The elimination of child labour
CHILD LABOUR
It is disturbing that over 43 per cent of Nigerian children aged between five and 11 years are involved in economic activities, including those considered the worst forms of child labour. According to the 2016-2017 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MCIS), 39 per cent of children involved in child labour were working under hazardous conditions, including quarrying granite, artisanal mining, commercial sexual exploitation, armed conflict, and sometimes are victims of human trafficking.
The Director of Press and Public Relations at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, Olajide Oshundun, made the disclosure at the commemoration of the 2023 World Day Against Child Labour (WDACL), a day set aside by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to raise awareness and activism to prevent child labour. This year’s theme: “Social Justice for All. End Child Labour,” called for reinvigorated international action to achieve social justice, with the elimination of child labour as one of its key elements.
The ILO defines child labour as work that deprives children of their childhood, their potential and their dignity, and harmful to their physical and mental development. It includes any work that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful to children; and/or interferes with their schooling by depriving them of the opportunity to attend school. Child labour makes children to leave school prematurely; or requires them to attempt to combine school attendance with excessively long and heavy work.
In the Nigerian context, child labour is the employment of children under the age of 18 in a manner that restricts or prevents them from basic education and development. The worst forms of child labour involve children being enslaved, separated from their families, exposed to serious hazards and illnesses and/or left to fend for themselves in the streets of large cities – often at a very early age.
The practice is harmful to the development of the child and constitutes threats to the future of the country. According to data, Nigeria is a country of the young with almost half of the entire 200 million population estimated at 46 per cent, under the age of 15. Unfortunately, 43 per cent of Nigerian children are engaged in child labour. It is disturbing that the trend is on the rise in spite of various measures taken by the government at various levels to curb it.
No doubt, hunger, poverty, cultural/religious factors, poor educational system, inadequate social protection systems and wrong perception/ ignorance of the negative effects of the exercise, are among the factors driving child labour in the country. Child labour is reprehensive and condemnable. The practice is against the rights of the children. It has serious consequences on the victims and the society.
Some of the victims are subjected to strenuous menial jobs under dehumanising conditions. They are often exposed to prostitution, early marriage and outright criminal activities. There are instances of children given out as domestic aides being maltreated by their guardians. Some of them are recruited as child soldiers in war-prone areas. The future of the children involved is mortgaged.
We call on the federal and state governments to map out measures to eliminate child labour. There is urgent need to initiate child-friendly policies to protect and encourage the children to optimize their potential. Parents and guardians are enjoined to be involved in the campaign to eliminate child labour. Since the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have domesticated the Child Rights Act, it is time to implement them, especially areas affecting child labour. Let parents, who violate the rights of the child, be adequately sanctioned. The fight against child labour requires sustained efforts and collective action by all, including civil society organisations.
The best way to halt the practice is by addressing the challenges of hunger and poverty in the land. There should sustained public enlightenment against child labour. With free basic education, it is expected that every child of school age must be in school. Bringing the over 20 million Nigerian children, said to be outside the school system into the classroom, will go a long way in addressing the problem.
It is commendable that Nigeria has demonstrated its commitment to the global fight against child labour and its worst forms by the adoption and ratification of ILO Conventions, No. 138 and No. 182 and the domestication of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by enacting the Child Rights Act. It is cheering that government has established the National Steering Committee on the Elimination of Child Labour (NSCCL) to strengthen institutions mandated to monitor the elimination of the practice across the country.
Sunnewsonline.com
