Kigali — KIGALI CITY: The Minister of State in charge of Labour, Angelina Muganza has decried the number of children engaged in child labour, saying the figure currently stands at about 300,000.

The Minister, who called for joint efforts to combat the vice on Thursday August 10, during the official opening of a seminar on child labour and related issues at Hotel Novotel, said punitive measures would be taken against errant people.

Muganza urged participants to join hands and help vulnerable children engaged in hard work and other related abuses and reminded them that observation of children's rights is instrumental for development.

"I want to inform you that without children rights, the country can not achieve its future plans when stakeholders are not given access to play their role. It's in this context that children should be given first class protection and get chance to go to school for them to have a better future," she underscored.

She disclosed that the government would respect commitments undertaken at the International Labor Organization (ILO), conference in Brazil on May 4, where all countries involved agreed to end child labor by 2016.

Muganza also disclosed that the government has drawn a five-year plan to solve the child labour problem in the country.

"The government has launched a five-year plan which relies mainly on three core phases; the need to sensitize people over young children involved in labour activities like mining and quarrying, to help young children go to school and other vocational trainings and, to protect those engaged in child labor," she said and noted that cooperation with the Rwanda National police and other security agencies in the country would be instrumental in achieving the said objectives.

The one-day seminar drew participants from several stakeholder organizations.