CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
Human rights are those sets of universal standards that every individual is entitled to enjoy by the virtue of being human and governments of countries are then obliged to respect, protect and fulfil for their citizens. The notion of human rights embodied in the 1948 United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth therein, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, religion, language, sex, political or other opinion, national or social origin, birth or other status. The inclusion of sex in the document as one of the areas of non-discrimination made it clear that human rights are to include the right of a girl-child. Even though the universal human rights declaration apply equally to all people and sexes, the conventions that provide the most explicit protection of the rights of women and girls are the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) (Osondu-Otti, 2015).
Concerns for children, over the years, extended beyond their protection to offering them the benefit of improved education, health and nutrition due to the recognition that investing in children would be good for everybody. Consequently, the Declaration of the Rights of the Child (1959) was promulgated. CRC recognizes that “States parties shall respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction without discrimination of any kind, irrespective of the child’s or his or her parent’s or legal guardian’s race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or status” (UN Women Watch, 2010). This implies that an investment in realizing the power of children, including the adolescent girls upholds their rights today and promises a more equitable and prosperous future.
The plight of the girl-child has, thus, gained the attention of the global community. She has claimed a place of prominence on the human development agenda as a result of her social conditions and well-being. It was the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995 that identified the girl-child as the 12th critical area of concern. A more recent record was in December 19, 2011, when the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world. This was based on the fact that the girl child has the right to a safe, educated, and healthy life, not only during the critical formative years but also as they mature into women (United Nations, n.a).
Most importantly, however, is that quite a number of opinions suggest that household discriminatory practices still persist against the girl-child as a result of deep-rooted socio-cultural beliefs, social norms, values and practices (Igbolo and Ejue, 2016). This underscores the need to explore the extent to which the resolution by the UN regarding child’s rights influenced the African culture, particularly those that appears to cause setbacks for the girl-child. Is the resolution relevant in Africa and has it had any implications on some of the cultural limitations in Africa nine years since the resolution?
1.2 Statement of the problem
In the past decades, the girl-child has faced many limitations owing to prevailing traditional beliefs. It ranges from the fact that girls do not carry on the family name like boys. If at all they send their children to school, it is limited to the male children who according to such parents would occupy their place in the case of death. As such, every means is used to train the boys at the detriment of girls because of the perceived important role in protecting the ‘family name’. Poverty of the citizenry also served as a barrier to girl-child as some parents preferred street hawking and early marriage than sending their wards to school. As a result, they could join gangs or go into prostitution and crime. There are also the political and institutional related factors which serve as the major impediment towards the development of the girl-child, thereby increasing the gender gap (Igbolo and Ejue, 2016).
Despite the United Nations declaration on girl-child rights and availability of legal documents regarding the rights of the girl-child which many African countries have acceded to, the wide gap between the rights accorded to the boy and the girl-child in many parts of Africa has not been bridged. By ratifying the Child’s Rights Convention and the African Children’s Charter, for example, the Nigerian government has the overall responsibility for ensuring these are implemented in a uniform and coherent manner. The government also took on the responsibility of discouraging religious, cultural, customary, or traditional practices that are inconsistent with the Charter. Yet, at the most basic level, the government is failing to live up to this obligation. Children, a most vulnerable group on account of physical and mental immaturity, bear the brunt of this inaction. They are being denied the full protection of the law. And the consequences for many female children, besides child marriage and its health and other consequences, include negative impacts on their education and overall development.
Given the realities that confront the girl child across Africa, several clamours to recognize, promote, and protect the rights and development of the girl child came up. Various gatherings and discussions have taken place on the need to fight discrimination against the girl child and to ensure that the girl child enjoys her fundamental rights as much as the boy child does.
1.3 Research objectives
This study aims to examine the United Nations declaration on girl child rights and its implications on African culture. To achieve this aim, the following secondary objectives will be examined:
- examine how the United Nations declaration on girl child rights has been in Africa.
- examine some of the current cultural limitations that affect African girl-child.
- determine the implications of the United Nations declaration in the African context on girl child rights.
- make recommendations on how the African girl-child could enjoy her basic human rights.
1.4 Research questions
- How has the United Nations declaration on girl child rights been in Africa?
- How has the current cultural limitations affected the African girl-child?
- Where has the United Nations declaration in the African context influenced the girl child rights?
- Which recommendations could help the African girl-child enjoy her basic human rights?
1.5 Significance of study
A significant population of the African people are adherents of various traditional practices, customs, and religions. For example, child marriage is a prevalent practice in parts of Northern Nigeria. Children about the age of 10 or 12 years get betrothed or married off. Hence, this study will expose some of these prevailing cultural gaps and limitations across the continent that affects the rights of the girl-child. The study will help the government know the wrongs that will and has befall girl-child after married out at an age they should be learning. The study will help the society modify the wrong cultures that can keep children away from good life. While the UN declaration on the rights of the girl-child and many legal instruments prohibit abuse on the girl-child, more investigations like this study have become necessary to determine whether or not these instruments have prevailed over the cultural limitations.
1.6 Scope of the study
The scope of the study is the United Nations declaration on the girl-child rights and the African girl-child. The girl-child is defined in this study as a biological female offspring from birth to eighteen (18) years of age. In examining how the rights of the girl-child have been affected by cultural limitations, different cases across Africa covering a period of 11 years (2011 till date). While most of the prevailing legal instruments predate 2011, only cultural limitations occurring from 2011 till date shall be emphasized.
1.7 Methodology
Methodology is part of the research that shows the ways and approaches of collecting the data (Oliver, 2004). This study adopts the qualitative research method to facilitate the development of a comprehensive understanding of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African agenda and how these declarations have influenced the rights of the girl child in Africa. The secondary method of data collection was adopt. The reason for choosing the qualitative analysis strategy is the exploratory and the qualitative nature of study. The reason for choosing the qualitative analysis strategy is the exploratory and the qualitative nature of study. According to Robson (1993), flexibility is always the main strength of the case study strategy in terms of interpretation and getting access to the specified places. The research is a based on secondary data. We used document analysis/content analysis as main method of data collection. Document analysis/content analysis also called “textual analysis” (Travers, 2001) in the study will include all kinds of academic articles, textual and multi-media products, ranging from television programmes to web sites on the internet.
1.8 Operational definition of terms
United Nation: The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945. It is currently made up of 193 Member States. The mission and work of the United Nations are guided by the purposes and principles contained in its founding Charter.
Girl Child Rights: Girl child enjoy certain human rights specifically linked to their status as minors and to their need for special care and protection. Girl-children are particularly vulnerable to certain human rights violations, and therefore require additional protections.
African Culture: This is a way of life that embraces a wide range of human phenomena, material achievements and norms, beliefs, feelings, manners, morals and so on.
1.9 Operation of the study
This research work is divided into five main chapters with each chapter consisting of the following:
Chapter one will be the main introduction of the project and this will spell out the main aim and objectives of the research together with research background, research questions, research hypotheses, significance of the study, scope of the study, and definition of operational terms
Chapter two of this research work will have a review of the theories and literatures that are relevant to the research areas which have been carried out by various researchers in the topic area.
Chapter three of this research will examine the synopsis of the United Nations declaration on child rights that will be stressed on the need for a binding instrument protecting children’s rights, a synopsis on the convention on the rights of the child, the scope of implementating the convention, the Africa regional agenda.
Chapter four will examine the extent to which the United Nations declaration in the African context (i.e. regional instruments) has influenced the girl child rights in the continent.
Chapter five of the study will consist of the summary, conclusion and recommendations.
