THE United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has called for urgent action for all states across Nigeria to adopt the Child Rights Act and to heed the President’s call to end violence against children.
In a statement to mark 2017 Children’s Day (May 27), which focuses on child protection and the Sustainable Development Goals, UNICEF stated that millions of Nigerian children suffer some form of physical, emotional or sexual violence.
A 2014 survey by the National Population Commission, with support from UNICEF and the United States Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, revealed that six out of 10 Nigerian children experience at least one of these forms of violence before they reach 18.
UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Mohamed Fall, stated that “each one of us is responsible for creating a world where children feel safe, protected and empowered to speak up for themselves.”
The statement further explained that in line with the Sustainable Development Goal to end all forms of violence against children by 2030, Nigeria has launched a campaign to end violence against children by 2030, which reinforces the presidential call to end such violence first made in September 2015.
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 June 7.
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 however 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.
It will be recalled that Nigeria adopted the national Child Rights Act in 2003 to domesticate the international Convention on the Rights of the Child. So far, State-wide Child Rights Acts have been passed in 24 of the Nigeria’s 36 states, with Enugu being the most recent to enact the law in December 2016.
Fall added that “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. 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.”
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