SOURCE:

Faculty: Arts
Department: English Language & Literature

CONTRIBUTORS:

Ugwuanyi, I. E.
Ogbazi, I. J.

ABSTRACT:

This research investigated the violation of child rights in Africa. In an effort to ascertain the level of child’s rights abuse, a content analysis of Amma Darko’s Faceless, Noviolet Bulawayo’s We Need New Names, Uzodinma Iweala’s Beasts of No Nation and Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier was made. By using the qualitative research methodology, the researcher described complete experiences. The psychoanalytical method of criticism was adopted because studies have shown that children who have been abused remained at an increased risk of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as well as other anxiety disorders. The postcolonial theory was also used as it exposed the decay in postcolonial African society regarding the violations to which children were exposed. The violations continued to increase because of the fact that many countries have not either domesticated the Child Rights Act or have negated the implementation of the Act. This research would be important in checkmating and enforcing laws related to child rights violations. At the end of this research, we discovered that seeing children live on the streets of Africa and using them to fight wars are some of the tragic elements which were not part of the past. It showed that African leaders have failed to provide social needs to people and many parents have denied their children dreams of basic needs of life. It is hoped that this work would attract government attention towards the implementation of the national and international laws on child rights violation.