Normative Evolution of Child Rights in Nigeria
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53555/nnssh.v6i9.870Abstract
The normative bedrock and corner-stone of modern human rights is the ‘International Bill of Rights’ (IBR) suspended by three-prong legs, one of which is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).[1] While the UDHR did not articulate any child-specific human rights provision, a deductive reading of the broad spectrum of rights guaranteed in the Declaration disposes it as one of the strongest normative frameworks for the protection of child rights. As ‘a first step in a great revolutionary process’, the UDHR was intended not to be a binding legal instrument but instead a declaration of basic principles of human rights and freedoms.[2] In a bid to overcome the weaknesses of the UDHR and create a binding legal instrument, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights drafted a pair of binding covenants to complement the UDHR and constitute two of the three-prong stand of the IBR. They are the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)[3] and the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).[4] The ICCPR and ICESCR together with the UDHR form the IBR and jointly precipitated the expansion of international human rights standards in the form of treaties, declarations and conventions.
References
Country Representative, United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights -LIBERIA; LL.D - University of Helsinki Finland; LL.M - Central European University Budapest Hungary; LL.M - Abia State University Nigeria; BL - Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria; LL.B - Abia State University Nigeria; (emelonye@gmail.com) This paper is written in a personal capacity and does not represent the views of the United Nations.
UN General Assembly, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10 December 1948; See also Mary Ann Glendon, A World Made New: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (Random House Publishing Group 2002); Deaton Matt, Universal Declaration of Human Rights(Springer 2011)
Kathleen Renee Cronin-Furman, ‘60 Years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Towards An Individual Responsibility to Protect’ (2010) 25 American University International Law Review 175
UN General Assembly, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 16 December 1966; See also Linda Camp Keith, ‘The United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Does It Make a Difference in Human Rights Behavior’? (1999) 13 Journal of Peace Research 195
UN General Assembly, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 16 December 1966; See also Craven, Matthew, The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Perspective on its Development (Clarendon Press 1995)
Article 10 (1)(3) UN General Assembly, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 16 December 1966
Rajsoomer Lallah, ‘Notes on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Some of Its Case Law’ (1992) 18 Common Wealth Law Bulletin 1258
UN General Assembly, Convention on the Rights of the Child, 20 November 1989; See also Sonia Harris-Short, ‘International Human Rights Law: Imperialist, Inept and Ineffective? Cultural Relativism and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child’ (2003) 25 Human Rights Quarterly 130; McGoldrick Dominic, ‘The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child’ [1991] International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 132
Thomas Hammarberg, ‘The U.N Convention on the Rights of the Child – and How to Make it Work’(1990) 12 Human Rights Quarterly 97
Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, ‘Africa’s Regional Human Rights System: Recent Developments and Jurisprudence’ (2002) 2 Human Rights Law Review 99; See also Ademola Abass and Mashood A. Baderin, ‘Towards Effective Collective Security and Human Rights Protection in Africa: An Assessment of the Constitutive Act of the New African Union’ (2002) 49 Netherlands International Law Review 1
Organization of African Unity (OAU), African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (‘Banjul Charter’) 27 June 1981; See also B. Obinna Okere,’The Protection of Human Rights in Africa and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights: A Comparative Analysis with the European and American Systems’ (1984) 6 Human Rights Quarterly 141
Article 18, African [Banjul] Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, adopted June 27, 1981, OAU Doc. CAB/LEG/67/3 rev. 5, 21 I.L.M. 58 (1982), entered into force Oct. 21, 1986
Organization of African Unity (OAU), African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 11 July 1990; See also Dejo Olowu, Protecting Children’s Rights in Africa: A Critique of the African Charter on the Rights and the Welfare of the Child’ (2002) International Journal of Child Rights 127
Organization of African Unity (OAU), African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (‘Banjul Charter’) 27 June 1981
Art 3 and 4, African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 11 July 1990
They are Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance; Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women; International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families; Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Chilenye Nwapi, ‘International Treaties in Nigerian and Canadian Courts’ (2011) 19 African Journal of International and Comparative Law 38; See also Edwin Egede, ‘Bringing Human Rights Home: An Examination of the Domestication of Human Rights Treaties in Nigeria’ (2007) 51 Journal of African Law 249; A O Enabulele, ‘Implementation of Treaties in Nigeria and the Status Question:
Whither Nigerian Courts’ (2009) 17 African Journal of International and Comparative Law 326. See also Section 12 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999
The 1943 Ordinance was subsequently amended through several pieces of legislation (i.e.Ordinances 44 of 1945); Ordinance 27 of 1947; Ordinance 16 of 1950 as well as its mutation to the Laws of Nigeria 131 of 1954; Laws of Nigeria 47 of 1955) and Order in Council 22 of 1946. The Act was intended as a national law, Cap 32 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria and Lagos 1958, but was eventually adopted as regional laws and subsequently as state laws.
This included the Children and Young Persons Act (CYPA); the Criminal Code Act; the Criminal Procedure Act; the Criminal Code Laws and the Criminal Procedure Laws applicable in Southern Nigeria (except Lagos state); the Penal Code Act and Criminal Procedure Code applicable as federal legislation in the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja and the Penal Code Laws of the state and the Criminal Procedure Codes applicable as state legislations in the Northern Nigeria. These pieces oflegislation that delineate the mutually reinforcing powers of the three justice institutions are potentially triggered from any of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory through an infraction of the law.19
Etannibi Alemika and I.C. Chukwuma, Juvenile Justice Administration n in Nigeria: Philosophy and Practice, (CLEEN Foundation 2001) 16
Isabella Okagbue, ‘Children in Conflict with the Law: The Nigerian Experience’ < http://www.unicef-irc.org/portfolios/documents/487_nigeria.htm > accessed October 26 2013; See also E.E. Alemika and I.C Chukwuma, Juvenile Justice Administration in Nigeria: Philosophy and Practice, (Center for Law Enforcement Education 2001)
Musa Usman Abubakar, ‘Criminal Law and the Rights of the Child in Northern Nigeria’ (2010) Legal Studies Research Paper No 2012 <http://ssrn.com/abstract=2055162> accessed 11 April 2014
Laurent Fourchard, ‘Lagos and the Invention of Juvenile Delinquency in Nigeria 1920 – 60’ (2006) 47 Journal of African History115; See also Simon Heap, ‘Their Days are Spent in Gambling and Loafing, Pimping for Prostitutes, and Picking Pockets: Male Juvenile Delinquents on Lagos Island 1920s-1960s’ (2010) 35 Journal of Family History 48
Hakeem Ijaiya, ‘Juvenile Justice Administration in Nigeria’ (2009) 2 NUJS Law Review 573; See also L Fourchard, ‘The Making of the Juvenile Delinquent in Nigeria and South Africa, 1930–1970’ (2010) 8 History Compass 129; Olayinka Atiola, ‘Juvenile/Youth Justice Management in Nigeria: Making a Case for Diversion Programmes’ (2013) 3 Youth Justice 3
E.E.Alemika and I.C Chukwuma, Juvenile Justice Administration in Nigeria: Philosophy and Practice (Center for Law Enforcement Education 2001)
Etannibi Alemika, Innocent Chukwuma and others, Rights of the Child in Nigeria: Report on the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by Nigeria. (WOAT and CLEENFoundation 2005) 5
UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Nigeria, (U.N. Doc. CRC/C/15/Add. 61 1996) < http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/crc/nigeria1996.html> accessed 15 December 2013
Laurent Fourchard, ‘Lagos and the Invention of Juvenile Delinquency in Nigeria 1920 – 60’ (2006) The Journal of African History; See also Laurent Fourchard, ‘The Limits of Penal Reform: Punishing Children and Young Offenders in South Africa and Nigeria 1930s to 1960’ (2011) 37 Journal of Southern African Studies 517
Mohammed Tawfiq Ladan, ‘The Child Rights Act 2003 and the Challenges of its Adoption By State Governments in the 19 Northern States’ (2007) Seminar Paper at the Interactive Forum for Sokoto State House of Assembly Legislators (On file)
E.E. Alemika and I.C Chukwuma, Juvenile Justice Administration in Nigeria: Philosophy and Practice (Center for Law Enforcement Education 2001); See also Obi Ignatius Ebbe, ‘EcologicalDistribution of Juvenile Delinquency in Metropolitan Lagos’ (1984) 8 International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice 187
Ibid
Etannibi Alemika, Innocent Chukwuma and others, Rights of the Child in Nigeria: Report on the Implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by Nigeria (WOAT and CLEENFoundation 2005) 5
Penal Reform International, ‘Report on the National Conference on Juvenile Justice Administration in Nigeria. Abuja (July 2002) <http://www.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/rep2002-nigeria-juvenile-justice-en.pdf> accessed 12 May 2012; See also Nkoyo Toyo, ‘Revisiting Equality as a Right: the Minimum Age of Marriage Clause in the Nigerian Child Rights Act 2003’
(2006) 27 Third World Quarterly 1299
Iyabode Ogunniran, ‘The Child Rights Act Versus Shari’a Law in Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and A Way Forward’ (2010) 30 Child Rights Journal 62
Nkoyo Toyo, ‘Revisiting equality as a right: the minimum age of marriage clause in the Nigerian Child Rights Act, 2003’ (2006) 27 Third World Quarterly 1299
Penal Reform International, ‘Northern Zonal Consultative Conference on Juvenile Justice Administration in Nigeria, Kano’ (September 2002) <http://www.penalreform.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/rep-2002-nigeria-juvenile-justice-en.pdf> accessed 12 May 2012
Iyabode Ogunniran, ‘The Child Rights Act Versus Shari’a Law in Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and A Way Forward’ (2010) 30 Child Rights Journal 62
E.E. Alemika and I.C Chukwuma, Juvenile Justice Administration in Nigeria: Philosophy and Practice, (Center for Law Enforcement Education 2001); See also Obi Ignatius Ebbe, ‘ Juvenile Delinquency in Nigeria: The Problem of Application of Western Theories’ (1992) 16 International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice 35339 Ibid
Ozonnia M Ojielo, ‘Human Rights and Sharia'h Justice in Nigeria’ (2003) 9 Annual Survey of International and Comparative Law 135; Pavani Thagirisa, ‘Historical Perspective of the Sharia Project and a Cross-Cultural and Self-Determination Approach to Resolving the Sharia Project in Nigeria’ (2004) 29 Brooklyn Journal of International Law 459; See also Brabdon Kendhammer, ‘Islam and the Language of Human Rights in Nigeria: ‘Rights Talk’ and Religion in Domestic Politics’ (2013) 12 Journal of Human Rights 469
Penal Reform International, ‘Southern Zonal Consultative Conference on Juvenile Justice Administration in Nigeria, Ibadan’ (October 2002) <http://www.penalreform.org/wpcontent/uploads/2013/06/rep-2002-nigeria-juvenile-justice-en.pdf> accessed 12 May 2012
E.E. Alemika and I.C Chukwuma, Juvenile Justice Administration in Nigeria: Philosophy and Practice, (Center for Law Enforcement Education 2001); See also Obi Ignatius Ebbe, ‘Juvenile Justice System In Southern Nigeria’ (1998) 12 International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice 194
Section 299(a) Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 provides that all the legislative powers, the executive powers and the judicial powers vested in the House of Assembly, the Governor of a State and in the courts of a State shall, respectively, vest in the National Assembly, the President of the Federation and in the courts which by virtue of the foregoing provisions are courts established
for the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. It should also be noted that owing to the promulgation history of the Child Rights Act which was fraught with polarization based on manifest cultural andreligious diversities of the country, securing the participation of the State Houses of Assembly as envisaged under the Constitution for the enactment of a Child Rights Act that is uniformly applicable
country wide was apparently impossible.
Musa Usman Abubakar, ‘Criminal Law and the Rights of the Child in Northern Nigeria’ (2010) Legal Studies Research Paper No 2012 – 11 <http://ssrn.com/abstract=2055162> accessed 11 April 2014
Section 3 - 17 Child Rights Act 2003; See also Nkoyo Toyo, ‘Revisiting Equality as a Right: the Minimum Age of Marriage Clause in the Nigerian Child Rights Act 2003’ (2006) 27 Third World Quarterly 1299
Ladipo Adamolekun, ‘The Nigerian Federation at the Crossroads: The Way Forward’ (2005) 35 Publius 383
Rotimi Suberu, ‘The Nigerian Federal System: Performance, Problems and Prospects’ [2010] Journal of Contemporary African Studies 459
Section 2 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999
Article 21 (1) Constitution of Republic of Kenya
Ibid
Marie-Antoinette Sossou and Joseph A Yogtiba, ‘Abuse of Children in West Africa: Implications for Social Work Education and Practice’ (2009) 39 British Journal of Social Work 1218; J Hagen-Zankerand R Holmes, ‘Social Protection in Nigeria: Synthesis Report‘. (2012) ODI/UNICEF Nigeria; See also R Holmes and Others ‘Social Protection in Nigeria: Mapping Programmes and Their Effectiveness‘
(2012) ODI/UNICEF Nigeria; N Jones and Others, ‘Promoting Synergies Between Child Protection and Social Protection in Nigeria‘ (2012) ODI/UNICEF Nigeria
Jim Ife, Human Rights and Social Work: Towards Rights Based Practice (3rd edn Cambridge University Press 2012) 17; See also Jim Ife and Lucy Fiske, ‘Human Rights and Community Work. Complementary Theories and Practices’ (2006) 49 International Social Work 297; UN General Assembly, Convention on the Rights of the Child, 20 November 1989
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