Nigeria 
UNICEF condemns flogging of Nigerian girl

afrol.com, 23 January - Reacting to the flogging of teenage mother Bariya Ibrahim Magazu, the UN agency handling global children's rights has made a press statement strongly condemning the carrying through of the sentence by a northern Nigerian Shari'a Court. Bariya is believed to be 14 to 17 years old.

- There are very few States, in any region of the world, across all religious lines, whose justice systems allow the flogging or lashing of children, the UNICEF statement starts. "As represented by the almost universal ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and by the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World (2001-2010), there is now a global consensus to protect children from violence - and most especially to spare them from forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment such as flogging."

In this context, UNICEF condemns the decision to allow the public flogging of "17-year-old Bariya Ibrahim Magazu" in the northern Nigerian State of Zamfara on Friday, as punishment for becoming pregnant outside of marriage. According to the Nigerian women's rights defending Bariya, she herself assessed her age to be between 13 and 14 years.

- Bariya, who cannot read or write, was apparently not aware of her right to appeal her sentence and was not provided with adequate legal counsel, UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy states (this however being a misinterpretation as Bariya was appealing the sentence, but the punishment came surprisingly early). "Her case has provoked a torrent of criticism from within Nigeria and around the world - not only because the girl testified that her pregnancy resulted from rape, but because of the fundamental violation of human rights that flogging represents. Bariya was lashed with a cane 100 times on Friday."

Nigeria has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which prohibits the use of flogging as a punishment for children. The Convention, which was drafted taking due account of the importance of the traditions and cultural values of each people, emphasizes the dignity of the child and the right of the child to protection from abuse and violence. 

Carol Bellamy goes on: "Nigeria has undertaken the obligation to implement the principles of the CRC, and ensure that the nation's legal order conforms to its principles. UNICEF's position is clear - under no circumstances should countries use flogging, lashing, or any other type of violence as punishment for children. UNICEF calls on responsible authorities in Nigeria to investigate this incident and make the amendments to its domestic legal system necessary to guarantee that this incident is never repeated."

The federal Nigerian government has been lobbying agaist the Bariya sentence, but has not dared to take a clear stand against it. This has happened nonregarding a probably unconstitutional use of the Shari'a law code in Zamfara state. While this conservative use of the Shari'a code is polarising the Nigerian society, the federal government is facing increasing international embarrasment for letting human rights be put aside in some of the eight northern states that have introduced the Shari'a.

Sources: Based on UNCEF and afrol archives

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