An Assessment of the Significance of the International Labour Organisation's Convention 182 in South Africa with specific reference to the Instrumental use of Children in the Commission of Offenses as a Worst Form of Child Labour

Abstract

An analysis of the various forms of child labour since the industrial revolution illustrqtes that the primary focus was on working children and regulating their admission to employment and conditions of work, as demonstrated by the eventual adoption of the International Labour Organisation's Convention No. 138 concerning the Minimum age for Admission to Employment in 1973. Although the 20th century also ushered in the International censure for human rights violations in the form of supra-national binding conventions on slavery, forced labour and trafficking, these efforts had no specific focus on children and there was no internationally binding legal instrument that recognised the economic exploitation of children extended far beyond mere working conditions and employment issues to commercial sex exploitation, debt bondage and slavery. This thesis sought to evaluate the theoretical and practical soundness of Convention 182 generally in relation to South Africa more specifically.