The Women in Mining Nigeria (WIMIN), has canvassed for strategic rights to end gender and child abuse in the mining sector.

They also reiterate their commitment to ensure that the mining space in Nigeria is open and safe for all women, both professionals and artisans who have found their passion in mining.

The president of WIMIN, Engr. Janet Adeyemi, stated this in Abuja, at the national summit, with the theme, ‘Safeguarding the Rights of Women and Children in the Solid Mineral Sector’, organised by the mining women in collaboration with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Open Society Foundation (OSF).

She said that the women in mining in Nigeria will stop at nothing to achieve the eradication of gender abuse in Nigeria’s mining sector.

Adeyemi said: “Women in mining in Nigeria extended our advocacy to Bauchi State. We visited key actors in the solid minerals sector and organized a State Policy Dialogue, bringing together stakeholders to focus on strategic ways to end gender and child abuse in the sector.

“In the presence of female miners in Bauchi, all state actors and stakeholders in the solid minerals sector demonstrated their unwavering commitment to ending all forms of abuse and strengthening their relationship with female miners.

“We had organized the female miners and inaugurated a fully functional State Chapter of Women in Mining in Bauchi State, which will champion the realization of our goals. This was a remarkable success for us in Bauchi State.”

She noted that they have engaged the Kogi State Ministry of women affairs, on the protection and enforcement of children’s rights to integral as their mandate.

In her remarks, the Program Manager, of WIMIN, Deloraine Dennis, called for the protection of women and children in the mining sector.

She noted that the aim of the summit is to create more access to justice and rights for women in mining in Nigeria

Dennis also lamented that women are often excluded from decision-making processes and leadership positions in the mining sector, including involvement and representation.

Adeyemi, however, explained that limited resources hinder their ability to effectively investigate cases of child labour and abuse in mining sites across the state. “At the state level, Women In Mining has engaged various stakeholders through advocacy and policy dialogues. Nevertheless, we intend to escalate the issues of women’s and children’s rights violations in Kogi State to the national level.

“We have already partnered with the National Human Rights Commission and have been integrated into the solid minerals sector of Nigeria since 2018 by the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.

“We will leverage these partnerships, both locally and internationally, to address the issues affecting women and children in the mining sector of Kogi State. I take this opportunity to appeal to state actors and all stakeholders in the sector to provide us with their unwavering support as we strive to end gender abuse, child labour, and molestation in the sector.”