SOURCE:

Faculty: Law
Department: Law

CONTRIBUTORS:

Enemchukwu, R.A.
Amucheazi, O. D.

ABSTRACT:

The pursuit of the best interest of the child has become a universally accepted and acclaimed notion; consequently, Child right laws have aimed at achieving child protection and welfare. Equal rights for children advocates that a child be accorded all the rights available to adults at every level and without exceptions. The Committee on the Rights of the Child is the body vested with the authority to interpret the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Judges of family courts are therefore expected to consult with these interpretations in adjudicating children’s matters. The Committee is learning towards equality in its interpretations and insisting on equal application of rights regardless of age. This research tried to portray that equal application of rights between children and adults is incompatible with child protection and the best interest of the child. The methodology employed in this research is doctrinal, comprising mostly critical assessment of existing laws as well as interpretations given these laws by relevant bodies; comparative analysis and the use of already existing materials from the internet. Textual review of scholarly and juristic writings is also employed. This research finds that equal application of rights to the child is detrimental to the child’s interest. In order to stem the tide of this push for a paradigm change which is bound to affect the future of children and not for the better, the research recommends the rejection of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and Consequently the Child Rights Act as basic legislations for children’s rights in Nigeria. It also recommends that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria be amended to specifically delimit the extent of children’s rights.