NewsRescue
As the politics of the 2019 election season approaches, the Nigeria Borno state government has been captured giving school-age little children “shoemaker” kits in a form of empowerment.
This violation of global laws on the rights of the child, with these children being supported by the government to work while below the required age, was seen as a political stunt as it had Borno government officials’ pictures and pictures of the president of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari behind it. This display of pictures of politicians also a violation.
UN Minimum Age:
Minimum Age Convention 1973
The aim of the Minimum Age Convention (MAC) is to establish a general instrument on the subject of the minimum age of employment with a view to achieving the total abolition of child labor (Preamble). Thus, each State Party is to “pursue a national policy designed to ensure the effective abolition of child labor and to raise progressively the minimum age for admission to employment to a level consistent with the fullest physical and mental development of young persons” (article 1). States Parties must specify a minimum age for admission to employment or work, subject to certain exceptions set forth in the MAC. That minimum may not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling and, in any case, less than fifteen years, but it may initially be set at fourteen years if a state’s economy and educational facilities are insufficiently developed (article 2). Exceptions to the age limits may also be permitted for light work or for such purposes as participation in artistic performances (articles 7 and 8). If the employment may be hazardous to a young person’s health, safety, or morals, the minimum age is generally not to be less than eighteen years (article 3(1)).
https://www.loc.gov/law/help/child-rights/international-law.php
