Nigeria, ‘Kano’ state, needs a strict law for children’s safety and protection. Which is why last week, the Federation of Women Lawyers Kano (FIDA KANO) conducted a peaceful protest on the streets of Kano city, demanding that the long-delayed Child Protection Bill finally becomes law in Kano-state.
The national Child Rights Act was granted by Nigeria federal parliament in 2003 but had about to be adopted by Kano State, which is one of Nigeria’s biggest Northern States.
FIDA kano lawyer partnered with several non-governmental organizations, in which Nigerian Association of Women Journalists, and Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative, included and demanded justice against those hundreds of children rights for abuses that have taken place in Kano state.
In December, these demands of the new laws are rising suddenly, after the death of a five yeas old girl, ‘Hanifa Abubakar’. Three people have been arrested by the police of Kano and are awaiting trial.
The children who belong to the state of Kano are at risk of many child rights waves of abuse, including child marriage across the board and sexual violence, including at school.
As per the reports on the child marriages, which found that there is a lack of safety towards the child in the state and protection are also somehow missing and children are married there at the age of 10 and denied access to education, and they are forced to have sex and bear children with the men who marry them, and this is all research found by Human Rights Watch of Kano.
After that, Human Rights Watch has joined these organizations and the rest of that calling for Kano’s state parliament, the House of Assemblies, to urgently adopt the Child Rights Act to bring the state in line with Nigeria human rights commitments, including the Africa Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
Adopting the Rights of Child Act would expand the protection for children against infringements of rights, such as child marriage, and confirm that victims of crimes are provided with suitable legal redress through the court system.
