Metta Emmy, Abdul Ramadhani, Koler Alison, Geubbels Eveline
Ifakara Health Institute, Box 78373, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, School of Public Health and Social Sciences, Department of Behavioural Sciences, Box 65015, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Heliyon. 2023 Mar 13;9(3):e14417. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e14417. eCollection 2023 Mar.
This study describes factors promoting child labour in small-scale gold mines in rural Tanzania, a pernicious problem despite the country's adoption of laws and regulations intended to curb it.
Employing a phenomenological design, we collected qualitative data using focus group discussions and in-depth interviews to describe factors promoting children's engagement in small-scale gold mining activities in three districts in Tanzania. Data analysis applied constructs from the ecological system theory.
Child labour was reported to be common in the small-scale gold mines and abject household poverty was reported as the main factor pushing children to work in the mines because of their respective households' inability to provide for their basic needs. Other underlying factors stated included divorce and family disintegration and limited diversification of income-earning activities. The migratory nature of artisanal mining led some miner parents to not prioritize the education of their children. Furthermore, peer pressure and parental influence, especially of mothers, promoted entry into mining or reinforced its continuation. Early socialisation of children as future miners and lack of perspective and societal expectations of other life trajectories contributed to persistent child labour within mining communities. At the government level, the study participants mentioned poor reinforcement of mining regulations as another factor that legitimised child labour in the mines.
Since factors promoting child labour in small-scale gold mines are multifaceted, efforts for its elimination require a multi-layered approach aimed at addressing the root-causes at the micro-, meso-, exo- and macro-level systems.
本研究描述了坦桑尼亚农村小规模金矿中促使童工现象产生的因素，尽管该国已通过法律法规来遏制这一有害问题，但该现象仍然存在。
采用现象学设计，我们通过焦点小组讨论和深入访谈收集定性数据，以描述坦桑尼亚三个地区促使儿童参与小规模金矿开采活动的因素。数据分析应用了生态系统理论中的概念。
据报道，童工现象在小规模金矿中很常见，家庭极度贫困被认为是促使儿童在矿场工作的主要因素，因为他们各自的家庭无法满足其基本需求。其他所述的潜在因素包括离婚和家庭解体以及创收活动的有限多样化。个体采矿的流动性导致一些矿工父母不重视子女的教育。此外，同伴压力和父母的影响，尤其是母亲的影响，促使儿童进入矿场或继续留在矿场工作。儿童过早地被社会化为未来的矿工，以及缺乏对其他生活轨迹的展望和社会期望，导致了矿区童工现象的持续存在。在政府层面，研究参与者提到采矿法规执行不力是使矿场童工现象合法化的另一个因素。
由于促使小规模金矿童工现象产生的因素是多方面的，消除这一现象需要采取多层次的方法，旨在解决微观、中观、外部和宏观层面系统的根本原因。
