PRESS STATEMENT ON CHILDREN DAY

 

 

I H R H L

                                                                                                                                      

INSTITUTE OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIAN LAW

 

                                                                             

 

PRESS STATEMENT                                  May 27, 2015.

 

GLOBAL CHILDRENS’ DAY: ACTION AGAINST VIOLENCE  AGAINST CHILDREN

 

As the World  commemorates this year’s Children’s Day on the theme ‘Violence Against Children and the urgent need to stop it’ in keeping with the UN proclamation, of  1979, as the Year of the Child, which marked the twentieth anniversary of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child; the Economic and Social Rights Unit, of the Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (IHRHL) joins the global community and specifically bring to the fore the plight of the Nigerian Children, and a call for necessary action to remove violence against children as a way of life in Nigeria. It is for us not a celebration but call to action, especially with the advent of a new democratic administration in the country.

 

This year’s most apt theme: “Violence against Children and the Urgent Need to stop it”, is coming at the right time and it speaks eloquently of the current difficult circumstances facing children across  Nigeria:

 

IHRHL notes the United Nation’s position in adopting the Declaration of the Rights of the Child in 1959, and proclaiming the principle that “the best interests of the child” should  guide the actions of those affecting children. It was this declaration that provided the moral and legal basis for developing a binding treaty on the rights of the child.

 

IHRHL notes that all relevant international and regional instruments on human rights which Nigeria is signatory to, provides that Children and young persons should be protected against economic and social exploitation. Their employment in work harmful to their morals or health or dangerous to life or likely to hamper their normal development should be punishable by law.

 

IHRHL notes that the Convention on the Rights of the Child is rooted in some basic values about the treatment of children, their protection and participation in society.

 

IHRHL notes that a major aspect of the philosophy behind the Convention on the Rights of the Child is that children are equals; as human beings they have the same inherent value as grown-ups. This lies in the principle of “the best interests of the child,”  The principle of the best interests of the child was formulated in article 3(1): In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.”

 

IHRHL notes that the Convention takes seriously respect for the views of the child. This principle is formulated in article 12 (1): States Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the rights to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child be given due weight, accordance with the age and maturity of the child.

 

IHRHL notes that the principle most directly related to children’s economic and social rights is formulated in the right to life article. Article 6(2) goes further than just granting children the right not to be killed. It includes the right to survival and to development. “States Parties shall ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child.

 

IHRHL notes that the nondiscrimination principle of the Convention is expressed in Article 2, the first paragraph of which reads: “States Parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child’s or his or her parent’s or legal guardian’s race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or other status.” The message for instance,  is about equality of rights. Girls should be given the same opportunities as boys.

 

In keeping with the aforesaid principles of international human rights provisions, IHRHL observes as follows:

 

1. Nigerians Children bear the biggest brunt of the insurgency in the North Eastern part of the country. Thousands of children have not only been forced to become child soldiers, but have been  rendered as orphans, exploited, violated and homeless. Most have been   separated from their families, and forced to live like adults in a very harsh and terrifying environment without any reasonable assurances from the state of their right to life and survival.

 

2. Nigerian children are not only exploited in the labour market, they have become trafficking instruments and suicide bombers  in the hands of the adult population; their rights to education and leisure most jeopardized by  political leadership incompetence at all levels, especially with the corrosive effects of absolute corruption and executive recklessness on resources and infrastructural provisions for their welfare and survival as children in their environments.

 

3.  Government incompetence is exemplified in their inability to take seriously the abduction of the Chibok Girls, politicization of it, and absurd failure to rescue those children abducted by the insurgents for over 365 days gone.

 

IHRHL therefore, unequivocally condemns the structural violence by the state, deliberately visited on Nigerian children,  by administration officials at the executive, legislative and judicial levels impacting most negatively on their rights to life, education, economic, social and cultural rights and indeed, an unsecure environment that makes provision and protection of their livelihoods by their parents and guardians almost non-existent.

 

IHRHL calls one the forthcoming new administration in Nigeria to take the rights and freedoms of the Nigerian Child most seriously, and provide a conducive, secure environment for their rights and freedoms to thrive in a sustainable  manner.

 

IHRHL calls on the new administration to prioritize the plights of children and their parents who have suffered heinous impact of insurgency in the North East with a view to rehabilitating and resuscitating  them, and return them to a life free from the vicissitudes of extreme violence, sense of frustration and helplessness, which has been a way of life in that part for a long while now.

 

IHRHL, finally calls on the new administration at all levels to make their administration  “Child rights” friendly by assuring and ensuring the implementation to the letter the Child Rights Act, and make it a bedrock of their governance budget and planning.

 

It is our plea that the new administration urgently locate and bring back our abducted sisters home safe.  It is our further plea that critical and responsive civil society groups at all levels in Nigeria, never tire in their humane advocacy towards the survival of the child and the environment necessary for that survival.

 

 

Signed

Wendy  Mcleod-Harry, esq.

Programme Attorney: Economic and Social Rights

 

Concerned and active citizenry that practices the "civic virtues" is essential to a healthy democracy. "We the People" should be the most potent force in Nigerian politics, but are willing to act or  just there? The only reason politicians at all levels represent themselves  and special interests ahead of real long-term interests of the people is that we the people let this happen. The reality is that no improvements in our system will be made unless the public demands those changes and holds politicians accountable if they break the rules. Morning comes