Violation of Rights of Child in Child Marriage

Running head: VIOLATION OF RIGHTS OF CHILD IN CHILD MARRIAGE
Violation of Rights of Child in Child Marriage
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1VIOLATION OF RIGHTS OF CHILD IN CHILD MARRIAGE
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Skill Reflection................................................................................................................................2
The need for a Doctrine on Rights of Child....................................................................................4
The Convention on Rights of Child, 1989.......................................................................................5
The social evil of child marriage.....................................................................................................5
Causes of child marriage.................................................................................................................7
Economic Poverty........................................................................................................................7
Safety and Security of the girl child............................................................................................8
Religious Doctrines.....................................................................................................................8
Research Trail..................................................................................................................................9
Case Study of Child Marriage in Northern Nigeria...................................................................10
Impact of Child Marriage..............................................................................................................13
Impact on the mind....................................................................................................................13
Health Issues..............................................................................................................................14
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................15
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................16

2VIOLATION OF RIGHTS OF CHILD IN CHILD MARRIAGE
Introduction
This paper seeks to discuss the cases of child marriage occurring in the world, with
specific focus on the region of Northern Nigeria. Finally, the essay concludes with the
importance of the agencies of the State to ensure the protection of the rights of the child in the
society. The main purpose of the essay is to analyze the violation of the rights of child as a result
of child marriage.
Skill Reflection
Children are the future of the world. It is the ultimate responsibility of the elder
population of the world to ensure that the environment in which a child grows up is conducive to
their wants and needs. It is often said that birth, death and marriage are the three assured
incidents to occur in one’s life (Erulkar, Medhin and Weissman 2017). This might have been true
during the days when people were governed by the laws of nature. However, this view point
began to change with the development of the human society. The institution of the agency of the
State brought about important and significant changes in the lives of people. The need for a
formal doctrine of rights was faced by the world. As such, the institution of the State began to
provide certain rights and freedom to the people, irrespective of any discrimination based on age,
gender, religious and other forms of discrimination. This in turn, led to the emergence of several
important conflicts as people had gotten used to a particular way of life (Kalamar, Lee-Rife and
Hindin 2016). The imposition of new rules and regulations and the idea of freedom which was
instituted after the end of the Second World War, was received in a mixed way by the general
population of the world. The main purpose of the provision of rights and freedom to the people
was to make them realize that they have control over their own self and that no one has the right

3VIOLATION OF RIGHTS OF CHILD IN CHILD MARRIAGE
to encroach upon their freedom without a reasonable justification. The nature of the world has
undergone a major change through the ages. The development of the human civilization has led
to the institution of many new changes in an attempt to eradicate those practices which are
considered to be socially unacceptable (Mostafa, Gambaro and Joshi 2018). This is seen to be a
direct consequence of the ideology of liberal democracy. A liberal democracy places the freedom
of an individual to its forefront. An individual is considered to sovereign and therefore has the
freedom to decide on his or life course of life. However, there are certain social evils which still
persist even in this age of globalization and liberalization. One such social evil is that of child
marriage (Maswikwa et al. 2015). One of the evils of the society which the laws try to eliminate
is the evil of child marriage (Koski et al. 2018). The institution of child marriage is grossly
violating many human rights and especially the doctrine of international law. International Law
has been formulated in an attempt to provide the basic universal human rights to the people so
that they may enjoy a dignified living. The social practice of child marriage goes against this
very principle of the sovereignty of the individual. This practice affects the psyche of the
children and the physical capability of the individual, especially that of the girl child. Child
marriage not only has an adverse consequence on the mental and physical aspect of the
individual, but also has severe consequences on the society as well. The social malpractices of
suicides and attempted killings are widespread in those regions which practices child marriage.
The aim is to therefore, eradicate child marriage and uphold the doctrine of international law.
Both the mental maturity and the physical maturity of a person is important as their body needs
to understand the growth and development required in order to tackle the everyday problems. All
of these does not occur under a few days. It requires time and patience before a child finally
grows up to be an adult. This process takes place during the first two decades of a person’s life.

4VIOLATION OF RIGHTS OF CHILD IN CHILD MARRIAGE
Once a woman reaches her puberty age, she is physically matured, but her mental maturity takes
time. However, this is not taken in to account by the concerned elders of her family and she is
often made to marry a man who is much older to her, usually in his thirties or forties (Ribar
2015). Chances are rare that such a man will be gentle with her and treat her with care and
respect. Those engaging in child marriages are usually considered to be of a particular
conservative mind set and such men have often been found to torture their wives, re-coursing to
manipulation, molestation and sexual exploitation. As such, the existence of child marriage is
harmful not only for the children but also constitutes the occurrence of several adverse
consequences in the society by the way of physical harm and attempted murder or suicide.
The need for a Doctrine on Rights of Child
The rights granted to a child is considered to be important because of the fact that they
are too young to exercise their rights by themselves. The obligation therefore falls on the elder
population to ensure that the rights of a child are not encroached in any manner (Svanemyr et al.
2015). The need for the rights of a child was felt because of the fact that they are too young and
hence, can be manipulated and exploited easily by the older population. A child is still yet to
realize the various rights and freedom which is available to her or him. As a result, it is essential
that they should be protected till the time they are mature enough to understand the true power
they hold. The value of human life is incomparable but a child is the future of the entire world. It
is imperative that they must be protected and taken care of under any circumstances. Due to their
age, a child does not have the legal right to exercise much of the power (Parsons et al. 2015).
This authority is granted to their parents or legal care givers or to the institution of the State to
ensure that the child is taken care of. As a consequence, much of the rights of a child are not
enjoyed by them even if it is available to them and this decision depends on the people who are

5VIOLATION OF RIGHTS OF CHILD IN CHILD MARRIAGE
in charge of them. In order to prevent the exploitation of children, the world community has
instituted several important doctrines by which the right of a child can be maintained (Authur et
al. 2018).
The Convention on Rights of Child, 1989
For this purpose, a legal framework has been drafted by the international community to
protect the rights of the child. This legal framework is known as the Convention on the Rights of
Child, which was formalized in the year 1989 (Kidman 2016). According to the Convention, a
child is defined as “any human being below the age of eighteen years, unless under the law
applicable to the child. Majority is attained earlier.” (Delprato et al. 2015) The Convention was
drafted and formalized by the United Nations to ensure cultural, social, political, economic and
civic rights of a child. The nations of the world who has ratified to this doctrine are legally
obligated to follow the provisions of this Convention. This compliance by the different countries
of the world is monitored by an organization named the United Nations Committee on the Rights
of Child (Anyama and Mohammed 2018). The Committee observes the actions of the nations
and submits a report accordingly to the United Nations General Assembly. The General
Assembly then adopts a resolution on the rights of a child. For the purposes of maintaining the
freedom of the children, the Convention has adopted three Optional Protocols. The First Optional
Protocol provides that no child shall be recruited in the military services and in military conflicts.
The Second Optional Protocol prohibits, in an absolute sense, child labor, child pornography and
the sexual exploitation of children. All these activities are strictly punishable by law (Hay 2015).
The Third Optional Protocol provides the relative ease of communicating complaints and
grievances by children to the relative authority. The Optional Protocols have been ratified by
more than one hundred and sixty countries of the world (Craig 2016).