KICKING AGAINST ALL FORMS OF CHILD ABUSE AS THE 2017 WORLD DAY AGAINST CHILD LABOUR IS MARKED ON MONDAY JUNE 12
On Monday, June 12, the world over
commemorated the 2017 World Day Against Child Labour. The day was launched in
2002 by the International Labour Organization (ILO) to focus attention on the
global extent of child labour and the action needed to eliminate it.
This year’s anniversary focuses
on the impact of conflicts and disasters on child labour. Conflicts and
disasters have a devastating effect on people’s lives. They injure, maim, and
kill, as well as force people to flee their respective homes, destroy
livelihoods, push people into poverty and starvation and trap them in
situations where their basic human rights are violated. Children are often the
first to suffer as schools are destroyed and basic services are disrupted. Many
children are internally displaced or become refugees in others countries, and
are particularly vulnerable to trafficking cum child labour.
Each year on 12th day of June, the World Day Against Child
Labour brings together governments, employers, NGOs and civil society as well
as millions of well-meaning individuals from around the world to highlight the
plight of child labourers and what can be done to help them.
Child labour refers to the
employment or engagement of children in any work or activity that deprives them
of their childhood rights, interferes with their ability to attend regular
school, and that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and
harmful to them. It can also be described as a full-time employment of children
who are under a minimum legal age.
Child labour is globally
considered as an exploitative practice. Many international bodies describe it
as an inhumane act. Legislations across the world prohibit it with extreme
passion, that, it is widely regarded as a societal monster. Though, these laws
do not consider all work by children as ‘child labour’; exceptions include,
work by child artists, supervised training, and certain categories of work such
as those common among indigenous American children, among other countries that
are technologically inclined.
Prior to 1940, several children
aged 5-14 worked in Europe, the United States of America and various colonies
of European Powers. These children worked in areas including agriculture,
factories, home-based operations, and mining. Some worked night shifts lasting
twelve hours. Subsequently, with the rise of household income, availability of
schools as well as passage of Child Labour laws, the rate of the incidence
dropped tremendously.
In developing countries with
high poverty and poor schooling opportunities like Nigeria, child labour is
still prevalent that it requires a keen effort of the concerned authorities
towards its holistic eradication. For instance, in 2010, Sub-Saharan Africa had
the highest incidence rates of child labour with several African nations
including Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and many others witnessing over fifty percent
(50%) of children aged 5-14 involved in one or two uncalled activities.
Survey shows that agriculture
is the largest employer of child labour worldwide. More so, vast majority of
child labour cases is found in rural settings as well as informal urban
economies; in this area, children are predominantly employed by their parents
or guardians, rather than factories. Suffice it to say that child labour is
fundamentally attributable to poverty and lack of education or illiteracy.
According to the World Bank,
the incidence of child labour in the world decreased from twenty-five percent
(25%) to ten percent (10%) between the years 1960 and 2003. Nevertheless, with
the acknowledgement of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the
International Labour Organization (ILO), recently by the year 2013, the total
number of child labourers remained high involving about 168 million children
worldwide.
During the Industrial
Revolution, children as young as four were employed in production factories
with dangerous, and often fatal, working conditions. In view of the recent
understanding of the dangers attached to the use of children as labourers,
presently it is considered by wealthy countries such as Germany, Japan, France,
the U.S.A, et al, as a human rights violation, thereby outlawing its practice.
Whilst, some poorer countries still condone child labour.
The last time I checked, an
average Nigerian child was immensely crying for rescue, particularly in the
areas of education, health and social welfare, just as a baby cries for a
breastfeed. Child labour has succeeded in depriving a Nigerian child his/her
rights or the basic needs of life like the aforementioned ones, just to say the
least. It isn’t anymore news that the said menace is currently the order of the
day in various parts of the country.
It is noteworthy that, child
labour has in recent times deteriorated appallingly in Nigeria. The one that
has degenerated into a fathomless eyesore is the ongoing alarming incidence of
hawking witnessed on several major streets and roads across the federation. The
most devastating aspect of this scenario is a situation where the children in
question would be seen hawking their wares when they are meant to be in their
classrooms. It is usually noticed that most of these child hawkers are under
the care of their so-called guardians or relatives, unknowingly to their
biological parents that their children are being subjected to such torture or
life-threatening activity.
The type observed in the area
of prostitution cannot be swept under the carpet whenever child labour is being
discussed. In most occasions, female children are cajoled into prostitution by
some pimps. The less-privileged parents would be told by the pimp, albeit
deceitfully, that their children would be taken abroad for some lucrative jobs;
they would also be informed that the children would be privileged to attend one
of the best schools in the world.
Though in the contemporary Nigerian society
it appears slavery has gone or is a thing of the past, when you take a
painstakingly study of what most house-helps do in various homes in the
country, you would observe that they are not unlike mere slaves. Some of them,
aside being deprived of basic education or healthcare, end up functioning like
camels in their respective places of assignments.
As Nigeria joins the global
community in commemorating this year’s edition of the World Day Against Child
Labour, we are requested to do everything within our reach and humanly possible
to ensure that poverty and illiteracy, which are the basic attributes of child
labour, are drastically and thoroughly alleviated in our respective societies.
We can achieve this by acknowledging that our voice and effort count regardless
of the circumstance.
The less-privileged parents, on
their part, must always be conscious of the social status and occupation of who
they lease their child to. They ought to use every means to ascertain the
actual background as well as place of residence of the prospective benefactor.
More so, there’s a compelling
need for the federal government to set up a formidable and reliable agency that
would ensure a holistic enforcement of the Nigerian Child Rights Act. The Act
needs to also be reviewed toward making amends where necessary.
Above all, there’s an urgent need for the governments at all levels to,
in their various jurisdictions, make Children Parliament more proactive with a
view to giving our children a thorough sense of belonging in the country’s
ongoing democratic setting. Think about it!
Comrade FDN Nwaozor
Executive Director, Docfred Resource Clinic - Owerri
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Twitter: @mediambassador
http://facebook.com.fred4nwaozor
