CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The
rights of the child had long been recognized since 1924 with the general
declaration on the rights of the child. In 1959, a further attempt was made at
codifying the rights of the child. Other attempts made at he international
level include the inclusion in Art- 23-24 of the International covenant on
Civil and Political Rights 1966 and Article 10 of the International covenant on
economic, social and cultural rights 1966 rights aimed at protecting the child.
It was
however, until 1989 that the United Nations General Assembly has able to adopt
a most acceptable instrument for the protection of the child.
This
instrument is the United Nations convention on the Rights of the child 1989 but
adopted in 1990 by the Heads of States and governments at the United Nations
(UN) world summit for children held in that year.
This move
by the United Nations triggered off a lot of reactions from most regions of the
world including Africa. The Organization of African Unity (OAU) now African
Union (AU) in line with convention adopted the OAU charter on the rights and
welfare of the child 1990.
Like most
countries in Africa, Nigeria signed on and ratified both the convention and the
charter thus making it obligatory for it to take appropriate legislative,
administrative as well as other measures aimed at implementing the rights
recognized therein.[1]
Further,
domesticating these rights in accordance with section 12(1) of the
constitution provides that: No treaty
the federal and any other country shall have the force of law except to the
extent to which such treaty has been enacted into law by the National Assembly.
The National Assembly in Nigeria in 2003 enacted the Child Rights Act, 2003,
thus making offences hitherto in the convention and charter enforceable in
Nigeria.
However,
notwithstanding the steps tales, the concerns for the recognition and
protection of the rights of the child in Nigeria continued to be in the gout
bummer largely because of the increased cases of child abuse and child labour.
These
concerns increased when we considers the statistics made available by UNICEF.
According to UNICEF, approximately 126 million children aged 5-17 are believed
to be engaged in hazardous work, excluding child domestic labour and more than
1 million children worldwide are detained by law enforcement officials. It is
estimated that more than 130 million women and girls alive today have undergone
some form of female genital mutilation/cutting.
The
convention and the charter and indeed the child’s rights Act gives the child
some rights which includes:
·
Right to Survival: right
to life
·
Development Right:
Example rights to education, play and recreation
·
Protection Right: Example
rights against abuse, neglect and exploration.
·
Participation Rights: example the right to participate in decisions that
affect them.
Therefore, it is the rights of children to
be protected from such abuses or violations that will deprive them of these
rights or with impurity curtail all the rights.
The problem however, is that despite the
statutory provisions of the Child Rights Act protecting the child, parents or
people still employ means that violates the rights of the child. One can say
that this is due to the fact that governments/parents are unwilling to
effectively pursue enforcement of child right abuses. Unsavory pictures and
tales of street children, child labour, sexual abuses, discrimination, child
trafficking, child abandonment sometimes on excuses as witchcraft, rape and
defilement etc abound despite the prohibition of same by law.
In identifying the problems associated with
these acts, such problems could include:
Firstly, problem of implementation of
existing laws by security agencies, parents and other organizations.
Secondly, lack of awareness as to the
rights of the child and the implications of the violation of these rights under
the human rights law.
Thirdly, another problem is the refusal of
some ethnic groups to accept the rights as enshrined in statistics to be
generally applicable, hence the continued practice of harmful traditional
practices and customs that are harmful and discriminatory to the child.
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