Disability and Child labour among war affected children in Acet sub-county, Northern Uganda

Background: The aftermath of the nearly twenty years of war in northern Uganda between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels and the Uganda government army, has left many people including children severely psychologically,... [ view full abstract ]

Background: The aftermath of the nearly twenty years of war in northern Uganda between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels and the Uganda government army, has left many people including children severely psychologically, and physically impaired. The resultant economic situation for the families is despicable, exposing the children to undue child labour exploitation at the expense of their education. The situation is even worse for the disabled children who are already defenseless.

Objectives: The objectives of the study included:
i) To document the extend of child labour among the children in Acet sub-county
ii) To establishing if there is any link between disability and child labour

Method: Two group discussions of same-sex children and in-depth interviews on the relationship between disability and child labour practices were conducted with disabled children in two villages.

Results: The results indicated that 80% of the children agreed that they have been involved in activities that are classified as exploitation of their labour. The disabled children agreed that they were taken advantage of because they were disabled. Further, all the children attribute their involvement in child labour to poverty, and that some of their parents are disabled themselves.

Conclusions:It was concluded that child labour is a serious social and educational concern in the aftermath of war and among resource scarce communities. This is a threat to the education of the children and the eventual sustainable recovery of the communities. Therefore sustainable awareness creation programmes, counselling of parents and the affected children, and empowerment of teachers to detect and assist affected child be integrated with the general recovery programmes.