{"id":126480,"date":"2026-04-07T22:18:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:18:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=126480"},"modified":"2026-04-07T22:18:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T21:18:41","slug":"ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"ECOWAS Lawmakers Meet Over Rising Child Exploitation in West Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Lizzy Chirkpi<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)\u00a0 Parliament has convened\u00a0 in Freetown to address the growing crisis of child exploitation and the increasing number of children living on the streets across West Africa.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The five-day session, scheduled for April 8\u201312, 2026, brings together key committees to deliberate on the theme: \u201cParliamentary Approaches to Safeguarding Children in Street Situations and Addressing Child Exploitation in the ECOWAS Region.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to a statement from the Joint Committees, the discussions align with ECOWAS\u2019 mandate to ensure member states uphold child protection commitments.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThe theme of the Joint Committee meeting is consistent with the institution\u2019s mandate of legislative oversight to promote Member States\u2019 effective implementation of ECOWAS child protection commitments. Member States have adopted the ECOWAS Child Policy and Strategic Plan of Action (2019\u20132030) and the ECOWAS Gender Strategy, both of which provide normative frameworks for preventing and responding to child vulnerability across the region.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The lawmakers noted that worsening economic conditions, urbanisation, and humanitarian pressures are pushing more children into street situations, exposing them to severe risks.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThese children tend to face serious and compounding risks including exploitation, hazardous labour, violence, substance abuse, and limited access to essential protection services. Though legal frameworks exist in many Member States, inconsistencies in implementation, resource constraints, and weak cross-sector coordination continue to reduce their effectiveness.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The statement also highlighted the risks associated with cross-border movement within the region.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cIn a region marked by porous borders and significant intra-regional mobility, differences in legal standards, child protection procedures, data systems, and enforcement capacity can create dangerous protection gaps particularly for children who cross borders or engage in informal economic activities.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">It stressed the need for coordinated legislative action across member states.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThere is therefore a clear need for harmonised legislative approaches, enhanced parliamentary oversight, and strengthened inter-parliamentary collaboration to ensure that regional commitments translate into tangible safeguards for children of West Africa.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The choice of host city was described as strategic, citing Sierra Leone\u2019s recent reforms.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThe choice of Freetown as the host city of the meeting of the Joint Committee is deliberate, given Sierra Leone\u2019s adoption of the revised Child Rights Act (2025), which represents a significant progress in aligning national legislation with international and African child protection standards.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Participants are expected to examine Sierra Leone\u2019s model as part of efforts to strengthen child protection systems across the region.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the end of the meeting, lawmakers are expected to adopt key recommendations aimed at improving oversight and closing gaps in child protection frameworks.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cThe Joint Committee is expected to adopt conclusions and recommendations to guide parliamentary action across ECOWAS Member States.\u201d<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lizzy Chirkpi The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)\u00a0 Parliament has convened\u00a0 in Freetown to address the growing crisis of child exploitation and the increasing number of children&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":126481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>ECOWAS Lawmakers Meet Over Rising Child Exploitation in West Africa - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ECOWAS Lawmakers Meet Over Rising Child Exploitation in West Africa - Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Lizzy Chirkpi The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)\u00a0 Parliament has convened\u00a0 in Freetown to address the growing crisis of child exploitation and the increasing number of children&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pointblank News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-07T21:18:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ECOWAS-Declares-State-of-Emergency.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"708\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Our Reporter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"headline\":\"ECOWAS Lawmakers Meet Over Rising Child Exploitation in West Africa\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-07T21:18:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/\"},\"wordCount\":447,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ECOWAS-Declares-State-of-Emergency.jpeg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/\",\"name\":\"ECOWAS Lawmakers Meet Over Rising Child Exploitation in West Africa - Pointblank News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ECOWAS-Declares-State-of-Emergency.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-07T21:18:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ECOWAS-Declares-State-of-Emergency.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ECOWAS-Declares-State-of-Emergency.jpeg\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":708},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"ECOWAS Lawmakers Meet Over Rising Child Exploitation in West Africa\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/\",\"name\":\"Pointblank News\",\"description\":\"Just the news\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c\",\"name\":\"Our Reporter\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Our Reporter\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"ECOWAS Lawmakers Meet Over Rising Child Exploitation in West Africa - Pointblank News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"ECOWAS Lawmakers Meet Over Rising Child Exploitation in West Africa - Pointblank News","og_description":"By Lizzy Chirkpi The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)\u00a0 Parliament has convened\u00a0 in Freetown to address the growing crisis of child exploitation and the increasing number of children&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/","og_site_name":"Pointblank News","article_published_time":"2026-04-07T21:18:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":708,"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ECOWAS-Declares-State-of-Emergency.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Our Reporter","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Our Reporter","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/"},"author":{"name":"Our Reporter","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"headline":"ECOWAS Lawmakers Meet Over Rising Child Exploitation in West Africa","datePublished":"2026-04-07T21:18:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/"},"wordCount":447,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ECOWAS-Declares-State-of-Emergency.jpeg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/","name":"ECOWAS Lawmakers Meet Over Rising Child Exploitation in West Africa - Pointblank News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ECOWAS-Declares-State-of-Emergency.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-04-07T21:18:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ECOWAS-Declares-State-of-Emergency.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ECOWAS-Declares-State-of-Emergency.jpeg","width":1080,"height":708},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/ecowas-lawmakers-meet-over-rising-child-exploitation-in-west-africa\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ECOWAS Lawmakers Meet Over Rising Child Exploitation in West Africa"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/","name":"Pointblank News","description":"Just the news","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/ba61acbe7e8967bcf3f3ba603d9db23c","name":"Our Reporter","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83b3820ef93d502ae3a617b2c881ca42?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Our Reporter"},"url":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126480"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126482,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126480\/revisions\/126482"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}