DOCTORAL THESIS A theological analysis of children’s rights in the context of working children in South East Nigeria Ezeonyeasi, Innocent Award date: 2020 General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 29. Sep. 2021 A theological analysis of children’s rights in the context of working children in South East Nigeria by Innocent Chibueze Ezeonyeasi B.Phil, B.Th, MA A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Department of Humanities University of Roehampton, London 2019 1 DEDICATION Every Child Worker in Nigeria & My Late Parents: James & Georgina My siblings and their families: Simon, Cosy J. & Uchechukwu 2 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACCRONYMS USED ACERWC - African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child ACHPR – African Charter on Human and People’s Rights ACRWC – African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child AU – African Union CA - Centesimus Annus CBCN – Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria CEDC - Children in Especially Difficult Circumstances CRA – Child Rights Act CRC – Convention on the Rights of the Child CYPA – Children and Young Persons’ Act CSDC - Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church CV - Caritas in Veritate DG - Declaration of Geneva DH - Dignitatis Humanae DRC – Declaration of the Rights of the Child DRMC – Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen DRWAC – Declaration on the Rights and Welfare of the African Child EG - Evangelii Gaudium EV - Evangelium Vitae FOS - Federal Office of Statistics of Nigeria FRN – Federal Republic of Nigeria FMLPE - Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity/Employment GS - Gaudium et spes ILO – International Labour Organisation IPEC – International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour JDPC - Justice, Development and Peace Commission LE - Laborem Exercens LMIS - Labour Market Information System LS - Laudato Si` MM - Mater et Magistra MOLP – Ministry of Labour and Productivity MOWASD – Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Social Development 3 NCLS - National Child Labour Surveys NAP – National Action Plan for the Elimination of Child Labour in Nigeria NAPTIP – National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Offences NBS - National Bureau of Statistics NDHS - Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey NGO – Non-Governmental Organization NHRC – National Human Rights Commission NIS – Nigerian Immigration Service NPC - National Population Commission NPCL – National Policy on Child Labour NPF – Nigeria Police Force OA - Octogesima Adveniens OAU – Organisation of African Unity PT - Pacem in Terris PP - Populorum Progressio QA - Quadragesimo Anno RH - Redemptor Hominis RN – Rerum Novarum SCIU – Save the Children International Union SIMPOC –Statistical Information and Monitoring Program on Child Labour SRS - Solicitudo Rei Socialis UDHR – Universal Declaration of Human Rights UN – United Nations UNDRC – United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child UDHR - Universal Declaration of Human Rights UNICEF – United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund UNTOC – United Nations Transitional Organised Crime Convention USDOL – United States Department of Labor USEA – United States Embassy Abuja WCWC - World Child Welfare Charter 4 ABSTRACT Despite the availability of child’s rights legislation for the fight against exploitative child labour, it still thrives in its various forms in Nigeria. The dignity of human labour seems to lessen when it comes to children in Nigeria. The research focuses on child labour practices in South East Nigeria, an area predominantly made up of Catholics. The research contends that child’s labour legislation is insufficient in preserving the dignity and rights of working children especially in the informal sector, away from the view of law enforcement agents. The goal of the research is to support the efforts of the Catholic Church in Nigeria with a synthesized theologico- legal resource for the protection of the rights of working children. The research observes that there is a near total absence of reference to working children in Catholic social teaching. Working children were not directly included in the historic encyclical of John Paul II (1981) on human work, Laborem Exercens. The research integrates the legislation on children’s rights with the social teaching of the Catholic Church in a bid to provide a Christian basis for supporting and developing laws protecting the rights of working children. The Catholic Church upholds the natural law/rights tradition. The natural law/rights tradition places the Catholic Church on familiar ground for the acceptance of “human rights” that are founded on the human being created in the image of God. As a panacea to exploitative child labour, it offers a theologico-legal resource for working children made up of twenty sample articles. It suggests “see-dialogue-judge-act-accompany” as a child-sensitive social justice principle. It encourages the formation of children’s workgroup/solidarity, foster family support groups and Catholic agencies for working children to ensure that the recommendations of the research are implemented and thereby promote a good practice of child labour in South East Nigeria. 5 CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION OF THE RESEARCH 16 1.1 Introduction 16 1.2 Aims and objectives of the research 19 1.3 The research context 21 1.3.1 Nigeria and its people 21 1.3.2 The Christian religious context 24 1.3.3 The Catholic dioceses in South East Nigeria 30 1.3.4 Statistical representation of working children 32 1.4 Research methodology 38 1.5 Limitations of the research 42 1.6 Literature review 44 1.6.1 Previous works 44 1.6.2 Legal framework 50 1.6.3 Theological framework 52 1.7 The research focus 53 1.8 Organisation of the research 56 CHAPTER 2 CHILD LABOUR IN BRITAIN AND THE UNIVERSALISATION OF CHILDHOOD 61 2.1 Introduction 61 2.2 Childhood and child labour in Britain 1780-1850 63 6 2.2.1 Traditional employment and child labour in England 66 2.2.2 Industrialisation and child labour in England 69 2.2.3 Government reforms of child labour legislation from 1788 -1867 73 2.3 The image of working children from 20th century in developed and developing countries 82 2.4 The place of education vis-à-vis child labour and child workers 86 2.5 Evolving concepts of childhood and child work 92 2.6 Understanding childhood and working children in pre-colonial and post- colonial Africa: Nigeria in focus 98 2.6.1 Structural conceptualisation of childhood in Africa 99 2.6.2 Incomplete transition of the new image of the African child 100 2. 7 Concluding remarks 106 CHAPTER 3 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF CHILD LABOUR IN NIGERIA 109 3.1 Introduction 109 3.2 Nigerian approach to children, work and working children 111 3.3 Evaluating child labour in Nigeria 113 3.4 Causes of child labour 115 3.4.1 Family economic activities 115 3.4.2 Family/child poverty 116 3.4.3 Parents and their working children 117 3.4.4 Working children and the demand factor 118 3.4.5 Governments, international influences and globalisation 119 7 3.4.6 Other household factors 120 3.5 Types of child labour: Historical and contemporary perspectives 121 3.5.1 Work in agriculture 121 3.5.2 Street trading 122 3.5.3 Street children 123 3.5.4 Domestic servants 124 3.5.5 Apprenticeship 125 3.5.6 Child begging 126 3.5.7 Scavengers, child prostitution and bus conductors “agbero” 127 3.5.8 Child marriage 128 3.5.9 Other forms of child labour 128 3.6 Problems and dangers of child labour 129 3.7 Concluding remarks 131 CHAPTER 4 CHILD’S RIGHTS LEGISLATION AND PROTECTION OF WORKING CHILDREN IN SOUTH EAST NIGERIA 132 4.1 Introduction 132 4.2 The development of international standards of children’s rights 133 4.3 Development of child’s rights legislation in Nigeria 139 4.4 The Child’s Rights Act (2003) and the four general principles of children’s rights 141 4.4.1 The principle of non-discrimination 141 4.4.2 The principle of the best interest of the child 143 8 4.4.3 The principle of the right to life, survival and development 145 4.4.4 The principle of respect for the views of children 147 4.5 Who is a child? 148 4.6 The legal instruments for the protection of working children in Nigeria 153 4.7 Insufficiency of child’s rights legislation in fighting unjust child labour 158 4.8 Agencies for the protection of working children in Nigeria 161 4.9 The danger of treating child labour as a secondary problem and other lapses 167 4.10 Concluding remarks 172 CHAPTER 5 THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND NATURAL RIGHTS TRADITION – HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES 174 5.1 Introduction 174 5.2 The relevance of the Medieval natural law tradition to the emergence of natural rights 175 5.2.1 The Medieval canonists of the 12th century 175 5.2.2 The absence of natural rights theory in Thomas Aquinas 179 5.2.3 The Franciscans’