COMMITTEE ON RIGHTS OF CHILD CONSIDERS REPORT OF NIGERIA
The Committee on the Rights of the Child today considered the second periodic report of Nigeria on that country’s efforts to implement the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Introducing the report was Rita Akpan, Minister for Women's Affairs of Nigeria, who said her country had taken concrete steps towards the progressive realization of the Convention since it had presented its initial report. Further efforts had been made at the federal, state and local government levels to translate the provisions of the treaty into reality and to ensure their effective and practical implementation.
Ms. Akpan said opportunities for the participation of children in matters that concerned their rights and welfare had progressively increased over the years. Efforts had also been made, especially in the last five years, to strengthen collaboration among the groups and individuals involved in child’s rights protection and the implementation of the Convention.
In preliminary remarks, Committee Expert Lucy Smith, who served as country Rapporteur for the report of Nigeria, thanked the members of the delegation for their good answers. She said the Committee was assured of Nigeria’s political will to pursue the agenda on the implementation of the rights of children. The legislation looked promising, and the implementation of the laws should follow. She concluded by saying that Nigeria was a powerful country with regional influence and it should play a leading role in children’s rights.
Yanghee Lee, the Committee Expert who also served as country Rapporteur, thanked the members of the delegation for their frank and precise responses. She appreciated that Nigeria was taking the issue of children as its top priority.
Other Committee Experts contributed to the debate by raising questions pertaining to child trafficking; birth registration; corporal punishment; the budget; corruption; female genital mutilation; child adoption; breastfeeding; and HIV/AIDS orphans, among other things.
The Committee will release its formal, written concluding observations and recommendations on the report of Nigeria towards the end of its three-week session, which will conclude on 28 January.
The delegation of Nigeria was also made up of Joseph U. Ayalongu, Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations Office at Geneva, and representatives from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Women's Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education, National Parliament, Children’s Parliament, National Child Rights Implementation Monitoring Committee (NCRIC), and the Nigerian Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
As one of the 192 States parties to the Convention, Nigeria is obliged to present periodic reports to the Committee on its efforts to comply with the provisions of the treaty. A 17-person delegation was on hand throughout the day to present the report and to answer questions raised by Committee Experts.
When the Committee reconvenes in public at 10 a.m. on Friday, 28 January, it will conclude its thirty-eighth session and present its concluding observations on the reports of the ten States parties reviewed during the three-week session.
Report of Nigeria
The second periodic report of Nigeria, contained in document CRC/C/70/Add.24, says that Nigeria ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991 without any reservations. Since 1993, there has been a draft Children’s Decree. The bill has reached the National Assembly, having been adopted by the Federal Executive Council, and it is hoped that it will soon be signed into law. This draft bill took into consideration the provisions of the Convention and as such the rights guaranteed in the Convention are well articulated in the draft bill. Furthermore, some states on their own have promulgated laws that protect children.
The report also says that the bill on female genital mutilation has gone through the lower house, and has to go through the upper house before the President can sign it into law. Also, the Federal Executive Council has adopted the Children’s Bill. Furthermore, the President of Nigeria signed in September 2000 the two Optional Protocols to the Convention. The Government has ratified the African Charter and the relevant agencies are following up with its implementation. The Bill on Child Trafficking, Child Labour, Child Pornography and Sex Trade in Girls is about to be passed by the lower House of the National Assembly.
The report notes that the laws that protect children exist but are scattered in different laws. Thus, child victims of crimes are given protection under the Criminal Code, the Penal Code, the Labour Act and the various child laws of the States. Child protection provisions abound in Nigeria’s laws, even though they are not contained in a single document such as the draft Children’s Bill.
Presentation of Report
RITA AKPAN, Minister for Women's Affairs of Nigeria, said her country had taken concrete steps towards the progressive realization of the Convention on the Rights of the Child since it presented its initial report. Further efforts had been made at the federal, state and local government levels to translate the provisions of the treaty into reality, and to ensure effective and practical implementation.
Ms. Akpan said the federal and state legislation addressed issues of child protection and the prohibition of practices inimical to the welfare of the child. These included the Child Rights Act 2003, Trafficking in Persons Law Enforcement and Administration Act 2003, Ebonyi state law on the abolition of harmful traditional practices against women and children, Edo state female genital mutilation prohibition law 2000, and Cross River state girl-child marriages and female circumcision law 2000, among others. Generally, those efforts were indicative of commitments by Nigeria in a dynamic process to address the question of harmonization of national, state and local laws with the Convention.
Recognizing the imperative to accord the widest dissemination and publicity to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Nigeria, several actions had taken place, Ms. Akpan said. The Convention had been translated into local languages in several zones of the country. The treaty had also been enforced through the adoption of laws and regulations.
Ms. Akpan said opportunities for the participation of children in matters that concerned their rights and welfare had progressively increased over the years. Such opportunities included the formation of Child Rights Clubs in primary and post primary schools across the country, the inauguration of the Children’s Summit in 2000 which had evolved into Children’s Parliaments at national and state levels, and the opportunity provided for children to participate in the African Day of Broadcasting.
There was an ongoing campaign to sensitise and train the professional groups and bodies whose duties had some bearing on the protection of children’s rights on the provision of the Convention and the Child’s Rights Act 2003, the Minister said. Those included social workers, police officers, judicial officers, information officers civil society groups and NGOs, health workers, teachers and communities. The Government’s efforts were complemented by NGOs and other stakeholders like UNICEF, ILO, WHO and UNDP. The National Human Rights Commission in collaboration with UNICEF and NGOs since 2003 had developed training manuals.
Ms. Akpan said efforts had been made, especially in the last five years, to strengthen collaboration among the groups and individuals involved in child’s rights protection in the implementation of the Convention.
On the prosecution of human traffickers, Ms. Akpan said efforts to prosecute perpetrators of human trafficking had not been commensurate with the volume and degree of the increase in the crime in the country. In the last decade, there had been a rapid increase in the trafficking of children within and across Nigeria’s borders. Syndicates were involved in the smuggling of children and young women across international borders, mainly for menial work in heavily immigrant dependent economies in Africa, and for prostitution in Europe.
Questions Raised by Committee Experts
LUCY SMITH, the Committee Expert who served as country Rapporteur for the report of Nigeria, said Nigeria had a child population of 64 million and 36 states, which made the State party’s challenge enormous. The country was also faced with long standing ethnic and regional tensions that had impacted on the protection and promotion of children’s rights.
Ms. Smith said Nigeria’s cooperation with UNICEF and non-governmental organizations was a positive aspect. It had also demonstrated a political will in the implementation of the provisions of the Convention. However, the will alone was not sufficient. In spite of the country’s richness and availability of human resources, poverty still remained an issue that affected the protection and promotion of children’s rights. Trafficking in children for domestic services and prostitution was also a problem that was affecting the country.
As an oil-rich State, Nigeria should have a clear vision of its budget allocation for the protection and promotion of children’s rights, Ms. Smith said. She requested information about the general economic situation in the country vis-à-vis children’s rights. There was a severe lack of resources for the protection of children; what were the resources allocated to girls’ education? What negative role was corruption playing since it was reported to be widespread in the country?
Ms. Smith asked whether all states had adopted child’s acts and if the federal Government was capable of monitoring the implementation of the provisions of the Convention in the country. Did the federal judiciary control the criminal proceedings by the Sharia courts?
YANGHEE LEE, the Committee Expert who also served as country Rapporteur, said that there was a major concern with regard to the relationship between the Child’s Rights Act and the Young Persons’ Act. The Young Persons’ Act provided for corporal punishment as a corrective measures, which was a concern to the Committee. There was also a distinction between "legitimate" and "illegitimate" children, which should be brought in line with the provisions of the Convention.
Ms. Lee asked if the Children’s Parliament was provided with adequate resources to function. How were the child deputies elected? With regard to birth registration, did the Government allocate sufficient resources to conduct registration?
What happened to the National Plan of Action, which was adopted in 1992 for a ten-year period, Ms. Lee asked. She said the Plan should have ended in 2002, and asked if a new plan had already been adopted.
Other Committee Experts also raised questions on issues pertaining to the harmonization of the various federal, state, local and Sharia laws; the definition of the child; the mechanisms used to collect data at all levels of governmental structures; the sentencing of children by courts to corporal punishment; the efforts made against polygamy and marital rape; birth registration; the practice of female genital mutilation; the status of adoption; domestic violence; the situation of children with disabilities; regional disparities in health care; the low immunization campaign; the high rate of malnutrition; the status of breastfeeding; the problem of HIV/AIDS and the 930,000 orphans; sanitation and safe drinking water; the large number of homes for children; de facto discrimination against girls; long periods of pre-trial detention; the sale of illicit medicine; the practice of child begging; sexual exploitation of refugee children; low school enrolment of girls; and the situation of displaced persons.
Response by Nigerian Delegation
The Children’s Parliament was elected according to parliamentary procedures representing each region and based on gender equality, the delegation said. The federal Government had allocated resources for the functioning of the session since it was set up following the Children’s Summit in 2000. There were now Children’s Parliaments at the national and state levels.
The Ministry of Education had distributed a circular to all schools banning corporal punishment, the delegation said. In the past, only head masters were allowed to practice physical punishment on pupils. However, there was no legislative act prohibiting families from using corporal punishment.
The current Nigerian administration was trying to stamp out corruption and the commission set up to fight against such practices had targeted those who embezzled and diverted public money, the delegation said. The President himself was supervising the monitoring process of corrupt practices. The Government was combating the phenomenon with all its energy.
Asked if Nigerian states had implemented the provisions of the Convention, the delegation said that so far, only 4 states had adopted the treaty into their domestic legislation. Around 20 other states were expected to adopt child’s bills that would allow the Convention to be fully implemented.
The Government was enhancing girls’ education because of the gender disparities in education in favour of boys, the delegation said. The number of schools for girls had been increased in addition to the co-educational schools. The Federal Ministry for Education and UNICEF had been expanding educational opportunities for girls. Other international organizations, such as UNESCO, were also involved in providing education to girls. All states in Nigeria had adopted laws prohibiting the withdrawal of girls from schools for the purpose of early marriage.
Children in Nigeria knew, through newspapers and other means, where to lodge complaints, the delegation said. The National Human Rights Commission handled all complaints coming from children and women. Every child in Nigeria was aware of the complaints procedures and used them when the problems arose.
Children and women were vulnerable to trafficking, the delegation said. The extent of the problem had prompted the Government to adopt a comprehensive law based on the Palermo Declaration on organized crimes and trafficking in human beings. It had also put in place a body that exclusively dealt with trafficking in children and women. Every police department, immigration office and State Security Service had trafficking units. In the past, 250 trafficked children from Benin had been expatriated to their country.
Many people in Nigeria were not aware of the problem of trafficking in children, the delegation said. Children were trafficked internally for domestic services, for sexual exploitation and for economic exploitation to work in plantations. They were also trafficked across borders for labour. The anti-trafficking network had been extended to 11 states and public enlightenment programmes had also been carried out with the help of elders and traditional leaders. The Government had set up rehabilitation centres for victims of trafficking, while the perpetrators were held in jails. At present, there were 32 male and female traffickers in prison. A person trafficking children out of Nigeria might receive a life sentence; and a 20-year sentence could be handed down for acts of internal trafficking. Bilateral agreements had also been reached with some countries to work together in the fight against trafficking.
Breastfeeding was a policy that the Government of Nigeria was promoting, the delegation said. From 2 per cent in 1999, the rate of breastfeeding had grown to 26 per cent in 2003. Nutrition for children after six months had also been improved while the rate of malnutrition was only 9 per cent.
The Government had taken measures to prevent vertical transmission (mother-to-child) of HIV/AIDS, the delegation said. Health programmes had been provided to mothers and pregnant women to ensure that there was adequate knowledge in caring for children. The primary focus of the programme was on women who were ravaged by the disease.
In the face of refusal by parents to vaccinate their children against polio, the Government had taken painstaking efforts to convince them of the safety of the vaccine, the delegation said. In the end, parents had allowed their children to be vaccinated, including in the northern part of Nigeria where the resistance had been strong. Nigeria had taken the lead in the subcontinent in mobilizing resources to ensure that the polio virus transmission was halted by 2002 and that the total eradication of the virus was certified by 2005. The President of Nigeria was the current Chairman of the Committee on a Polio-Free Africa.
Children with disabilities were not discriminated against in accessing education, the delegation said. They were absorbed in the mainstream education system; and the budget for such children had been included in the overall budget for education. The attitude of the society towards those children was positive. Those having visual or hearing deficiencies were provided with special educational facilities in addition to facilities available in the normal schools which some of them attended.
Asked about the existence of 6,000 children in prisons and detention centres, the delegation said that the Government did not want children to remain behind bars. Keeping children in prisons had only added to the overcrowding of such institutions. The Government did not believe that children deserved such treatment. Because of the lack of juvenile detention facilities, some states sent children to other states where such facilities were available.
Preliminary Remarks
LUCY SMITH, the Committee Expert who served as country Rapporteur for the report of Nigeria, thanked the members of the delegation for their good answers. She said they were able to give many good answers to the questions raised by the Experts. The Committee was assured of Nigeria’s political will to pursue the agenda on the implementation of the rights of the child. The legislation looked promising, and the implementation of the laws should follow. Although the delegation did not indicate the budgetary allocation for children, it was still possible to allocate further resources for the implementation of the Convention. In conclusion, she said Nigeria was a powerful country with regional influence, and it should play a leading role in children’s rights.
YANGHEE LEE, the Committee Expert who also served as country Rapporteur, thanked the members of the delegation for their frank and precise responses. She said Nigeria should not only be concerned about the future but it should also be concerned about the present situation of children. She appreciated that Nigeria was taking the issue of children as its top priority.
Note : For use of information media; not an official record
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