When we torture, do harm to other human beings, we violate God’s own divine creation – Rev. Fr. Okure

Africa Faith and Justice Network (AFJN-N) and Dominicans for Justice and Peace (DJP) Nigeria, organised a one-day workshop on ending domestic servitude and child labour. A local coalition of volunteers was also raised at the end of the workshop to drive awareness on ending domestic servitude and child labour in Nigeria. In this interview, Aniedi Okure, permanent delegate to the United Nations and Dominican’s general promoter for justice and peace, spoke about the impact of domestic servitude and child labour on the society. Excerpts by JOHN SALAU:

Why this workshop on ending domestic servitude and child labour?

Today we are putting on a program on domestic servitude and child labour to bring awareness to people to understand that these practices are really not just harming our children, they’re harming our future, they’re impacting the life cycle and getting people into poverty. There is nothing wrong with children helping out in their home. I grew up, you know, with many siblings, we work at home, it’s a different thing. Domestic servitude is a place where we are seeing children of poor parents, or some of them orphans, who are taken into homes, mainly in the cities, with the intention of making life better for these children, most of them girls. But what they face is trauma, exploitation, slogging, is mental and physical abuse. And we are trying to get people to understand that we are all created in the image of God. Whether you are a priest, bishop, or governor or president, your human dignity is no different from the persons living under the bridge. We are flesh and blood. And the Bible tells us each and every person is created in the image of God. So, when we torture a child or do harm to other human beings, we are violating God’s own divine creation. And when we look at the Bible, most of the injunctions or commands that God gives are geared towards protecting the rights of the person. You shall not mistreat the orphan or the widow or the stranger in the midst. You know, Exodus 22, 22. And Jesus, talking about past judgment, in Matthew 25, 35 to 44, says, oh, I was a stranger; you didn’t welcome me. I was hungry; you neglected me, and we can add to that – I was an orphan, you mistreated me in your home, you know. So God clearly shows that it matters how we treat others, and especially the vulnerable. So, we are trying to make people understand that, you know. God blesses us in our kindness. And so conversely, when we go to, especially the weak and vulnerable, we are incurring judgment.

We know there are existing laws on these things either locally or on the global stage; why are the laws not effective?

As I said, am at the U.N., right? There are all kinds of international laws, some of which Nigeria has adopted and domesticated, but not enforced. But international law, notwithstanding, or national laws, notwithstanding, the primary, most important law is the law of the Creator, who gave each and every one of us life, before we can even talk about making national laws. So, to that we must subject, whether it be Christianity, Islam – many, most religions acknowledge this issue of God creating us, and therefore, the sacredness of human beings. So, it’s not even a Christian thing because all religions recognize that. So, we are calling on pastors, imams, parishes, to team up together, and make sure we end this thing that is almost an epidemic.

Do you think it can really be ended?

Well, we dream big, you know, the ideal thing would be to end it. But I live in the real world. So let’s try to mitigate against it. Let’s try to reduce the incidence of that, because it’s an epidemic. You see on social media, young girls being traumatized. They lift up their clothes, you gasp that somebody could have done that to them, not once or twice, but as a routine. And you hear the stories, they wake up before 4 a.m., many of them don’t go to bed until after 1, and they have to wake up again. And in homes where you have children, this child is seeing that she’s being tortured and the children of the house go to school, come back, eat; you know, it’s slavery. One of the things that these rich parents, let me call them rich parents, don’t understand is that they’re preparing the ground for the abuse of their daughter’s; and their sons under such environment are more likely to mistreat their wives than others, because they see how these women in their own eyes are treated. So we say, the popular saying, monkey see, monkey do.

Finally, who is Reverend Father Okure?

My name is Aniedi Okure, Father Aniedi Okure. I’m a Dominican and I’m the general promoter for justice and peace for the Dominican Order. We are present in 120 countries around the world and I serve as the permanent delegate of the Dominican Order to the United Nations in Geneva.