A Non Governmental Organization, Cece Yara Child Advocacy Center wants media professionals to create awareness to combat the menace of child domestic workers in the country.
Cece Yara Child Advocacy Center also called for urgent policies and measures that would ensure the safety, well-being, and rights of children employed in domestic settings
The Chief Executive Officer of the foundation, Bisi Kayode noted that child domestic workers were vulnerable to exploitation, abuse and neglect, without adequate protection
“We are on this programme in Nigeria alongside other partners to deliberate and to strategize on alleviating or eliminating the exploitation of child domestic workers. Children by virtue of their cognitive, physical and emotional ability, do not have a voice so they often suffer in silence and most of them are constituted to hazardous work that injures their health, sexual health, their mental health and deprived them of humanity and childhood”.
While the Project lead of the Centre, Damilola Adenusi emphasized that the lack of proper sensitization was responsible for the thriving business of child domestic workers.
“Since we began the engagement, we have been able to reach several areas in Lagos, taking the message to the Streets, talking to the community at large, going on Radio And TV, several awareness and sensitization programs. We have also been able to support up to 50 child domestic workers that suffered abuse, put them in our shelter for sometime and also provided psychosocial therapy to support their integration back to the society”
He added that there was a need for the government, stakeholders, individuals especially the media to unite in the common cause of ensuring that every child in Nigeria was allowed to grow, dream, learn, and contribute meaningfully to the country
The consultation forum which was sponsored by the Freedom Fund and the gift from the United States Government had in attendance stakeholders in child advocacy and the civil society.
Reporting By Israel Etim