Children’s rights are the human rights of children with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to minors. The 1989 convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) defines a child as “any human being below the age of eighteen years, unless under the law applicable to children. Children’s Rights includes their right to association with both parents, human identity as well as the basic needs for physical protection, food, universal state-paid education, health care, and criminal laws appropriate for the age and development of the Child, equal protection of the Child’s civil rights, and freedom from discrimination on the basis of the Child’s care, gender, sexual orientation, disability, colour, ethnicity, or other characteristics.
In this modern age, children has the right to receive maintenance, protection, and education from their parents. All children are right holders, irrespective of their economic status, race, colour, sex, language, religion, nationality, or social origin, property, disability, birth or any other status have the same rights and are entitled to the same protection by law.
The United Nations (1948) recognized the need of motherhood and childhood to “special protection and assistance” and the right of all children to “social protection”.
Geneva declaration of the rights of a child (1924), which enunciated the child’s rights to receive the requirements for normal development, the right of the hungry child to be fed, the right of a sick child to receive health care attention, the right of the backward child to be reclaimed, the right of the orphans to shelter, and the right to protection from exploitation.
The presence of children living on the street has elicited motive public concern, been given considerable media coverage, and in the late twentieth century, has become a matter of priority for international and national child welfare organizations. Publications in both academic, and welfare literature have emphasized the sheer scale of the worldwide problem, have sought to explain the root causes of this phenomenon, have summarized the identifying characteristics of Street children worldwide, and have documented the dire consequences of a street lifestyle for children’s health and development.
Children who depends on the streets for their survival often lack full access to their rights as outlined by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
According to UNICEF, children living and/or working in streets cannot be considered as social problem but, instead, as human beings with full potential to contribute to society and as possible agents for change. They must be able to participate in matters affecting them and be empowered to speak up for the fulfillment of their rights.
Research shows there are estimated 100 million children living on the streets in the world today. And 1.3 million children have been forced to flee their homes from conflict in North East Nigeria. Three million children can’t go to school. Hundreds are facing starvation every day. Many are struggling in temporary camps where disease and hunger are rife. This children are vulnerable to victimization, exploitation, and the abuse of their civil and economy rights.
Conflict in North East Nigeria has led to the active targeting of education. Millions of children are now deprived of the chance to go to school. In Borno State, three in five schools are closed and over 19,000 teachers have been displaced from classrooms.
Child Rights in 2003, Nigeria adopted the Child Rights Act to domesticate the convention on the Rights of the Child. Although research shows this law was passed at the Federal level, it is only going to be effective if state Assemblies also enact to it. To present date, only 16 out of the country’s 36 states have passed the Act. Intense advocacy continues for the other 20 states to pass it to law.
This explains that this landmark legislation achievement has not yet translated into improved legal protection throughout the Federation. Study shows Nigeria has been unable to deal with several issues hindering the protection rights of children such as children living on the streets, children affected by communal conflict, drug abuse, human trafficking and the weaknesses of the juvenile justice system amongst others.
United Nations adviced states parties to recognize the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development.
Comments
Post a Comment