Child labour and abuse is rife on Zimbabwe’s tobacco farms, says HRW
Harare — On Thursday, global watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged Zimbabwe to take urgent steps to stem child labour and other rights abuses on the country’s tobacco farms. In a report titled, Bitter Harvest, the HRW revealed that children as young as 11 were working on tobacco farms, often in hazardous conditions, to earn school fees or supplement the family income. Workers were exposed to nicotine and toxic pesticides and suffer symptoms consistent with poisoning such as nausea and vomiting, it said. "Zimbabwe’s government needs to take urgent steps to protect tobacco workers," said Margaret Wurth, co-author of the report. Of the 125 people interviewed, one 12-year-old girl described how she fell ill after handling an unnamed pesticide. "We carry the knapsack and start to spray," the girl named Mercy is quoted as saying. "I feel like vomiting because the chemical smells very bad." A schoolteacher said his pupils sometimes miss class as they go to work on the tobacco farms. "Fro...
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