Child Labour Remaining Status Quo? - A Case Study of Child Labour in Sierra Leone´s Mining Sector

Abstract: Children working in mining related activities are not uncommon in Sierra Leone. Their involvement has become a matter of increasing global attention and significant measures have been taken at national and international levels to combat the problem. However its prevalence gives reasons for concern. In the case of Sierra Leone it has been argued that there has been a failure to carry out an analysis of the mining sector and engage in the complex realities of the children. This study aims to understand how mining exploitation and cultural aspects to child labour can act as potential obstacles to child labour elimination in the mining sector in Sierra Leone. This study draws upon dependency theory and the concepts of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), resource curse and socially constructed childhood to discuss and analyze the child labour issue in Sierra Leones mining sector. Thus, deriving from a research overview this study is based upon secondary data. The study finds that the failure to acknowledge sociocultural aspects embedded in the Sierra Leonean society along with economic exploitation of the mining sector constitutes potential obstacles to the elimination of child labour.