From Nicholas Kalu, Abuja
Promoting access to a child-friendly justice system in Nigeria was the objective of a webinar organized by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with the National Human Rights Commission in Abuja recently.
The webinar was tagged “Access to Child-Friendly Justice System in Nigeria: Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) and the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) as Catalysts.”
Child Protection Specialist, UNICEF, Mrs Nkiru Maduechesi, said the objective of the meeting was to provide a consultative platform for the NBA and FIDA to be abreast with the situation pertaining to access to justice for children in Nigeria and to deliberate on possible roles for NBA and FIDA in championing reforms and promoting access to justice for children.
Maduechesi stressed the need to strengthen the justice system to protect children, saying there was need to form strong and effective partnerships to deal with the issues.
She said according to a 2014 violence against children survey that was conducted by the National Population Commission (NPC) with support from UNICEF and the CDC, it was confirmed that there is a high rate of violence against children in Nigeria.
“Six out of 10 children before their 18th birthday experience one form of violence of the other. Such abuse include physical abuse, sexual abuse and emotional abuse. Talking more specifically the issue that has been agitating the system since this lockdown is the issue of sexual violence. It is found that one in four girls and one in ten boys experience sexual violence. So it is quite pervasive. Out of those children that experience violence, less than five percent of them received any form of service including justice,” she said.
She said data from Lagos has it that, of over 2160 persons who are survivors of sexual based violence, 35 of them are below 10 years 97% of the clients were girls and women.
“With this background, we have to strengthen system to protect children and to provide them legal aid. Out of the 26 states in the country, only 25 states have the Child Rights Law it protect children holistically in Nigeria. And even at that, for those who have this law to protect children, implementation is a challenge. There are cases of abuse and violence against children in their hundreds and we are seeing little coming to the courtrooms for justice.
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“The objective of the meeting is to provide a consultative platform for the NBA and FIDA to be abreast with the situation pertaining to access to justice for children in Nigeria and to deliberate on possible roles for NBA and FIDA in championing reforms and promoting access to justice for children in large scale using pro-bono services and all the other creative interventions that come up from the meeting.
“We are looking at leveraging and promoting convergence because of the large network of FIDA and NBA in Nigeria – their networks and networking structures that are available to provide access to legal aid for children who are victims of violence.
“FIDA and NBA can come up as formidable forces to address the issue heads-on. For example, is it possible to apply for fiats across the nation to prosecute more cases, advocate for establishment of family courts in all the states with CRL, promote information sharing and coordination between both professional bodies. We hope to strengthen effective partnerships to promote a child friendly justice system,” she said.
Executive Secretary, NHRC, Mr Tony Ojukwu, said the the webinar was timely because nothing could be more important than discussing the issues of access to justice for children and fashioning a justice system that is friendly to children.
“We have been confronted with complaints on sexual and gender based violence especially as it concerns children and women. So this webinar could not have come at a more important time. We congratulate UNICEF for the pioneering role they have been playing in making sure that the interest of women and children are protected in this country and right now we are on the verge of forming this partnership between FIDA and NBA who would be collaborating with the National Human Rights Commission and other partners to make sure that moving forward, rights of children are protected,” Ojukwu said.
He called for all hands to be on deck to stamp out the menace of human rights abuses especially sexual and gender based violence against women and children.
“Today’s meeting presents an opportunity to address impunity in our country and also to take the rights of children and other vulnerable groups. In doing this we are closing in on perpetrators and mobilizing more professional hands to make sure all perpetrators are tracked and to make sure that nobody escapes, to make sure children are protected and to make sure the environment is friendly to provide access to justice for children.
Chair of the Nigeria Bar Association Abuja branch (The Unity Bar), Hauwa E. Shekarau, who presented a paper on “Establishing Sustainable Mechanisms for Pro Bono Legal Aid Services to Child-Victims of Sexual Violence in Nigeria,” said access to justice is a basic principle of the rule of law.
She said vulnerable groups are mostly at the receiving end of the brunt of justice and a major obstacle to accessing justice is the cost of legal advice and representation.
Shekarau called for conscious and prompt efforts to be taken in order to ensure that the best, reliable and free legal aid services are provided to child-victims of sexual violence, most especially to those who are indigent and in rural communities, distant from the justice centers.
She called on the state, NBA, FIDA, NHRC, LAC and other private and public organizations, including NGOs to partner with one another in ensuring that these mechanisms and other viable ones are effectively established.
FIDA National President, Rhoda Prevail Toyden, also said vulnerable groups have always been at the wrong end of the justice system, and it is their mandate to promote the rights of women and children, especially the vulnerable ones in society.
She said they have always been in the forefront of ensuring that children’s rights are protected.
She, who also stressed the importance of partnerships to achieve their objectives, also called for the development of a legal framework to support it.
Human rights expert, Mr Chinonye Obiagwu, SAN of the Legal Defence Assistance Project (LDEAP) canvassed for accountability from service providers to ensure age of children are properly verified and documented.
He it was wrong for a child, anyone under the age of 18, to be charged to court and detained in correctional centres when there are provisions in the law for treating child offenders.
He said most times the age of the children are not correctly declared in the charge sheet and therefore the court is not guided to put them in borstal homes or facilities meant for children.
Obiagwu said incidents of children in correctional services was very prevalent, not just in pretrial detention but also on death row.
He said it was important the topic was being raised at the time not just because of the high rate of sexual violence but also there was a lot of move at the federal and state levels for justice reform, and any criminal justice reform must bear in mind that child justice must be prioritized.
Prof Oluyemisi Bamgbose SAN of the University of Ibadan and Chair of Nigerian Bar Association Women’s Forum affirmed the readiness of the NBA to contribute to the partnership.
Prof Bamgbose reiterated that children also have rights and encouraged young lawyers to imbibe the culture of pro-bono.
She stressed the importance of data to be developed, saying without proper data people may not know what is happening.
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