Mrs Grace Ketefe, Deputy Director, Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre, WARDC, in this interview, says, government has not been able to provide a home for children whose rights are violated.

What is your take on child labour?

Everyone is a stakeholder including the parents, government, civil society organisations, schools, all have a role to play to ensure that children rights and security are adequately protected. They have a role to play to ensure no child suffers any form of human rights violation. it is not just mere words but resource and personnel should be allocated to ensure that children rights are adequately protected.

What is the cause of child labour?

Grace Ketefe

There is no justification for child labour. Some people say, it is due to poverty, divorce. But, if there is system is place to check such act child labour will be minimal. Unfortunately, we don’t have a system that allows for foster parents in a situation where the child is subjected to child labour. Most of the children who were forced to work as house-helps do wake up as early as 4a.m and sleep very late at nights. Most of them attend public schools and sleep during the school hours. The children are subjected to all sorts of hardship and child trafficking.

There was a case of child trafficking in Benin where a-16-year old girl was subjected to sexual assault. The mother wanted N30,000 in exchange of her daughter. And so, the girl was given out for sexual exploitation. She has been exposed to various forms of sexual violation. She was in a hotel in Benin Republic. The case was reported to NAPTIP and we followed it up.

What has been the intervention measure by the CSOs?

There are various intervention measures by the CSOs to ensure that children rights are adequately protected.

Some societies are involved in research which shows why some children suffer these problems. The data gathered will help in the area of advocacy to work with other stakeholders to ensure that the right of the child is adequately protected. Apart from research, we also do advocacy in such that in most of our trainings, we talk about the right of the child, talk to relevant stakeholders including traditional rulers, parents, as well as provide legal aid to the child where necessary.

We provide legal aid to victims of human right violation. In most cases, when women rights are violated, there is tendency that children right will be violated. For instances, in a situation where it is one party that has access to the children, it affects the child’s psychology.

Some parents refused to pay for the upkeep of their children because they have issues with their spouses. We also do some documentation of the cases involving child labour that have been attended to in the last quarter and the kind of violation. In a nutshell, civil society organisations do research, advocacy, documentations and provide legal aids.

Would you say the rate of child labour is on the increase?

It depends. In Lagos state, there is a policy that states that no child under the age of 18 years should be hawking, begging, or engage in any form of child abuse during school hours, 8am to 2pm. Until, we begin to take particular interest in our children, we will not be able to address the issue of child labour. Child labour is a crime that is well organised. There was a case of a woman who instructed her child to go scavenging for her. The case was reported to us. Until we begin to report issues on child labour or child abuse happening in our community, the issue might prove difficult to deal with.

On the surface, it is increasing but those involved in the exploitation, child abuse and the likes might also device another methodology. Until, we begin to discover what other forms of vices exist, we might not know to what extent the rights of children are being trampled upon. But, there are checks and balances trying to nip child labour in the bud.

Do you think government is doing enough to curb this trend?

Government has created a legal framework within the child right law which of course might not be effective. Government has tried to make the remand home more effective and also create the family court which protects the children. But, I think, it could do more in the sense that, those remand homes and shelters are not enough to adequately take care of the children from broken homes.

I have a problem with taking a child that is from a broken home to a remand home because that child is not a criminal. I am yet to see a home or shelter specifically dedicated to children whose rights are violated. Government needs to create homes for children who have been abused so that when they are returned back to their homes, they won’t be abused.