NAIROBI, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- The International Labour Organization (ILO) on Thursday decried the high child labor rates in Africa amid the rising poverty.

ILO Country Director for Tanzania, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda Wellington Chibebe told journalists in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, that Africa accounts for about 92 million out of 160 million child laborers in the world.

"Africa stands out as the region with the highest prevalence and the largest number of individuals in child labor," Chibebe said during the National Symposium on Universal Social Protection.

He observed that child labor is predominantly a rural and agricultural phenomenon while child domestic workers are more common in urban areas.

Chibebe noted that while many regions of the world had managed to tackle the issue of child laborers before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa's incidences continued to grow.

According to him, the rates for child laborers have been increasing in Africa since 2012 and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the situation.

The ILO official also said that universal social protection is one of the tools for preventing and ending child labor in the continent. He urged African governments to introspect upon existing programs and initiatives for addressing child labor and re-strategize to ensure effectiveness in their efforts to end child labor. Enditem

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