relations, Deus Clement Sangu, said child labour remained a serious violation of children’s rights, denying them access to education, proper development and family care.
The 2026 commemoration was held under the global theme “Red Card to Child Labour: Fair Play for Children, Decent Work for Adults.” According to Tanzania’s 2024 Integrated Labour Force Survey, the prevalence of child labour stood at 25.8%, highlighting the need for intensified efforts to address the challenge.
Sangu said the government was implementing various legal, policy and institutional measures to combat child labour, including the National Strategy for the Elimination of Child Labour (2025/26–2029/30), which targets reducing child labour from 25.8% in 2024 to zero by 2030.
“Child labour destroys children’s dreams and talents that could otherwise contribute to family prosperity and national economic development,” Sangu said.
He noted that the issue also carries economic consequences, as international markets increasingly demand that products are produced without violating human rights standards, warning that goods linked to child labour risk losing access to global markets, particularly in regions with strict ethical sourcing requirements.
The minister said Tanzania has strengthened access to education through reforms under the 2014 Education Policy, revised in 2023, reducing the likelihood of children entering employment and hazardous work before reaching the legal working age. He urged local leaders, parents and communities to ensure school-age children remain in classrooms rather than entering the labour market.
He added that targeted interventions in the agricultural sector, supported by stakeholders including the Eliminating Child Labour in Agriculture (ECLA) initiative, had improved awareness and helped address child labour in commodity value chains such as tobacco, sisal, tea and cotton production.
Sangu called on industries including fisheries, mining, trade and agribusiness to strengthen their own mechanisms to prevent child labour throughout their supply chains.
The government also acknowledged the contribution of employers’ and workers’ organisations, including ATE and TUCTA, as well as the International Labour Organization (ILO), in supporting labour rights protection and enforcement in Tanzania.
