Youths are “demographic time bomb”

Niger’s population is overwhelmingly young, with about 70 percent of its 13 million population under 25 years old, according to a 2005 UN, government and World Bank study on vulnerable children in Niger. Child rights experts say brewing problems of youth unemployment and juvenile crime could become more widespread and dangerous if officials do not act soon.

Jean Lieby, head of the child protection unit at the UN children’s fund, UNICEF, in Niger, told IRIN the sheer number of youths makes them a potentially explosive force, “In much of West Africa youths are a demographic time bomb.”

Women in Niger have more children than most mothers around the world, about seven per woman, which is more than twice the global average, according to the US-based National Wildlife Federation.

Growing up, half these children do not have enough to eat, are at risk of contracting malaria, and less than 18 percent will be able to read— based on 2006 government and World Health Organization data.

That is, if they live at all: Nearly 30 percent of them die before age five, according to 2005 World Health Organization data.

Among the surviving youth, some have turned to the streets.

Tracking down Mahamadou

Mahamadou Ibrahim, 16 years old, waits outside a supermarket in Niamey where he offers to carry groceries for about US30 cent tips.

“I can make almost two dollars a day this way. I spend 150 francs [US34 cents] on a bowl of rice and beans and save the rest for the next day. Because I do not know if I will get anything tomorrow.”

Government social worker, Aziz Edmond, met Ibrahim two years ago and brought him to one of about a dozen government-run youth centres around the country that have provided educational, judicial and preventive services (known by French acronym, SEJUP) since 2005.

Youths under 18 years old who have or are likely to get into trouble with the law can receive job training, apprenticeships and free lunches at a SEJUP centre.

The centres are part of European Union and UNICEF-backed 2003 legal reforms in Niger that changed how the law handles youth offenders. Previously, children had been lumped with adult offenders in court and jail. Youths are now tried in one of 11 juvenile courts across the country. Four prisons have children’s detention areas.

But SEJUP’s goal is to prevent children from ever seeing those wards.

“We work with community leaders, including village chiefs and marabouts [Muslim religious leaders], as well as do our own night street outreach, to find high-risk children who need to get off the streets quickly. The youths are sometimes suspicious, at first. But then, some agree to come find out about our services.” said social worker Edmond.

Social workers have identified more than 5,000 children throughout Niger since 2006 for SEJUP services; about 150 of them have completed the two-year training program.

UNICEF’s Lieby, himself a social worker for decades, said the program must take a lot of time with each child because their lives are in constant flux, “The children essentially divide their time between the streets and the youth centre. They come to the centre, and then disappear, only to reappear.”

Many of the youths have family members, but spend most of their time on the streets.
Ibrahim said he had not seen his family in three months, and had no intention of going back. “My father hit me. Why would I go back? I feel a lot more at ease out here on the streets. Whe n I was at home, I did not do anything. At least here, I make some money.”

Photo: Phuong Tran/ IRIN

Ibrahim with other Niamey street children

Edmond has located Ibrahim’s family in the capital’s Talladje neighbourhood near the airport and plans to mediate the father-son conflict. Edmond said the father told him he had hit his son to discipline him for stealing.

Ibrahim told Edmond he would come back to the centre the next day to continue car repair classes he had abandoned for weeks.

The next day, he did not come to the centre. Other street children told Edmond Ibrahim was worried centre staff would force him go back and live with his family.

‘Now is the time’

UNICEF and other donors including the European Union have been working with the Niger government for the past five years to update legislation and budgets to protect children, among other groups.

The 2005 study on Niger’s vulnerable children counted about 25,000 children surviving on the streets, mostly alone, with more than 4,000 of them living on the streets full time.

Niger’s 1999 constitution mentions children, but most passages are dusty colonial-era relics that do little to protect children like Ibrahim, said Lieby. “Current policies need to be adapted to Niger’s reality. Most [laws] are photocopies of legislation from [former colonial power] France. But this takes time. Countries create laws when they are ready. What good is a modern law if a country will not apply it?”

Lieby said Niger’s time has come to do more. “The population has doubled in the last 26 years. More people are crowding into cities. Civil society is ready to act on this. The government is ready [to create a comprehensive protection policy]. People are ready. The timing is right.”

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