African Child's Day: Agonies of the Nigerian child
AMEH EJEKWONYILO
writes on the commemoration of the African Child’s Day amidst the
numerous existential challenges confronting the Nigerian child.
One of the worst
agonies of children in Nigeria was captured by a photograph of a
malnourished child who was being fed improvised nutrition at an
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Bama near Maidugiri in
Borno State last week.
The troubling
picture of the dying child which represents the widespread plight of
under-aged persons who are hurled up at various IDPs’ camps across the
nation as a result of the grisly activities of the dreaded Boko Haram,
aptly tells the gory tale of Nigerian children in the wider context of
their rights that are being infringed upon on a daily basis with no end
in sight.
To draw the
attention of major stakeholders to the issue, the National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC) as the foremost custodian of the rights of Nigerians,
last week drummed up support for children in conflict situations.
The commission
called on government at all levels to prioritise humanitarian support
to children in conflict situations to improve their living condition.
In a statement
issued on the eve of the African Child’s Day which is commemorated on
every 16 June, a staff of the NHRC, Mrs. Ivy Acka, quoted the Executive
Secretary of the Commission, Prof. Bem Angwe as urging states that were
yet to domesticate the Child’s Rights Act to do so in order to
effectively address the humanitarian issues affecting children in
conflict situations and other emerging child’s rights violations across
the nation.
Angwe said the
Day of the African Child which is commemorated across the African
countries on 16th of June every year noted that the killing of over 100
children on 16th of June 1976 in Soweto for protesting the poor quality
of education and demanding to be taught in schools in their language
should be enough reason for Africans and indeed humanity to be sober and
refrain from further violations of the rights of the child.
He expressed
worries over the non domestication of the Child’s Rights Acts in states
like Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Enugu, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi,
Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara despite the existence of the law since 2003.
The NHRC boss
further averred that the theme of this year’s celebration, “Conflict and
Crisis in Africa: Protecting all Children’s rights” was apt considering
the high incidence of violence in most countries of Africa where
‘children’s right to education and health become threatened in
conflict/crisis situations when schools are attacked or when they become
destinations for IDPs over a prolonged period of time, thus making it
difficult to draw the lines between children in school and those out of
school for purposes of documentation and other interventions’.
He said that
children caught in the web of conflict pass through the worst form of
violations as most of them are recruited as child soldiers and some
easily become victims of killings, maiming, torture and mutilation
adding that much has not been done by those in authority to address
these anomalies and bring perpetrators to justice.
He lauded the
Federal Government for setting up a multi-sectoral humanitarian response
programme under the coordination of National Emergency Management
Agency (NEMA) which saw the emergence of the Protection Sector Working
Group (PSWG). The group he noted had made laudable interventions
including carrying out humanitarian needs assessments in areas affected
by conflict in Nigeria especially in the North-East and North-Central
regions.
The Executive
Secretary noted that in the cause of the PSWG programmes, “about 5,481
stakeholders, IDPs and community members have been trained on
humanitarian protection principles and about 3, 446 unaccompanied and
separated children identified, documented, placed in alternative care
while also building the capacity of host/foster parents in care and
protection” among other things.
He urged states
that have passed the Child’s Rights Act to put measures in place to
ensure that the rights of children in their various states are
adequately protected.
Speaking in the
same vein to mark the day, Ms. Aver Gavar, member, African Committee of
Expert on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC), expressed some
concerns about Nigeria’s implementation of child-related legislations
and policies.
ACERWC which is a
major African Union organ charged with the responsibility of overseeing
the implementation of the African Charter in the Rights and Welfare of
the child, identified “partial adoption of the Child Rights Acts in
Nigeria, non-domestication of the Kampala Convention for the Assistance
of Internally Displaced Persons, non-adoption of a national policy or
other framework on internal displacement and high prevalence of child
marriage,” as some of the issues undermining the well-being of the
Nigerian child.
According to Ms.
Gavar, the theme of this year’s commemoration of the Day of the African
Child, “Conflict and Crises in Africa: Protecting all Children’s
Rights,” was carefully chosen in view of the impact of armed conflict
on children in the continent.
“It is targeted
at recognising the vulnerability and dignity of children and
consequently mainstreaming child protection in humanitarian response
across the continent,” she said.
In underscoring
some of the major rights violations often suffered by children in
conflict situations, Gavar quoted a 2013 UN Secretary-General’s speech
which had pointed out six grave violations of children’s rights in time
of conflict. They include: Recruitment and use of children, killing and
maiming of children, sexual violence against children, attacks against
schools and hospitals, abduction of children and denial of humanitarian
access.”
Speaking at a
press conference at the Headquarters of the NHRC in Abuja last Thursday
to mark the even, Gavar noted that the recruitment of children under the
age of 15 in conflicts though prohibited in International Humanitarian
Law and the Child Rights Convention, the evil had gone on unhindered
in the continent at large and Nigeria in particular, citing the
incidence of Boko Haram.
On the issue of
sexual violence against children, the ACERWC member opined: “sexual
violence in conflict is one of the most grievous human rights violations
experienced by children in times of conflict. Both boys and girls are
raped under such circumstances that leave them physically, medically and
psychologically damaged sometimes on a permanent basis.”
Similarly, Gavar
added that children’s rights to education and health become threatened
in crises situations when schools are attacked or when they become
destinations for IDPs over a prolonged period of time, thus making it
difficult to draw the lines between children in school and those out of
school for purposes of documentation.
Despite the
foregoing challenges surrounding children across the country, Gavar
noted with elation that ACERWC had made some laudable interventions in
protecting and promoting the rights of the Nigerian child.
“Some of the
laudable interventions of this group targeted at child protection
include: carrying out humanitarian needs assessments in areas affected
by conflicts in Nigeria, especially in the North-East and North-Central,
training of Nigerian military officers on mainstreaming human rights
and protection in counter-insurgency, establishment of the sexual and
gender-based violence sub-sector to address the high incidence of sexual
violence in conflict meted out against boys and girls, deployment of
301 protection monitors to the North-East by the NHRC and office of the
UN High Commission for refugees, training of about 5,481 stakeholders,
IDPs, and community members on humanitarian protection principles as
well as reaching about 85,776 children with psychological support,”
among others.
The AU organ made
some recommendations for effective protection of children’s rights in
conflict situations in Nigeria. It urged government at all levels in the
country to: establish and operationalise early warning mechanisms for
purposes of conflict preventions, domesticate the International
Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism on grave violations against children
in armed conflict as adopted by the UN Security Council Resolution 1612
for a systematic gathering of accurate and timely information,
prioritise provision of medical care for children in conflict and
domesticate the Kampala Convention on the protection and assistance of
IDPs and taking measures for the implementation of the Child Rights
Act/Laws in Nigeria.” There is no doubt that in the wake of the violent
activities of various armed groups, especially the dreaded Boko Haram
insurgents in the country, the plight of the Nigerian child took a
tragic plunge from the usual faces of school children hawking in the
various cities of the country including Abuja, into the hundreds of
thousands stranded at various IDPs’ camps with neither food nor water to
drink. Only an urgent intervention by government and well-meaning
individuals as well as groups can restore a glimmer of hope to the
abandoned and dying Nigerian child!
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