| Total
Child Labour |
NATIONAL STATISTICS
*
There are an estimated 12 million child labourers. (UNICEF,
The Progress of Nations, 1995)
*
For the year 2000, the ILO projects that there will be 3,859,000 economically
active children, 1,262,000 girls and 2,597,000 boys between the ages of
10-14, representing 23.91% of this age group. (ILO, International Labour Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010, STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997)
* In 1995, there were
3,546,000 economically active children, 1,094,000 girls and 2,452,000 boys
between the ages of 10-14, representing 25.75% of this age group. (ILO, International Labour Office - Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population 1950-2010, STAT Working Paper, ILO 1997)
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* Children particularly
girls are withdrawn from schools into early marriages and into extensive
child labour such as street trading and the like. (Child
Welfare League of Nigeria, Alternative Report on the Implementation of
CRC, submission to the UN CRC, September-October 1996)
|
| Child
Slavery |
GENERAL NOTES
AND OBSERVATIONS
* Children from Benin
have been taken to Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, and Gabon, and
sold into servitude in agriculture, as domestics, or as prostitutes.
(US
Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25
February 2000)
* A study has
shown that children are trafficked from Togo to Nigeria for use
as domestic servants, market traders, child beggars and prostitutes.
(WAO-Afrique, Child Trafficking in
West and Central Africa, submission to the UN Working Group on Contemporary
Forms of Slavery, June 1999)
*
Various sources indicate forced child labour and child slavery rings
operating between Nigeria and other African countries.
(US
Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998)
* Children are
reportedly sold into domestic servitude.
(EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)
* Trafficked children
are made to work as domestics, hawkers and petty traders, beggars,
car washers, bus conductors, farm hands or cattle rearers.
(UNICEF Child Domestic Workshop, 1998)
* Many families
entrust their children, mainly boys aged 5 or 6, to the care of
a religious leader, or marabout, with whom the boys live until the
age of 15 or 16. The children perform various tasks in the marabout's
school or household. In addition, begging is considered to be part
of the child's learning process. These students, known in Nigeria
as almanjeri, live in poor conditions with up to 3,000 other students.
(CWA,
"Child Prostitution in Vietnam", Child Workers in Asia,
Vol. 10, No. 3, July -September 1994)
|
| Child
Trafficking |
NATIONAL
STATISTICS
* The
ILO reported that, based on a nation-wide survey of child trafficking,
approximately 19% of school children and 40% of street children have been
trafficked for forced labour. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001)
* It is estimated that
more than 100 girls mostly between ages of 10 and 15 are smuggled from Nigeria
via Togo to Europe. (Paul
Ohia, "Human Smugglers Arrested in Togo", African News Services, 10 July
2000, reprinted in Stop Trafficking Archive, July 2000)
* In January, authorities
of Côte d'Ivoire repatriated eleven 10-11 year old girls to Lagos, Nigeria
from Abidjan. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* Of the 1,880 to 2,500
minors who worked as street prostitutes in Italy, 1,500-2,300 had been trafficked
predominantly from Albania, and Nigeria. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* Local NGOs estimate
that more than 700 children of both sexes were recaptured on the Benin-
Togo borders and the Benin-Nigeria borders during 1997 and returned afterwards
to their families. (CATW
Fact Book, citing "Child Peddling Serious Problem in Togo and Benin", All
Africa News Agency, 23 March 1998)
* In July 1997, the police
intercepted a group of 90 children in Porto Novo and another group of 42
in Cotonou on their way to Nigeria. (UNICEF,
The Issue of Child Domestic Labour and Trafficking in West and Central Africa,
July 1998)
*
150 Filipinos were sold into prostitution to nightclub operators in African
countries, particularly Nigeria. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Lira S. Dalagin, "150 Pinays sold as sex slaves in Africa",
Manila Chronicle, 31 May 1995, citing Bureau of Immigration)
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* According to reports
from the media and the ILO, there is an active trade in child labourers,
some of whom are exported to Cameroon, Gabon, Benin, and Equatorial Guinea
to work in agricultural enterprises, others of whom are coerced into prostitution.
Authorities also have identified a trade route for traffickers of children
for labour through Katsina and Sokoto to the Middle East and East Africa.
(US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001)
* The eastern part of the country and some southern states such as Cross
River and Akwa Ibom have been the focus of trafficking of children for
labour and, in some cases, human sacrifice. The country remains a destination
point for the trafficking of Togolese children to serve as domestic or
agricultural workers. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2000, February 2001)
* Nigeria is a source, transit, and destination country for trafficked
persons. The majority of trafficking from Nigeria involves females destined
for Europe; Italian authorities estimate that 10,000 Nigerian prostitutes
work in Italy, many of them the victims of traffickers. (US
Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001)
* Nigerians, primarily women and children, also are trafficked to work
on plantations in other African countries, including Gabon, Cameroon, Equatorial
Guinea, and Benin. Other significant destination countries for trafficked
Nigerians include the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Spain, France, and
countries in the Middle East. (US
Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001)
* Nigeria also serves as a transit hub for trafficking in West Africa
and to a lesser extent, a destination point for young children from nearby
West African countries. There is also evidence of trafficking of children
and women within Nigeria. (US
Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report, July 12, 2001)
* A study has
shown that children are trafficked from Togo to Nigeria for use
as domestic child servants, market traders, child beggars and prostitutes.
(WAO-Afrique,
Child Trafficking in West and Central Africa, submission to the
UN Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1999)
* Trafficking in children,
which is always a problem, continues to be the subject of considerable
media coverage in Benin. Most victims are abducted or leave home with traffickers
who promise educational opportunities or other incentives. They are taken
to places in foreign countries (according to the press, principally to
Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, and Gabon) and sold into
servitude in agriculture, as domestics, or as prostitutes. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* In August, there were
reports that women and girls from Mozambique were lured into South Africa
by Nigerian and other organised crime syndicates based in the country with
the promise of jobs and decent wages, and then held as near-slaves on farms
and other enterprises. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* Trafficking in women
and girls for prostitution and forced labour to Italy is a growing problem.
The women and girls are usually from Albania, Nigeria, former Soviet Union
and Eastern Europe. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
* Trafficked children
are made to work as domestics, hawkers and petty traders, beggars, car washers,
bus conductors, farm hands or cattle rearers.
(UNICEF Child Domestic Workshop, 1998)
* Thai girls are found
to be working as prostitutes in Western African countries including
Nigeria. ("Thai
girls lured to sex trade in Africa", Bangkok Post, 24 August 1998)
* An international trafficking
network was broken up in Spain and 15 people arrested for allegedly trafficking
dozens of women from the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Columbia, Equatorial
Guinea and Nigeria to Spain, forcing them into prostitution.
(CATW
Fact Book, citing "Spanish Prostitution Ring Busted", AP, 18 April 1998)
* There are reports of
trafficking in children. In 1996, one NGO reported an illegal child trade
exporting Nigerian children to other West African nations.
(EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)
* Nigerian women trafficked
to Italy were typically victims of an organised trafficking network.
(CATW
Fact Book, citing IOM, European Race Audit Bulletin, 25 November 1997)
* Rome is the concentrated
region of trafficked Albanian and Nigerian women brought for the purpose
of prostitution. (CATW
Fact Book, citing The Institute of Race Relations, 25 November 1997)
|
| Child
Prostitution and
Pornography |
NATIONAL
STATISTICS
*
Of the 1,880 to 2,500 minors who worked as street prostitutes in
Italy, 1,500-2,300 had been trafficked, predominantly from Albania,
and Nigeria. (US Dept of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999, 25 February 2000)
GENERAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* Thai girls are
found to be working as prostitutes in Western African countries, including
Nigeria.
("Thai girls lured to sex trade in Africa",
Bangkok Post, 24 August 1998)
* The children are reportedly
forced to work as prostitutes. (EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)
* ILO reports an increasing
incidence of child prostitution. (US
Dept of State, Human Rights Report, 1998)
* Rome is the concentrated
region of trafficked Albanian and Nigerian women brought for the purpose
of prostitution. (CATW
Fact Book, citing The Institute of Race Relations, 25 November 1997)
* 150 Filipinos were
sold into prostitution to nightclub operators in African countries, particularly
Nigeria. (CATW
Fact Book, citing Lira S. Dalagin, "150 Pinays sold as sex slaves in Africa",
Manila Chronicle, 31 May 1995, citing Bureau of Immigration)
|
| Children
in Crime |
- |
| Child
Soldiers |
RECRUITMENT
LAWS AND REGULATIONS
* Recruitment into
the armed forces is done on a voluntary basis and the minimum age for such
enlistment is 18 years. (CSUCS,
Africa Report, April 1999)
NOTES ON GOVERNMENT
FORCES
*
There are no indications of under-18s in government armed forces. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001)
*
Possibly children below 18 are fighting. (Rädda
Barnen, Childwar database)
NOTES ON OPPOSITION GROUPS
In
1999 and 2000 armed Ijaw youths thought to be age 16 and over took part
in opposition to the government's oil policy in the Niger Delta. There
is no information available regarding the participation of children in
other ethnic militias. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001)
* The US Department
of State reported that confrontations between increasingly militant youths
- described typically as unemployed males between the ages of 16 and 40
- oil companies and government authorities continued in 1999 and 2000.
At least 28 Delta youths were killed in such clashes or suspected vandalization
near oil flow stations in 2000. (CSUCS,
Global Report on Child Soldiers - 2001 citing US State Department Report
2000)
* Youth have been reported
to participate in armed violence between the Ijaw and Itsekeri tribes since
the spring of 1997. (Rädda
Barnen, Childwar database, citing CSUCS, Use of Children as Soldiers in
Africa, 1999)
|
| Domestic
Child Servants |
NATIONAL
STATISTICS
* 40% of domestic workers are children.
(IWGCL,
Working Children: Reconsidering the Debates, 1998)
*
A study on children at work in Nigeria aligns women's work with
domestic work and estimates the number of child domestic workers
as 40,000. (UNICEF,
Child Domestic Labour and Trafficking in West and Central Africa,
July 1998, citing UNICEF Nigeria, Situation Analysis of Children
in Especially Difficult Situation, 1992)
GENERAL NOTES AND
OBSERVATIONS
* A study has shown that
children are trafficked from Togo to Nigeria for use as Domestic Child
Servants. (WAO-Afrique,
Child Trafficking in West and Central Africa, submission to the UN
Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, June 1999)
* In cross-border trafficking,
Benin, Ghana, Nigeria and Togo are known to be the main providers of child
domestic labour to the main urban centres of countries like Côte d'Ivoire,
Gabon, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and the Congo. Suspected child trafficking
activities have also been identified in Mali, Mauritania and Burkina Faso.
(UNICEF, The Issue of Child Domestic Labour
and Trafficking in West and Central Africa, July 1998)
* Trafficked children
are made to work as domestics. (UNICEF
Child Domestic Workshop, 1998)
|
Other
Hazardous
Child Labour |
GENERAL
NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS
* Trafficked children
are made to work as hawkers and petty traders, beggars, car washers, bus
conductors, farm hands or cattle rearers.
(UNICEF Child Domestic Workshop, 1998)
* The use of children
as hawkers, beggars and bus conductors is widespread in urban areas.
(EI, EI Barometer on Human and Trade Union Rights in the Education Sector, 1998)
*
In Nigeria, two of the main forms of child labour outside the home are
street vending and weaving. Children as young as 6 years old may be found
in street trading but most are between 9 and 14 years old.
(ABC-CLIO, Sandy Hobbs et al, Child Labor:
A World History Companion, 1999, citing International Working Group on
Child Labour, Oloko Sarah, Beatrice Adenik, In-Depth Country Report: Nigeria,
1995)
SPECIFIC
SECTORS
* Street Children
- In Lagos alone there are 100,000 boys and girls living in the streets.
(Child Welfare League of Nigeria, Alternative
Report on the Implementation of CRC, submission to the UN CRC, September-October
1996)
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