Child labour in your context
Hi Everyone,
The most common forms of child labour in Nigeria are hawking and having children serve as domestic helps to relatives in return for the education and upbringing of the child. Poverty is a major reason for this. Children in some cases are also hired as deomestic helps to non-relatives for financial renumeration to their families. Hawking and domestic labour are the most common forms of child labour in the cities while in the rural areas common forms of child labour are children working on farms.
Traditional beliefs is an underlying factor in child labour in Nigeria, because children supporting their parents in their economic activities after school by hawking or children serving as domestic helps to a more financially stable relative are often not considered as child labour, traditionally. However, with the passage of the Child Rights Act, which is a domestication of the Convention of the rights of the child In Nigeria, since the year 2003, awareness is growing on the need to prevent these common forms of child labour and other worst forms such as child trafficking.
Youths are not victims of child labour in Nigeria, because the age definition of youth is 18-35years. A most common form of exploitative labour among youth in Nigeria is the Human Trafficking problem. Youth are often victims of Human Trafficking to countries in Europe. Trafficking in persons is illegal in Nigeria and the government has an agency to deal with issues of human trafficking, but still youth fall victims because of poverty and unemployment.
Most times the youth are trafficked for prostitution, and so it affects their health and moral well being and they often have problems of reintegration into the society when they return either voluntarily or when they are repatriated.
Hi Shining Star. Indeed, much of child labour incidences are linked to the family 'enterprise' and this is where we see the concentration of child labourers in agricultural activities, vending and domestic work. It is however interesting to note that countries with similar poverty levels have varying magnitudes of child labour. While poverty is almost always associated with child labour, it is not necessarily the main cause. This is why it is important to determine other factors which lead families to send children to work or to the children themselves taking that step (e.g. low value attached to education).
Hello, I believe that forms of child labour in Africa is the same in that children are usually involved in street vending or hawking, agriculture, prostitution, stone crushing, domesticate child labour (maids, doing house chores fit for adults, children minding fellow children). These forms of child labour is dependent on the geographic setting (Rural or Urban), the economic status of the family and belief. For example, in Zambia, it is believed that they are teaching the child to be a responsible adult or playing their role in bringing income so as to help the family.
