The Africa Students and Youth Summit organized by the largest student organization in Africa, the All-Africa Students Union is entering into Day 2 on 23rd July 2021. The annual summit convenes major stakeholders in education and youth development ecosystems to discuss major issues of development with focus on Africa. The theme for this year’s summit is Act, Inspire and scale-up – giving a fair share to end child labour.
As the summit enters Day 2, organizers say the focus of the discussions will be on pragmatic steps to secure the future of every child. The first break-out session will focus on “addressing progress towards the elimination of child labour in the agricultural sector”. Also, child labour in the agricultural sector has for years presented difficult challenges to child rights advocates because of the local sociocultural nuances that come with the problem.
AASU says that it intends to reconcile the differences through a broad stakeholder debate. The second break-out session will address another equally important economic sector where the problem of child labour appears equally pervasive. Here, the focus of the discussion will be on “Africa’s mining sector: building needed synergies to eliminate child labour”.
Finally, the summit will look at “Protecting children in conflict zones” with experts and policy actors with interests in investigating and advocating for the rights and protection of vulnerable people in conflict. These issues largely encapsulate the broad local and international concerns as regards child labour.
At the end of the Summit, the All-Africa Students Union will produce a comprehensive report that details all relevant concerns expressed by experts as well as policy recommendations for g0vernments and international development partners towards sustainable solutions to child labour in Africa and the world at large. The report will be made available to the media and other stakeholders.
