A new report shows that children working as tobacco pickers in Malawi are absorbing the equivilent of 50 cigarettes a day and developing serious health problems as a result.

DANGEROUS CONDITIONS

Plan UK‘s new report entitled;  ‘Hard work, little pay and long hours’ details the shocking conditions in which children throughout Malawi are working today.

Children as young as five are toiling up to twelve hours a day, absorbing an astounding 54 miligrams of nicotine through their skin.  Each day, the contact their hands have with the tobacco leaves is enough to pose the same health risks that heavy smokers face.

Tobacco producers have begun to shift production into developing countries and they are taking more and more advantage of the lack of child protection measures by employing young children. Some are paid as as little as 1p an hour with no protection from the law and few are given adequate protective clothing.

Interviews have revealed the further dangers to which these children are exposed, the children revealed stories of physical, sexual and emotional abuses at the hands of their employers.

There are an estimated 78,000 children working on tobacco plantations accross Malawi today.

SIDE EFFECTS

Plan‘s research revealed that children are complaining of serious symptoms including lack of breath and severe headaches.  One little boy expressed his grief as he described sympoms that indicate Green Tobacco Sickness (GTS), or nicotine poisoning.

“Sometimes it feels like you don’t have enough breath, you don’t have enough oxygen, you reach a point where you cannot breathe because of the pain in your chest. Then the blood comes when you vomit.”

Plan UK is urging police to enforce child labour laws and crack down on offending corporations.

“This research shows that tobacco estates are exploiting and abusing children who have a right to a safe working environment. Plan is calling for better enforcement of child labour laws and harsher punishment for employers who break them,” says Mcdonald Mumba, Plan Malawi’s Child Rights Advisor.

“These children are risking their health for 11p a day and multinational tobacco companies, who profit vastly from child labour, need to take a more active responsibility for their involvement.”

Children continue to work in these conditions to pay rising school fees and fend for themselves. Malawi has a large number of orphan children and with the few state-run facilities overcrowded, many are left to fend for themselves.  Plan is advocating for mandatory birth registration throughout the country which will make it easier to enforce existing labour legislation.

“The lack of such registration makes it difficult to prove that working children are under the age of 14,” says country director Lillian Okwirry.

SAFER ALTERNATIVES

Plan UK is providing alternative suggestions for crops which require less handling and maintenance, removing the need for cheap labour and hopefully, removing the appeal of employing younger children.  Products such as pepper, cassava and tea have higher yields with less upkeep and are currently being promoted by Plan‘s team on the ground in Malawi.

Child sponsorship allows children to go to school and live a childhood free from this kind of exploitation, Plan UK needs help and support to protect the children who can’t speak for themselves.