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!