AFRICA - House Foreign Affairs Committee Democrats

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in industrial activities at night. In practice workers in EPZ firms may face dismissal
if they join unions (see Section 6.a.). In August 2001, the Textile and Tailors Union
alleged widespread intimidation of workers seeking to unionize at a foreign-owned
EPZ firm. The employer stated that the union had forged the signatures of workers
supporting unionization, and the leader of the union was arrested. More than 1 year
later the case still was pending before the court and was not expected to be heard
until 2003.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Bonded Labor.—The Constitution proscribes slavery,
servitude, and forced and bonded labor, including by children; however, under the
Chiefs’ Authority Act, a local authority can require persons to perform community
services in an emergency. The ILO Committee of Experts has found that these and
other provisions of the law contravene ILO Conventions 29 and 105 concerning
forced labor. The law remains in effect; however, the Government overruled attempts
by chiefs to institute arbitrary community service during the year. Some observers
alleged that prison officials used free prison labor for personal profit (see
Section 1.c.). During the year, there were reports, especially in rural areas, of children
being loaned out as workers to pay off family debts.
d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment.—The employment
in industry of children under the age of 16 is illegal; however, the law
does not apply to the agricultural sector, where approximately 70 percent of the
labor force was employed, nor to children serving as apprentices under the terms
of the Industrial Training Act. Ministry of Labor officers nominally enforced the
minimum age statute, and the Government was making efforts to eliminate child
labor, working closely with the COTU and the ILO’s International Program for the
Elimination of Child Labor. According to a survey by the Central Bureau of Statistics,
there were 1.9 million children who worked in the country (primarily in the
agricultural sector) 1.3 million of whom were employed full time and 600,000 of
whom worked while attending school; however, the number of child laborers could
be as high as 5 million. The Central Bureau of Statistics also estimated that 18 percent
of working children had no formal education. The problem has received considerable
media attention for several years.
Children often worked as domestic servants in private homes. There were many
instances of children working in the informal sector, mostly in family businesses.
Children usually assisted parents on family plots rather than seek employment on
their own. However, deteriorating economic conditions and the effects of the HIV/
AIDS pandemic have given rise to more child labor in the informal sector, which
was difficult to monitor and control. During the year, there were reports of abuse
of children serving as domestic employees. A significant number of workers on tea,
coffee, sugar, and rice plantations were children, who usually worked in family
units. In addition, a large number of underage children were active in the sex industry
(see Section 6.f.) and in the salt harvesting industry along the coast. In view of
the high levels of adult unemployment and underemployment, the employment of
children in the formal industrial wage sector in violation of the Employment Act
was less common but not unknown.
The Government took several meaningful steps in 2001 to combat the worst forms
of child labor, including the establishment of a Child Labor Division in the Ministry
of Labor in September and the enactment of the Children’s Act in December. A draft
strategic plan to implement the Act was prepared and the focus has been on sensitization
of employers but not investigative and law enforcement. An ILO-sponsored
COTU program has facilitated the return of 562 child laborers to school and trained
1,100 shop stewards on the prevention of child labor since 1997. Many NGOs also
were active in this area; an NGO working with COTU and the Agriculture and
Plantation Workers Union has facilitated the return of another 962 child laborers
to school since 1999.
Forced labor by children occurred (see Section 6.c.).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work.—The legal minimum wage for blue-collar workers
in the wage sector has 12 separate scales, varying by location, age, and skill
level; however, in many industries the minimum wage equaled the maximum wage.
The lowest minimum wage was $42 (3,288 Kenyan shillings) per month in the largest
urban areas and $25 (1,535 Kenyan shillings) in rural areas. Workers covered
by a collective bargaining agreement generally received a better wage and benefit
package than those not covered, including an average of $110 (8,646 Kenyan shillings)
per month, a mandated housing allowance of approximately $20 (1,595 Kenyan
shillings), and traditional benefits such as a transport allowance or a ‘‘house
owner occupier’’ allowance.
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