By Debbie Olujobi

The concept of fair trade is a direct response to business practises that exploited the most disadvantaged people of the world while making the rich even richer. It was a more sophisticated version of the slave trade and it involved keeping people in sustained poverty while using them for cheap labour.

The sweat of children, women and others fuelled the capitalism and the extravagance of the first world. A legion of workers would be kept in the most appalling conditions and paid little or next to nothing for labour which was skilled and dedicated. They were worked to the bone and not given the benefits that were the due of their counterparts in other more developed areas of the world.

I had heard of sweat shops (factories where children, women and even men were kept often by force to produce cheap goods) but I can’t say I was altogether sympathetic to the cause of the individuals. Most people don’t realise the heartache and sorrow that goes into the production of the goods that we consume without a second thought and the film “Blood Diamonds” op
ened our eyes to the real cost of “Bling”.

When talking about modern day slavery, most people are appalled that such a thing can still exist in this day and age. We recount visions of slaves in shackles travelling to the new world while chained down like animals and the thought of that is abhorrent even to the most hardened of hearts. In my view slavery is the subjugation of a person or persons to coerce them into an act or labour not of their own choosing. If that definition is acceptable to all then slavery exists in almost every Nigerian home today.

Child labour cannot be described as anything other than slavery as a child cannot legally make a decision to work for anyone without some form of coercion. A majority of our households employ children under the age of consent to work as house helps. In exchange their parents are paid a pittance through a middle man who makes a tidy sum on supply the children to the homes in the cities.

I came across such a transaction recently and met a seedy looking man negotiating transport fees to bring a 12 year old from a village outside Lagos. From what I gathered he was the procurer of young children for domestic labour for which he was paid a commission and transport fees. I wondered how he managed to convince the parents of such very young children to part with them and send them to far away towns and homes.

In Africa it is common place to have children work for more affluent families and it never used to be considered work. The children just helped with housework and in exchange were fed, clothed and educated by the host families. They were more often than not treated the same as all other children and for all intents and purposes a part and parcel of the family. At no time could that have been taken to be slavery as the families knew one another; there were no middlemen.

The children were not seen as tools of a commercial enterprise. These days the children are the modern day slaves as they are subjected to inhuman treatment and used as tools of barter by the middlemen who often trade on them to extort money from multiple customers.

Watching a documentary on CNN describe children used for labour on the cocoa farms, I remembered that middleman I had seen. He was no different than the ones who supplied the children that were being used to feed the chocolate needs of the world in Ivory Coast.

I do not employ anyone under 18 to work for me domestically as I have never felt right about children waiting on children or children caring for other children. I do know that men tend to disconnect from domestic affairs and not get involved in hiring of domestic staff but I believe it may be time to wake up the collective consciences of the entire family.

The reason most homes prefer to employ young children is security; the older more experienced adults tend to steal and most families have experienced severe losses. In recent times some families have had their children kidnapped by these young adults and had to pay huge amounts to get them back. The bottom line is that we all need help on the domestic front; my counsel is that we should embrace the c
oncept of fair trade.

It is certain that most people will disagree with my position that their house helps are more of slaves than anything and I would simply ask them to follow the rules that govern fair trade and see whose position is right.

1. What is the time line of the work that your helps render? Do they close for the day at 6pm or 7pm or are they expected to serve you from when they wake till you sleep?

2. Is their accommodation such that their personal space is respected and safe guarded or do you make room for them on the floors that become available when your family is asleep?

3. Are their working conditions such that protect them and their future? In other words are they being paid enough for the service they render with such bonuses as healthcare and even a prospect of vocational training or further education?

4. Do you periodically subject them to mental and physical abuse as a means to control them? (That’s actually against the law).

The jury is out on whether we are all guilty of modern day slavery but our consciences should hopefully be pricked into fairness. It’s worthy of note to remember that the sun shines on the son of the rich and the poor without discrimination: we are all the same before God.