Child labour, according to Wikipedia, is the“employment of children in any work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and that is mentally, physically, socially or morally dangerous and harmful.” This practice is considered exploitative by many international organisations.

Child labour is now a common trend, both in the developing and industrialised world. It is estimated that there are 215 million child labourers in the world and half of them are engaged in extremely hazardous work. In Nigeria, child labour is the employment of children under the age of 18 in a manner that restrics or prevents them from basic education and development. According to statistics, in 2006, the number of child workers was estimated at about 15 million. Poverty is attributed as major factor that drives child labour in Nigeria.

Another statistics by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has it that the number of working children under the age of 14 in Nigeria is estimated at 15 million. The high level of diverse and tedious jobs that children execute in dangerous circumstances is particularly worrying. This is as the percentage of children aged five to 14 that is reported to be engaged in some form of child labour varies, according to geographic location. For instance, as of 2017, 9 per cent of children in Latin America engage in some form of labour. In East Asia (excluding China), the Middle East and North Africa, it’s 10 per cent; in Eastern and Southern Africa it is 26 per cent, and in sub-Saharan Africa it’s 28 per cent.

Because of the prominent place children occupy as a vulnerable group, several legal instruments have been enacted to check child labour. This includes the Child Rights Act 2003. It will be recalled that in 2003, Nigeria adopted the Child Rights Act to domesticate the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Children’s Rights Act 2003 (CRA) was created to serve as a legal documentation and protection of Children’s rights and responsibilities in Nigeria. Also, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child – which was signed in November 1989 convention – is a human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of children.

In all these, the height of global efforts to check child labour is the World Day Against Child Labour, also known as WDACL. June 12 every year is set aside by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and sanctioned as holiday in which the plight of child labourers is highlighted, with the hope of one day being able to end all forms of child labour that may exist in the world today. The World Day Against Child Labour was launched by ILO in 2002, to help combat the rampant amount of child labour being utilised all over the world. They did so when they discovered just how many children all over the world who, not only work in hazardous environments but, are forced to do so. It also wanted to address the illicit problems such as children being sold into sexual slavery.

Globally, various events are held on the World Against Child Labour Day to help draw attention to the practice of child labour. These events include seminars, lectures, and even concerts. It is also a good day to remember that each and every child has the right to a free quality public education.

In Abia State, efforts have not been spared by Governor the Okezie Ikpeazu-led administration to protect the vulnerable, especially checking the menace of child labour. Last November when the current commissioners in the state came on board, some new ministries were introduced. This includes the Ministry of Special Duties, Vulnerable Groups/Women, headed by Mrs Precious Achumba.

Since the establishment of the ministry, Mrs Achumba has not relented in her efforts to ensure that the plight of children in Abia, especially on child labour, is addressed. There have been several interventions in this area, and more are expected to roll in the days ahead. One of these efforts is the enlightenment programmes mounted by this ministry across the 17 local government areas of the state, to discourage child labour. Another is the setting up of a special committee which part of its responsibilities is to address this trend.

The vulnerable deserves a special place in the society. Vulnerable groups are groups who for some reasons are weak and vulnerable to human rights abuses. These groups are structurally discriminated against. And for this reason, the groups require special protection for the equal and effective enjoyment of their human rights. The groups are women and girls, children, refugees, internally displaced persons, stateless persons, national minorities, indigenous peoples, migrant workers, disabled persons, elderly persons, HIV positive persons and AIDS victims.

Other vulnerable groups include the economically disadvantaged, racial and ethnic minorities, the uninsured, low-income children, the elderly, the homeless, those with human immune-deficiency virus (HIV), and those with other chronic health conditions, including severe mental illness.

It will be recalled that through the ages, women have been subjected to discrimination in all stages of life, in income, education, health and participation in society. These are particularly vulnerable to specific violations such as gender-based violence, trafficking and sex discrimination. A typical case of discriminatory actions and abuses against women is the recent Mediterranean tragedy where 26 Nigerian women were reportedly murdered in their attempt to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. The reports further suggested that the women, whose bodies were recovered from the sea, may have been sexually abused. The bodies of the women, aged between 14-18, were reportedly kept in a refrigerated section of a Spanish warship, Cantabria.

The ministry is not unaware of these challenges the vulnerable are facing and is deploying frantic efforts to address them. One of such steps is to discourage the flight of young girls to overseas for exploitative sexual missions. To achieve this, the ministry has mapped out an intensive mass media campaign that would manifest in the forms of billboards, radio and television jingles, newspaper commentaries, talk-shows, seminars and workshops, among others.

The ministry is not hesitating to employ international legal instruments and treaties, such as the UN Charter and the International Bill of Human Rights, which proclaim equal rights for men and women, and ban discrimination on the grounds of sex, to achieve these goals. Also, in addition to instruments relating to discrimination in general, a series of instruments have been developed specifically for the protection of women, the elimination of discrimination against women and the promotion of equal rights. These serve to create a broad, international framework for future developments and the establishment of general norms for national policy.

Another important instrument here is the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which was adopted by the UNGA on 18 December 1979, following consultations over a five-year period by various working groups, the CSW and the UNGA. It entered into force in 1981. The 30-article convention sets out internationally accepted principles and measures to achieve equal rights for women everywhere.

This instrument reflects the scope of exclusion and restriction suffered by women solely on the basis of their sex. It sets out equal rights for women, regardless of their marital status, in all fields – political, economic, social, cultural and civil - and calls for national legislation banning discrimination. It allows for temporary special measures (affirmative action) to accelerate the achievement of equality in practice between men and women, and actions to modify social and cultural patterns that perpetuate discrimination. Other measures aim at equal rights for women in political and public life (Article 7); equal access to education and equal choice of curricula; non-discrimination in employment and pay; and guarantees of job security in the event of marriage and maternity. The convention underlines the equal responsibilities of men with women in the context of family life. It also stresses the social services needed - especially childcare facilities for combining family obligations with work responsibilities and participation in public life.

Various women’s rights are captured in the international human rights law, such as the right to equal treatment, right to privacy, right to reproductive health and family planning, right to decide the number, and spacing of children, right to marry and to found a family, right to life, liberty, and security; The right to freedom from sexual exploitation and assault, right to freedom from torture and ill-treatment.

Unfortunately, negative widowhood practices are still upheld in some communities in our modern society, which Abia is not an exception. Few months after burial of the deceased, relations of the widow’s husband spring into action and contend the property of the deceased with the widow. Little or no thoughts are accorded to the survival of the widow and her children. Even lingering litigations are experienced when the widow opposes the confrontations from the husband’s relations. In the 21st century, widows are still subjected to treatments such as shaving of hairs, which the proponents of this treatment claim that it is done to accord customary respect to the late husband. The commissioner has strongly promised to reverse the inferior status of women, and makes sure it is entrenched in history, culture and tradition through advocacy and enlightenment campaigns.

Given the foregoing background, the Commissioner for Special Duties, Vulnerable Groups/Women deserves the support and cooperation of Abians in this onerous task of protecting the vulnerable in the state.

•Okechukwu Keshi Ukegbu, a public policy analyst, writes from Aba, via keshiafrica@gmail.com

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