Children and need for adequate protection

“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s inner soul than the way it treats its children” Dr Nelson Mandela

Access to adequate protection is one of the basic rights of children. Parents have the responsibility of giving children affection, supervising them adequately, protecting their rights and giving them the enabling environment to live into adults and contribute to national development.

Government also has roles in making available services and ensuring parents give their children adequate protection. When children are not properly protected , it affects their development and they may end up engaged in all manner of vices.

The United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child states clearly that children need that special protection, opportunities, and facilities to enable them to develop in a healthy and normal manner, in freedom and dignity.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child states in Article four that governments have a responsibility to take all available measures to make sure children’s rights are respected, protected and fulfilled.

These protection include among others; special treatment, education, and care if handicapped; love and understanding and an atmosphere of affection and security, in the care and under the responsibility of their parents whenever possible; free education and equal opportunity to develop their individual abilities; prompt protection and relief in times of disaster; protection against all forms of neglect, cruelty, and exploitation .

When countries ratify the Convention, they agree to review their laws on children in some cases this may involve changing existing laws or creating new ones. They must also help families protect children’s rights and create an environment where they can grow and reach their potential.

However, many parents are not living up to their responsibilities in this area and some states of the federation, have not put in place adequate laws and services to give children protection.

According to a Child Protection Specialist with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Jonna Karlsson a lot of children in the country are not currently protected as there is no proper system in place to protect them.

She said while major reforms have been observed in both the health and education system, none has been in the social welfare system so far. She added that the FCT Social Development Secretariat in collaboration with UNICEF and Capacity Plus has established a Technical Working Group tasked with finding out what child protection services entails, rules and regulations involved among others and to ascertain the gaps and how they can be addressed.

Karlsson said they are assisting government to map out available child protection services in six states of the country and the FCT and hope that at the end of the day more children will be protected in the country.

Coordinator of the Child Protection Network FCT, and Consultant trainer of the Nigerian’s Children’s Parliament, Mr Archibong Anderson said there is increase in the rape of children, child abuses cases among others and there is need for fact finding mission that will not only unravel more problems, the cost of policies to address them and also have long term benefits in protecting children.

A parent, Mallama Hadiza Mohammed said many parents have neglected the duty of watch- ing over their children and ensuring they are protected. “Some don’t check how their children are faring, whether they do their homework or not or their performance in school , how they behave, nor monitor their activities and the kind of friends they keep”.

The Executive Secretary of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Matters (NAPTIP), Mrs Beatrice Jedy -Agba said in an interactive session with journalists last Wednesday that the linkage between human trafficking and child protection is intricate just like the linkage between human trafficking and human security which empties into dire national security concerns for many countries.

She said it is in our interest that the pursuit of our collective human security aspiration as a country must factor in tackling human trafficking and child protection concerns in an effective manner.

While responding to a question on endemic area of trafficking in the country the NAPTIP boss said, “Child protection services is not as effective as it should be in states. It is pervasive in every part of the country, the fact that a child is trafficked in Ibadan means trafficking occurs there although it is common in some localities than others.”

She said: “In some places during the farming season, parents send their children to other states or communities to farm. When you go to school during such periods the classrooms are empty, in some places the children are sent to work in plantations or mines.”

“The promise of a better Nigeria must be anchored on a society where every child receives compulsory quality education which allows him/her to compete in a free society and not the one that leaves a critical mass vulnerable to exploitation.” She said.

Jedy -Agba said there is an abuse of the extended family system.“We also have some difficulties with our law, because the law as it presently stands is that children are not allowed to work in such circumstances outside a home or family environment. The implication of that is if a child is found hawking for an aunt, we cannot intervene under the anti-trafficking law.

“And that has limited some of the work we are able to do because the law excludes children who are being exploited under these circumstances. “So it is important we tighten this loose end, but we hope that with the amendment of the law we would be able to deal with more such cases,” she added.

Resource coordinator of the Haifa Rape Crisis Center. Dr. Shira Sanders, advises that with the increasing spate of sexual abuse against children in the country and many other parts of the world, the best way parents can protect their children from being sexually abused and from many other dangers is to have a good relationship with them , one in which there is healthy communication, trust and support .

She said in order to protect their children, parents typically tell them to be wary of strangers. But in the case of sexual abuse, it is not strangers that primarily need to be feared as 80%-90% of all cases of sexual abuse is committed by people we know like family members, neighbors or teachers to mention a few.

It is of utmost importance to encourage meaningful conversation with our children, to ask questions, take interest in their day-today lives and to encourage them to share with us their successes and their difficulties.

This gives your children the message that they can talk about anything with you, that you will listen and believe them and will provide support and guidance if they need it.

Anderson of the Child Protection Network advises parents to endevour to know the where about of their children at all times and as a protective measure, government should also provide complete free education.