UNICEF seeks end to violence against children, urges adoption of Child Rights Act

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has called for urgent action by the 36 state governors to end violence against children by adopting the Child Rights Act particularly the 12 remaining states that were yet to pass the law.

UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Mr Mohamed Fall, made the call in a statement yesterday to commemorate the 2017 Children’s Day with the theme: “Children protection and Sustainable Development Goals: Issues and Opportunities”.

In the statement issued by Ms Doune Porter, UNICEF Chief Communication Officer, Fall urged all state governments to heed President Muhammadu Buhari’s call to ending violence against children in the country by giving prompt attention to the passage.

Fall noted that the passage of this law by all the state governments had become imperative as millions of Nigerian children suffer some form of physical, emotional or sexual violence.

The Child Rights Act which became a law in 2003 seeks to ensure children’s rights to survival, development, protection and participation.

The Act is a national law that makes provisions for the protection of the rights of a child without any form of discrimination irrespective of the child’s background. Under the Act, government has the primary responsibility to protect the rights of the child. Since 2003 when the Child Rights Act was passed into law, only 24 states have both passed and given assent to it. The 12 remaining states are therefore, urged to urgently pass the law.

According to a 2014 survey by the National Population Commission, with support from UNICEF and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, six out of 10 Nigerian children experience at least one of these forms of violence before they reach 18.

Fall therefore said :“Each one of us is responsible for creating a world where children feel safe, protected and empowered to speak up for themselves.

“We call on the State Assemblies of the remaining 12 states to urgently pass Child Rights bills and on governors to sign those bills into law. We also call on governors of the 29 states who have not yet launched state-level campaigns to end violence against children to do so.”

States that have passed the Child Rights Act: Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Jigawa, Kwara, Lagos, Nassarawa, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Niger, Bayelsa, Kogi and Taraba. States that have not passed the law: Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Enugu, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara.

According to Fall: “And even while we increase our commitments to protect children’s rights, We must work even harder to make these rights a reality for children in Nigeria.”

“While we increase our commitments to protect children’s rights, we must work even harder to make these rights a reality for children in Nigeria”, he said.

In line with the Sustainable Development Goal to end all forms of violence against children by 2030, Fall pointed out that Nigeria has launched a Campaign to End Violence Against Children by 2030, which he added reinforces the Presidential call to end such violence first made in September 2015.

He said since 2015, Lagos, Cross River, Benue and Plateau States have launched state-wide campaigns.

“The Federal Capital Territory and Kano states will mark Nigerian Children’s Day today by launching their own campaigns to end violence against children and Gombe State will launch its campaign on 7 June”, he said.

He further noted that to drive the implementation of the national campaign, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development is working with key government partners, civil society and faith-based organisations to develop a National Plan of Action that will set targets and milestones to end violence against children in Nigeria by 2030.

UNICEF, he said, applauds Nigeria’s national and state governments’ efforts to reduce violence and exploitation of children in Nigeria and has recognised Nigeria as a Global Pathfinding country in the world-wide battle to combat violence against children.