BY USMAN BASHIR ABUBAKAR
- It was a year of hope. It was the best of times, and an epoch of fulfilled dreams. It was a season of jubilation for children when the Convention for the Rights of the Child was adopted in the grand hall of the United Nations General Assembly.
The convention was adopted in a great time of hope, just 11 days after the fall of the Berlin Wall, along the line Nelson Mandela was released and the Apartheid ended, then the World Wide Web became a reality.
Then comes 2024, one of the worst years for children. 35 years later, came a season of peril. Everything turned upside down, and all that is left are shattered dreams, jubilations that turned to sorrow, and joy that turned into grief for the 120,000 children killed in conflict zones around the world.
The harmattan wind sweeps through the closely packed squalid tents at the Elmiskin IDP Camp. Inside one of the tents sat Kaltum Ibrahim with her arms wrapped around the body of her child, Falmata.
The three-year-old baby lay limp against her chest, with her eyes wide open while breathing slowly. The mother rocked her gently, whispering prayers.
Kaltum had no more tears left after nursing the baby for 2 years while her husband and the father of the baby ran and left them alone. All she had left was a bitter ache in her throat and a silent scream trapped within her stomach. All she could do was watch as life slipped away from the baby she once dreamed of, carried in her womb for nine months, and nursed for more than two years.
The baby then exhaled one final breath, while her tiny fingers that once clung to Kaltum’s hand loosened. Outside, the wind kept sweeping through the tents carrying the echoes of laughter of children playing and running barefooted.
But inside the tent, time had stopped; and silence pervaded the room. Kaltum sat quietly, holding the dead body of her 3-year-old baby, who died from malnutrition.
“It all started with loss of weight, then recurring bouts of diarrhoea,” Kaltum Ibrahim reminisced.
Governments around the world, who had ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child and made a promise to ensure the survival and development of children, have failed children like Kaltum’s baby.
The Convention for the Rights of the Child and the State of Children Rights
The Convention for the Rights of the Child provides a framework to be adhered to by all countries. The convention is an international treaty that recognizes the human rights of children. It establishes that state parties must ensure benefit from special protection measures and assistance.
The convention envisioned the child as an individual, a member of a family, and a member of a community, with rights and responsibilities appropriate to his or her age and state of development. Today, this vision is far from reality; the number of out-of-school children has risen by 6 million since 2021 and now totals 250 million, most of it accounted for by children living in conflict zones. Rise in the number of children living in conflict zones. In 2021, 468 million children worldwide lived in areas affected by armed conflict. Nearly 200 million children are living in the world's most lethal war zones, the highest number in over a decade. Child poverty is also on the rise to a billion children. On the other hand, 3 million die from hunger every year, 350 million are out of school, and 43.1 million are displaced by climate-related events. The United Nations also estimated that nearly 14,000 children die daily from preventable diseases.
“The convention promised to protect the rights of children, but that is only on paper as millions have not seen it in reality. Progress is slow, and for many children, justice delayed is justice denied,” said Ibrahim Zannah Sunoma, a child rights activist, global campaign adviser for Save the Children International, and the deputy speaker of the National Children’s Parliament.
As countries strive to achieve universal basic education, conflict-affected communities like Borno, which is the epicenter of the Boko Haram insurgency, are paying a high price for the out-of-school children.
Twelve-year-old Isa Tahir, an IDP in the Old Maiduguri Police Station Camp, shared his lifetime dream of becoming a classroom teacher, if he only had the opportunity.
“If I had the opportunity to go to school, I would love to become a school teacher,” said Isa, “so that I will teach children like myself who are left in camps without schools.”
Bulama Hussaini, a community leader in the Gongolon community of Jere, another local government that extends from Borno’s metropole, expressed concerns about the out-of-school children. He emphasizes the efforts of government and development actors in building schools and enrolling children while noting an existing gap:
“The government and non-governmental organizations have played a significant role in the provision of education. But poverty and hunger have left parents only two options: prioritize education or feeding the household,” said Bulama Hussaini.
“As Parents, most of us have to prioritize feeding the household, and in doing that, the children have to join us in managing our farms or taking care of the house.” He added.
Children like Isa Alhafiz, who is an IDP, gave up on his dream of having access to education.
“The reason I am not at school is because my father is poor ” said Isa Alhafiz.
Poverty in the eyes of a child is about more than just money. Children like Isa experience poverty as the lack of education, shelter, nutrition, water, or health services. It is estimated that 333 million children live in extreme poverty, surviving on less than $2.15 each day. The effects of experiencing such poverty in childhood are grave. For children like Isa, growing up deprived of any basic needs like education, nutrition, down to shelter, hinders their physical and cognitive development.
Children living in Conflict Zones
In November 2021, Save the Children reported that an estimated 449 million children were living in conflict zones worldwide. This marks a 9% increase from 2019 and the highest number in 20 years.
For the past 15 years, Boko Haram in Northeastern Nigeria has had a devastating effect on children in the IDP camps.
Children like Fanne Khurso have experienced emotional and psychosocial scarring that cannot be counted. Her father, Khurso, was killed by the Boko Haram insurgents, and they took all his assets (cows), leaving Fanne displaced and with no inheritance.
Barriers to the Enforcement of CRC
The Convention on the Rights of the Child is instrumental in putting children’s rights and priorities on the global and national agendas, as well as in mobilizing action for the realization of the rights and well-being of children. However, its effective implementation faces several barriers and challenges.
Key barriers to the implementation of the convention include socio-economic disparities; discrimination; inadequate legal frameworks, and insufficient political will.
“The convention promises education, protection, and participation. But children are still on the streets, forced into labor, denied education, and excluded from governance. There is a failure to enforce laws meant to protect us,” Sunoma said.
The lack of, or inadequate legal frameworks and enforcement mechanisms in some countries are leading to gaps in the protection of children. Even in countries where the legal framework exists, enforcement becomes a problem due to the lack of resources or political will. In South Asia, UNICEF reported that the legal frameworks to prohibit child marriage are often impeded by social norms, lack of awareness, and insufficient implementation.
The Way Forward: A Call for Action
To ensure the effective implementation of the CRC and overcome the barriers stopping its implementation, governments, civil society, and the private sector must work together to create enabling policies and interpretation mechanisms, strengthen legal protection, and ensure the equitable distribution of resources. It is also pertinent that governments prioritize children’s rights in national development agendas and promote a child rights-based approach to decision-making.
“We need universal free quality basic education, stronger child protection laws, and legal mechanisms that enforce real consequences for those who violate them.” Sunoma, the child rights activist, added.
Additionally, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, which is the body of 18 independent experts that monitors the implementation of the convention, urges all levels of government to use the convention as a guide in policymaking and legislation to develop a comprehensive national development agenda that mainstreams children’s rights.