Uganda's cash crop exports could attract sanctions from the World Trade Organization (WTO) if employers continue using child labor, Chairman of the Federation of Uganda Employers Aloysius Semanda was quoted as saying by local media on Thursday.

Semanda said at the international level, child labor could have serious consequences to employers including sanctions or boycotts of products.

He noted that Uganda's employers are obliged to contribute towards elimination of the worst forms of child labor because Uganda ratified the International Labor Organization Convention on child labor.

Local media quoted sources saying that the WTO would pass new laws barring countries that still use child labor from international trade.

According to recent reports on child labor, Uganda has about 2. 7 million working children, with 28 percent working on employer's premises and 18 percent on plantations.

Swizen Kyomuhendo, a lecturer at Makerere University, was quoted as saying that 54 percent of child workers in the coffee sector are between the age of 10 and 14 years.

Kyomuhendo said more than 75 percent of employers in the sector have no arrangements to eliminate child labor.

Coffee is one of Uganda's major foreign exchange earner.

Source: Xinhua