Nigeria – Child Marriage – A Breach of Human Rights

http://sunnewsonline.com/new/opinion/child-marriage-a-breach-of-human-rights/

 

NIGERIA – CHILD MARRIAGE: A BREACH
OF HUMAN RIGHTS

 

By Uju Peace Okeke,
Attorney

August 19, 2013 – The ongoing Nigeria Constitution Amendment, particularly
section 29 (4) (b), highlights a significant issue that has been begging for
attention. It is  girl-child marriage. To lay the matter to rest, there is
a need to answer some questions raised by the section. These include–who is a
child? What are  the constitutional consequences of child early marriage?

The Nigeria Child’s Rights Act defines a child as a human being who is less
than eighteen years of age. This is line with the provisions of the Convention
on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and
Welfare of the Child (African Children’s Charter) which Nigeria has ratified and
domesticated. 18  years is the age of majority
in Nigeria agreed, albeit implicitly, by some constitutional provisions.
These include Section 29 (4) (a) which provides that ‘full age” means the age
of eighteen years and above, though dealing with citizenship; Section 35 (1)
(d) permits denial of right to personal liberty to a person less than eighteen
years for education or welfare. Section 36 (4) (a) authorizes the exclusion of
the public from courts/tribunals hearings for the welfare of persons who have
not attained the age of eighteen years; and Section 77 (2)/ 112 (2) provides
that to be eligible for registration as a voter for either national or state
legislative house, a Nigerian must have attained eighteen years.

Children are generally excluded from activities like voting, driving,
entering into a contract, because such activities demand physical,
psychological and mental maturity. Children are believed to lack the capacity
to enter into contracts. Marriage is a contract requiring the consensus of the
parties involved. Marriage is also widely believed to be of adult concern as a
child lacks the full understanding  to comprehend fully what marriage is
about. This is understandable because there is a time for everything, a time to
be a child and a time to be an adult.

Experts have noted grave effects of girl-child marriage. These include
susceptibility to the health risks associated with early sexual initiation like
obstetric fistula. Their partially developed reproductive organs could
predispose them to complications during childbirth, Vesico Vaginal Fistula
(VVF), secondary infertility, maternal and infant mortality. Their Inability to
negotiate safe sex increases their vulnerability to Sexually Transmitted
Diseases and infections, including HIV. They are victims of sexual and other
forms of domestic abuse, social isolation and are deprived of  the
opportunity to maximize their potentials in order to make meaningful
contributions to their worlds, perpetuating gender inequality and female
poverty.

It is little wonder that besides the Child’s Rights Act, a plethora of
international and regional conventions have  ratified and domesticated
treaties like the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Protocol to the African Charter on
Rights of women in Africa (Women’s Protocol) and the African Children’s
Charter, specifically prohibit Child marriage.

The Nigerian Constitution, also  guarantees fundamental human rights to
the citizens.. These rights are divided into Civil /Political and
socio-economic, rights with the distinction lying in the justifiability of
Civil/Political rights. This articles will not overstress the indivisibility of
rights, the pertinence of making socio-economic rights enforceable or even
Nigeria’s duty of upholding obligations voluntarily imposed on itself by
ratification as was held by the African Commission. It focuses on the
guaranteed fundamental rights provisions of Constitution and domesticated
treaties in relation to child marriage. Section 33(1), in guaranteeing right to
life, provides that ‘every person has a right to life, and no one shall be
deprived intentionally of his life, save in execution of the sentence of a
court …’ When girls are forced into marriages, they begin procreation before
the full development of their reproductive organs, predisposing them to
complications of labor which could result in maternal mortality, a common
occurrence in Nigeria. This death, not flowing from execution of court sentence
is a violation of right to life. In the face of maternal mortality due to
underage pregnancy, Nigerian girls cannot truly be said to enjoy right to life,
the fulcrum of other human rights. One of the positive steps necessary for the
prevention of this unintentional loss of lives and protecting right to life is
criminalizing girl-child marriage.

Section 34, in guaranteeing dignity as a human right provides that ‘…no
person shall be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment,…no
person shall be held in slavery or servitude…’ Dignity entails that women
should have a say in the choice of …their life partners. Compelling young girls
into marriages without consent is degrading. It is indeed painful to force a
girl into marriage with a man, old enough to be her grandfather. In the case of
Uzoukwu and 5 Ors, V Ezeonu II and 8 Ors, (1991) 6 NWLR (Pg. 200) 708, ‘torture
was held to include …a mental torture in the sense of mental agony or mental
worry … degrading treatment has the element of lowering the societal status,
character, value or position of a person’. Many child-brides are withdrawn from
schools for this purpose evidencing that girls’ aspirations are not as
important as those of boys who are allowed to continue their education. This
act, flies in the face of Articles 17(1) and 24 of the domesticated, African
Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter) which provide for rights
to education and satisfactory environment favorable to development. The
interpretation of which will prohibit child marriage, a retrogressive practice
creating unfavorable environments for women’s development. This is particularly
so because education is one of the best strategies for promoting women
emancipation, demystifying retrogressive customs and transforming attitude towards
women. The act resonates lines in Agnes Dewenis poem ‘Tell me why as a woman, I
have all these burden When God, the Constitution and the United Nations all
tell me You and I are equal in all respects?’

Child marriage is a form of modern day slavery. News of maltreatments meted
out on these children by their husbands and in-laws in the name of wife
chastisement constantly inundate our media. These child-wives are compelled to
engage in domestic tasks too tedious for their tender ages. Adult concerns like
sex, is foisted on them with all its problems earlier noted. What other
degrading treatment could be suffered by a girl whose underage pregnancy leads
to VVF or secondary infertility? They are forced to raise children while they
are themselves children, thereby making a lot of uninformed decisions. How can
a mere child succeed in these tasks which many adults cannot cope with? Of
course, their children and the larger society will be the worse for it. Since
women are their children’s first teachers, what will be the fate of students of
an ignorant teacher?  Section 35 permits the violation of right to
personal liberty of a minor only for the purpose of education or welfare.
Seeing that child marriage violates guaranteed fundamental human rights and
that progressive nations are judged by the way they treat women and children,
it behooves our lawmakers to exhibit the necessary political will to protect
our girls by removing the befuddling section 29 (4) (b) and similar
discriminatory provisions from our Constitution.

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Uju Peace Okeke is a
lawyer and human rights activist working with Centre for Mmadu (C4M), a
non-governmental, human rights organization, determined to see a Nigeria where
all Nigerians are treated equally and accorded their deserved right to dignity.
ujupeaceo@yahoo.com

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BAOBOB
for Women’s Human Rights http://baobabwomen.blogspot.it/2013/07/press-release-retention-of-provision-of.html