Prime
Stop hiring underage maids - police
Some Ugandans use school age girls as housemaids. PHOTO/FILE
The head of Child and Family Affairs Unit at Ntinda Police Station, Ms Suzan Ngolobe, has warned the public against employing underaged maids.
Speaking to the media while commemorating the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence (GBV) in Kampala yesterday, Ms Ngolobe said there is a need to end child labour and abuse of children’s rights.
“We have embarked on working with communities in searching for people hiring underaged maids because we have realised many are suffering but they do not know where to report and even others end up getting injured,” she said.
Ms Miria Matembe, a former Ethics minister, said implementation of the existing policies is still a challenge.
“We need to work with authorities to make sure that the culprits and the parents of the victim are cautioned and face the law because this affects their future and some of them get injured due to heavy duties,” Ms Matembe said.
Ms Alizabeth Ampairwe the director of programmes at the Forum for Women in Democracy, said the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development should prioritise the recruitment of more staff in “the community-based services departments in local governments to at least 70 percent in the short term to reduce negative practices.”
About the law
Article 34 (4) of the Constitution states: “Children are entitled to be protected from social and economic exploitation and shall not be employed in or required to perform work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with their education or to be harmful to their health...”
