Children as young as eight-years old are doing damage to their health and risking their lives, as they are working in Tanzanian small-scale gold mines, reports nonprofit, nongovernmental human rights organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW).

HRW visited 11 mining sites in Geita, Shinyanga and Mbeya. About 200 people were interviewed, 61 of whom were children working in small-scale gold mining.

Small traders typically buy gold directly at the mines or in mining towns and then sell it to larger traders in Tanzania. Sometimes the gold passes through several intermediaries before reaching the traders who export the gold. According to the Tanzanian govern- ment, small-scale miners produced about 1.6 t of gold in 2012, valued at about $85-million.

HRW researcher Janine Morna explains that although Tanzania has strong laws prohibiting child labour in mining, government has done far too little to enforce legislation, adding that “labour inspectors need to visit both licensed and unlicensed mines regularly and ensure employers face sanctions for using child labour”.

Many children who work in mining are orphans or other vulnerable children who lack basic necessities and support.

Girls involved with the mining sites, face sexual harassment, such as pressure to engage in sex work. Some girls become victims of commercial sexual exploitation and risk contracting HIV or other sexually transmitted infections, says HRW.

Further, child labourers, as well as children living near mining sites, are at serious risk of mercury poisoning. Mercury attacks the central nervous system and can cause lifelong disability to children, whose developing bodies are more easily affected by the heavy metal. The miners, including children, mix mercury with crushed ground ore and burn the resulting gold-mercury amalgam to release the gold, exposing them to poisonous mercury fumes. Even small children who are not working are often present during this process, which is sometimes carried out in the home.

HRW explains that most adult and child miners are unaware of these health risks, noting that health workers lack training and facilities and are not equipped to diagnose or treat mercury poisoning. Existing laws and initiatives on mercury have largely failed to reduce mercury use.

However, Tanzania has helped draft a new global treaty at the Minamata Convention to reduce mercury exposure worldwide, which more than 140 governments agreed upon in January.

Working in the mines also interferes with children’s education. Children working in mining sometimes skip classes or drop out of school altogether. Tanzanian teachers told HRW that school attendance and performance decreased when a gold mine opened nearby. In addition, many adolescents seek full-time employment, including mining, because they lack access to secondary school or vocational training.

HRW says the Tanzanian government should expand access to secondary school and vocational training. It argues that it should also improve child protection and that government and donors should provide financial and political backing for the new action plan on the most vulnerable children, including orphans from mining areas in Tanzania.