By Grace Q. Bryant
Defense For Children Liberia (DCI-LIBERIA) has raised concerns over the skyrocketing of Exploitative Child Domestic Work in Liberia.
Addressing a major press conference, Tuesday, December 19, DCI-LIBERIA Executive Director, Atty. Foday Kawa, said that the Exploitative Child Domestic Work in Liberia has greatly skyrocketed in 2023.
Based upon that, Atty. Kawa disclosed that DCI-LIBERIA and its partners will be piloting an evidence-based project for the tackling of Exploitative Child Domestic Work in Liberia, targeting Montserrado and Nimba Counties.
According to him, DCI-LIBERIA, with support from Freedom Fund, will combat exploitative child domestic work, because data collected by the Freedom Fund, 2023, shows a shameful report on Liberia.
“Data collected by Freedom Fund, 2023, in Liberia, indicates that CDWs spend around 20.4 hours per week doing domestic work, with half of the CDWs working between 14 and 25 hours. On average, older CDWs, aged 16-17 years old, spend more hours on domestic work, 25.0 hours per week, than younger CDWs aged 12-15 years, 18.7 hours per week,” Atty. Kawa disclosed.
He noted that CDWs spend most of their time washing, ironing clothes, fetching water or firewood, cleaning, shopping, or running errands for the household and cooking.
Atty. Kawa pointed out that DCI-LIBERIA finding has also discovered that the majority of these children are brought from poor families, and particularly in communities lacking social protection safety nets.
“They are being allegedly trafficked under the guise of reducing family financial burden and responsibilities at home, promising to provide quality education and/or better standard of living. Of the CDWs not currently enrolled, 54.8 percent are under 15 years of age, and are thus out of school, in violation of Liberia’s 2011 Education Reform Act,” he noted.
Effectively, nearly one in five, 18.2 percent CDWs are out of school, a rate that is significantly worse than the average 13.0 percent of urban Liberian children who are out of school (UIS,2023b).
Giving the objective of the evidence-based research, he further lamented that the overall goal of the project is to reduce exploitation among child domestic workers and empower survivors of child domestic work.
Atty. Kawa narrated that they will work along with civil society organizations and government institutions to strengthen their capacity to transition communities away from child domestic work and to protect children in domestic work from abuse and exploitation.
“DCI-LIBERIA will form partnerships and collaborate with local community stakeholders to hold town hall meetings with traditional, religious, and cultural leaders, as well as align the project to enhance their capacity, influence, and impact in the communities. We will also organize religious and children dialogue fora, as well as amplify the voice of Childers at the forefront of the action, and create a tangible change and impact that will address the ongoing violation,” he noted.
Atty. Kawa pointed out that this will include advocating for policy change and raising awareness for children rights, providing clarity on the minimum age of work, as well as taking affirmative action to ensure access to TVET program for survivors of CDWs that will provide them with better opportunities, resources, and protection to help them realize their full potential.
Speaking on the violation process, Atty. Kawa noted that the CDW is in violation of children’s rights and also violates the Liberian Law, particularly the Liberia Decent Work Act of 2015.
