Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2015, published 105th ILC session (2016)

Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - Nigeria (Ratification: 2002)

Article 3(a) and 7(2) clause (b) of the Convention. All forms of slavery and practices similar to slavery and effective and time-bound measures. Compulsory recruitment of children for armed conflict and providing the necessary and appropriate direct assistance for the removal of children from the worst forms of child labour, and for their rehabilitation and social integration. The Committee notes from the report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council of 5 June 2015 (A/69/926-S/2015/409) that increased reports were received of children, both boys, and girls being recruited and used by Boko Haram in support roles and in combat. Children were reported to be used as human shields, and as suicide bombers, particularly girls as young as 13 years. There were reports of children joining the Civilian Joint Task Force and other vigilante groups, voluntarily or forcibly, and used to man checkpoints, gather intelligence and participate in armed patrols. More than 500 young women and girls were reported to be abducted from their homes and schools and were subjected to forced labour, physical and psychological abuse and forced marriages to fighters of Boko Haram. This report also indicates that a large number of children were killed and maimed during Boko Haram raids in villages, targeted public places and schools. Education authorities in the north-east recorded the killing of 314 school children between 2012 and 2014. During this period, 59 secondary school boys were shot or burned to death in their dormitory during a night time attack, while a suicide bomber, disguised in a school uniform, killed at least 47 children and injured 117 others in Potiskum. The Committee deeply deplores the current situation of children affected by armed conflict in Nigeria, especially as it entails other violations of the rights of the child, such as abductions, murders and sexual violence. The Committee, therefore, strongly urges the Government to take measures as a matter of urgency to ensure the full and immediate demobilization of all children and to put a stop, in practice, to the forced recruitment of children under 18 years of age into armed groups. It also urges the Government to take immediate and effective measures to ensure that thorough investigations and robust prosecutions of all persons, who forcibly recruit children under 18 years of age for use in armed conflict, are carried out and that sufficiently effective and dissuasive penalties are imposed in practice. It requests the Government to take effective and time-bound measures to provide for their rehabilitation and social integration and to provide information on the measures taken in this regard and on the results achieved.

Article 7(2) clause (a). Preventing the engagement of children in the worst forms of child labour. Access to free basic education. Following its previous comments, the Committee notes from a report entitled, Global Initiative on Out of-School Children, Nigeria Country Study by UNICEF that several social protection policies and activities are being implemented in Nigeria with support from UNICEF including: (i) the School Feeding Programme (SFP); (ii) bursary and scholarship grants to indigenous families having children of school age; (iii) the Primary Health Care Programme for poor and vulnerable children which would impact positively on school enrolment and attendance rates; and (iv) the conditional cash transfer programme under the National Poverty Eradication Programme which has ensured that 100,000 children who would have been out-of school are retained in school. In this regard, the Committee notes from the Nigeria EFA Review Report 2000–14 by the Federal Ministry of Education (EFA Review Report) that the total enrolment rates in primary schools increased from 21,857,011 in 2009 to 24,071,559 children in 2013; the total enrolment in junior secondary schools increased from 3,107,287 in 2009 to 4,219,679 children in 2013; and the number of primary schools and junior secondary schools between 2009 and 2013, rose from 58,595 to 61,305 and from 10,410 to 11,874 respectively. The Committee notes, however, that according to the UNESCO EFA Global monitoring report of 2013, Nigeria has approximately 10.5 million children out of school. The Committee notes with concern the high number of children who are not attending school. While noting the measures taken by the Government, the Committee urges the Government to intensify its efforts to improve the functioning of the education system and to facilitate access of all children to free basic education. In this regard, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures, to increase the school enrolment rates at the primary and secondary levels and to decrease the school drop-out rates. It requests the Government to provide information on the concrete measures taken in this regard and to provide updated statistical information on the results obtained, particularly with regard to reducing the number of out-of-school children at the primary and secondary levels.

The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.