INTRODUCTION
It
is painful to state that the concept of violence against women could begin from
the time of her conception to the time of her death. A pregnant woman’s quest
to know the sex of the child in her womb is sometimes not unconnected with her
intention to abort the child if it is found to be a girl so as to avoid
societal rejection. In some societies
women may be killed for bearing female children.[1]In
other communities, the death of a wife is seen as the final pep or respect to
the burial of her husband and she could be burnt alive on his funeral pyre.[2]
The
justice system and indeed religion seem to have failed women in many respects.
Very often there is the pretence that justice is blind to the issue of gender of
an accused person or in the exercise of fundamental human rights and that if
anything, being female could work in favour of the woman.
Women
have over the years experienced either total rejection by the society or are
imposed upon liabilities for the misdeed of men because the society finds it
easier to do so especially since most of the lawmakers are men.
Claiming
to wear the blindfold of impartiality when dealing with issues relating to
humans can create inequality especially if we deal equally with those who are
unequal. Real equality means treating as equals while taking into account the
historic imbalances and differences.
In
most cases, because of the general belief that female children cannot bear the
name of theirlineage to the end due to the fact that they will marryand bear
other people’s names, they are rejected by the society.In such cultures, when
it is discovered that a woman is pregnant, what will determine whether or not
she should abort will be the sex of the child. While the male child is celebrated,
the female is abhorred and viewed as a source of waste of resources.Her right to
education and dignity are often violated during her life time and in most cases
she is seen as the reason for every wrong in the society.[3]
DEFINITION
The
Chambers 20th century Dictionary defines a girl as‘a female child, a daughter, a young
unmarried woman, a woman irrespective of age.’ This definition throws up a
further question as to who is a female? The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary[4]
defines a female as, ‘a woman or a girl,
an animal that can lay eggs or give birth to babies.’ A woman is defined as an
adult female human.[5]
The
Black’s Law Dictionary defines violence as,
‘physical force unlawfully exercised with the intent to harm.’[6] It further defines
Human Rights as‘the freedoms immunities
and benefits that according to modern values (esp. at an international level),
all human beings should be able to claim as a matter of right in the society in
which they live.’
MODES
OF VIOLENCE
In
Nigeria, the fundamental Rights of persons are enshrined in chapter 4, sections 33 to 46 of the
Nigerian1999 Constitution.[7] Every girl, like
all other humans is entitled to these rights which shall be considered where
necessary.
1. Right to life
S.33
of the constitution provides for the, ‘Right
of life’ irrespective of gender. In a similar vein, Article 5 paragraph (1)
of the O.A.U Charter,[8]
provides, ‘Every child has an inherent
right to life. This right shall be protected by law.’ Paragraph (2)
stipulates that, ‘state parties to the
present charter shall ensure, to the maximum extent possible, the survival,
protection, and development of the child.’ Paragraph (3) affirms, that ‘Death sentence shall not be pronounced for
crimes committed by children.’This right is impuned when a woman is allowed
to abort a child merely because the foetus is found to be female. A woman’sright
to life is violated when a widow is to be burnt on her husband’s funeral pyre[9]. In
RoopKanwan case, an eighteen year old University student was on September 4,
1987 burnt alive on her husband’s funeral pyre in Deorala, Rajasthan, India.
Her husband, an unemployed University graduate died from cancer. Many believed
she was a goddess and her shrine became a place of pilgrimage where it was
believed that offerings to her could cure them of cancer, the illness that took
the life of her husband.
This
case sent the human rights community in India into crisis as the debate as to
whether sati was right or wrong raged for weeks in the newspapers. While some
thought it was a breach of human rights, others thought it was an ethnic
culture and was therefore acceptable if the victim does it voluntarily in
honour of her husband. Urban centered women’s groups as well as groups of women
from all over India were horrified and organized a march in Rajasthan. The
Rajasthanis retaliated by filling the streets with thousands of their own
ethnic groups. The right to commit sati, they claimed, was part of their ethnic
culture. After months of delay, the police finally arrested Roop Kanwar’s father-in-law and five other members of the
family for abetment to suicide. Three months later, the Indian Parliament
passed a tough law banning sati, even though an old law already existed, as a
sign of central government’s intolerance of these ethnic practices. Though the
feminist movement had scored a legal victory, the case exemplified the terrible
gulf between human rights and women’s rights activists on the one hand and those
who see the status of women as an integral part of their ethnic identity, on
the other.
Having
identified the most important of all rights, the right to life via the
aforementioned document, it is apt to see what other ways violence can be
inflicted against women.
2. SEXUAL ABUSE:
Sexual
abuse of girls is prevalent in our country Nigeria. Article 16 Paragraph (1) of
the O.A.U. Charter is to the effect that, the child should be protected from
all forms of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, sexual abuse, physical or
mortal injury, neglect or maltreatment while in the care of a parent or
guardian or schools or any other person. Paragraph (2) is to the effect that
monitoring units should be provided to identify, report and treat instances of
child abuse.
Concrete
instances of sexual abuse abound in our schools, both secondary and tertiary. They
include lecturers and teachers coercing girls to have sex with them on the
threat of failing them in their exams or on the promise of giving them good
grades in their exams. Inducement means when a person with greater advantage
over a girl uses his powers to trick, entice or coerce a girl into succumbing
to sex. This has strong administrative penalties. Note that sexual abuse does
not only entail the physical act of sex, but also includes acts like fondling a
female or touching her buttocks or private part or even making sexual passes
against a girl to her disapproval. Rape constitutes the highest manifestation
of sexual abuse. In simple terms, rape is when a man forcefully has sex with a
girl without her consent. Indeed sexual abuse in all forms should be condemned
in the strongest of terms. The law enforcement agencies should enforce the law
in this regard to the letter. A positive law must be positively enforced or
else it loses its essence.
Because
of the taboo attached to issues of rape by communities, such as, reduction of
prospects as wives or mothers, bringing dishonour to the family, etc. most
women prefer to bear the shame of the horrifying, degrading and humiliating
experience on their own. By so doing they waive the protection of the law so as
to avoid public knowledge or being turned to accused rather than victims during
cross examination. Nothing can be more painful to a woman than to watch her
rapist walk away free. In Pakistan, there was a celebrated case of Safia Bibi.[10] Safia
Bibi was a blind girl who was raped. Because she was still a minor, her father
filed a complaint of rape two days before she delivered the child of that
union. Her parents claimed that although Safia had told them of the rape, they
kept silent for fear of humiliation. Under the Hudood Ordinance, Safia could
only prove rape through the evidence of four male witnesses. If she failed then
she was liable to conviction and a jail term for adultery if married or
fornication if unmarried. In this case, the alleged rapist retorted that the
blind girl was of loose virtue and the victim got three years imprisonment term
for violation of the Zina Ordinance. This was later set aside on technical
grounds. The rapist did not spend a day in jail due to insufficient evidence.
You can only imagine how demoralized the poor girl would have been for daring
to disclose that she was raped. It is doubtful that the act of rape would be
done in a public place that would anticipate four male witnesses viewing it so
as to enable them give evidence. It is therefore almost impossible to prove
rape in a man’s world.
3. EARLY MARRIAGE:
It is unfair to see girls as young as the ages
of 10 and 13 being given out in marriage. This practice is mostly prevalent in
the northern part of Nigeria. To think that a girl of that age who should be
under parental care and protection would be expected to give birth to and train
children of her own is quite disheartening. This is unacceptable and in fact,
the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against Women
(CEDAW)[11]condemns the act
in the strongest of terms. Article 16 bluntly states as follows;
1) State parties shall take all appropriate
measure to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to
Marriage and family relations, and in particular shall ensure, on a basis of
equality of men and women:
(a) The same right to enter into marriage.
(b) The same right freely to choose a spouse
and to enter into marriage only with their free and full consent.
Paragraph (2) informs us
interestingly that:
‘the betrothal and the marriage of a
child shall have no legal effect, and all necessary action including
legislation shall be taken to specify a minimum age for marriage and to make
the registration of marriage in the
official registry compulsory.’
Nigeria is yet to embrace this provision or
practice it and as such has encouraged violence to girls. To contract a
statutory marriage, the minimum acceptable age is 18 years. This is recommended
for people engaging in traditional or customary marriage. When the former
governor of Zamfara State Ahmed Sani Yerima, now a serving Senator of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria, took a 13 year old Egyptian girl as a wife he defied public outcry to
justify the relationship on grounds of its acceptability to his culture and religion.
The consequences of early child
marriage are dire. The child’s pelvic will naturally not be fully mature and
ready for child birth. It can make a girl suffer from a medical disease known
as VESICO-VAGINAL FISTULA (V.V.F.). This is a pathological communication
between the bladder and vagina thereby leading to true inconstinence (a hole is
thereby created between the human storage tank of urine, the bladder and the
private part of a woman, the vagina)[12] A
fistula is a hole connecting two structures. This pathological communication
could occur between the rectum and the vagina and could result in
uncontrollable leakage of faeces through the vagina, known as Recto-vagina
fistula or could be between the ureter and vagina known as uretero-vagina
fistula which occurs as a result of complications of surgical procedures.What
happens is that the continuous pressure of the baby’s head against her bony
pelvic may compromise blood supply to part of the bladder and the vagina. This
leads to death of that portion and when it sloughs off, it leaves a hole from
which continuous drainage of urine or faeces may occur. The story of a girl who
drips urine or faeces is definitely beyond the leakage. The situation can bring
about irritable smell which may send the husband running and in extreme cases,
the girl may even die.Worst still is the fact that, no man would want to date a
lady suffering from V.V.F.
Secondly, the girl child, being too
young to appreciate the concept of marriage, may succumb to intimidations and
beatings from her husband. She can even become disfigured in the circumstance
or end up in a divorce and she stands the risk of not being able to re-marry.
This irritable act of early child marriage should be put to a halt.
4. FORCED MARRIAGE BY
PARENTS:
As mentioned earlier, CEDAW[13] in
Article16 (1) (a) and (b) and (2) prohibits forced marriage. It is unimaginable
to think that in this era, Parents would still want to contract marriages on
behalf of their children.It will therefore be of good use to ask: What is a
marriage? Lord Penzance in the English case of Hyde v. Hyde [14] defined a
monogamous marriage as: ‘The voluntary
union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others.’
William Shakespeare in his classic
book: Twelfth Night[15]
defined marriage as:
‘A
contract of eternal bond of love, confirmed by the mutual joinder of hands, Attested by the holy close of lips,
strengthened by interchangement of your rings.’
From the foregoing definitions of
marriage, it is clear, that a party cannot contract a marriage on behalf of
another. It is on this note I submit that forced marriage should be done away
with as a way of protecting the rights of the girl.
5. FEMALE CIRCUMCISION:
Article 21paragraph (1) (a) and (b)
of the O.A.U. Charter condemns harmful social and cultural Practices. Some
customs and traditions promote this barbaric act. Female circumcision known as
Female Genital Mutilation FGM is done by removing a woman’s clitoris so as to
reduce her sex drive. If sex is ordained by God, why should a girl’s sex drive
be reduced by some barbaric behavior?
Female circumcision should be a relic of the past.
The World Health Organization (WHO)[16]
through its technical committee in 1995 classified female Genital mutilation
into four types namely;
1. Incision or excision of clitoral prepuce.
2. Excision of part or the whole clitoris.
3. Infibulation.
4. Undetermined procedure
Whichever form is adopted can bring
about sever harm to the girl. FGM can be the direct cause of VVF if the
surgeon’s knife nicks the bladder. Poor technical knowhow or lack of experience
of quack doctors can bring about this complication which can also sometimes
lead to obstruction of labour. The use of unsterilized implements can also
sometimes lead to the deadly Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). There
is definitely no medical reason for its sustainance. It should, therefore, be
stopped.[17]
6. CHILD LABOUR:
The 20th day of November 1989 was
an epoch making day. It was the day that the United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child (C.R.C.) came into existence. Nigeria in line with the
dictates of constitutional and international law ratified it on the 21st
day of March 1991.Girls 18 years and below are children, so any act of child
labour does them violence and is inimical to their general well-being. Article 32, paragraph 1 of the C.R.C. defines
child Labour as ‘Any work that is likely
to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education or to be harmful to
the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral, or social
development.’ It is good to ask
whether it is all work engaged in by children that constitute child Labour? The
answer is No! Imeh Ekanem[18]
illuminates the position clearly when he wrote: ‘It is clear from the definitions proffered that it is not all work
which the child carries out that can be referred to as child Labour. As members
of the family, children are expected to have duties which unquestionably
include cleaning up the house and going on errands. Work becomes child Labour
when it is inimical to the development of the child.’ He further stated
that: ‘from the description given above,
it is clear that child Labour includes children working in streets and market
places as traders, vendors, young beggars ,hawkers, welders, bus conductors,
service girls, domestic servants among others’[19]
Article 15 paragraph (1) and (2) (a) – (d) of the O.A.U.
Charter also
Legislates against child Labour. In a similar vein, S.34 of the 1999 Constitution provides for the right to dignity of
the human person. There can be no doubt that any sort of child labour can
encourage sexual molestation of a girl which amounts to violence and affects
her dignity.
7. FEMALE TRAFFICKING:
Article 6 of CEDAW reads: ‘State Parties
shall take all appropriate measures including Legislation to suppress all forms
of traffic in women and exploitation or prostitution of women.’ Female
trafficking is no doubt rampant in Nigeria. It is a process where women or
girls are taken out of Nigeria for the purpose of prostitution or slave labour. National Agency for Prohibition of
Trafficking in Person (NAPTIP) seemsto
be doing a lot of work in seeing to the prevention,return and rehabilitation of
such victims.We remember vividly the Nigerian Ladies deported from Italy for
prostitution a few years ago through the efforts of Mrs. Titi Atiku the wife of
the former Vice President of Nigeria.
Furthermore, S.40 of the 1999 Constitution provides for the right to peaceful
assembly and association, while S.35 provides for the right to personal
liberty. These rights cannot thrive in a society that has female trafficking as
its hallmark. It is true that female trafficking is inhumane, unjust and
ungodly.
8. NON EDUCATION OF GIRLS:
Article 10 of CEDAW prohibits discrimination against women in education. The
era that females should be seen and not heard has passed. Today, notable names
like Margaret Thatcher of United Kingdom, Hilary Clinton of United States, Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, and in Nigeria, ladies like Ngozi Okonjo lweala,
Dora Akunyili, Obiageli Ezekwesili, Farida Waziri, Cecilia Ibru, Margaret Ekpu,
Olufunmilayo Ransom Kuti, Hajiya Gambo Sawaba, Laila Dogonyaro, Margaret Ekpo
and a host of others ring a bell both within and outside the shores of Nigeria.
A female former Soviet writer Katarina Tomasevski remarked: ‘Women martyrs are rarely known, but in every
generation, in every society, there were women who led the way.’ Nigerian
women too can lead the way globally. This can only be done through the
education of our Girls.
9. VIOLENCE FROM RELIGIOUS AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
Culture
Very often, cultural and societal
beliefs that men are more important than women have influenced the thinking of
men when dealing with issues relating to women. Female animals are rare and
powerless. This has inevitably meant that women have had to secure advantage by
less crude and abnormal methods than men, and as a result have often been
labeled liars devious and cunning, as though such traits are never present in
the men. Female criminals are also portrayed as a rare species, and rarity is
sometimes quickly translated into abnormality.
One of the major criminology studies
conducted in the nineteenth century, by Lombroso and Ferrero,[20]
described women as congenitally less inclined to crime than men. However, it
seems that they make up for this by the excessive vileness of the crimes they
do commit. ‘Rarely is a woman wicked,’ wrote Lombroso, ‘but when she is, she
surpasses the male.’ They are tagged liars and deceivers because of their
subtitle nature which allows them to manipulate and dissemble men. To those
contemporary women who are confident and comfortable with their sexuality it
all seems visible, but remnants of such thinking remain the fear of the manipulative,
dissembling female which lives on. The belief is that women manipulate men into
committing offences while they remain immune from prosecution themselves
because of their look of innocence.
When it comes to ‘economy with the
truth’, experience shows that men are quite as good at dishing out the stories
or embellishing the dossier as women. Women are rare amongst the ranks of
confidence tricksters. Yet if you listen to many judges directing the jury in a
rape case, you would think most women suffered from an inherent defect which he
feels he must reluctantly spell out. They are not always trustworthy, is the
insidious message. Very often their actions are linked with their biological
make up such as mensturation, child birth, the need for sex or lack of it or
mental disfunction.
The mystery of women’s child bearing
properties can play a part in the rating of the women and any disorder or
disability linked to child bearing, menstruation or menopause is treated
sympathetically with names such as postnatal depression, baby blues, menopausal
blues, post abortion tristesse or premenstrual tension. The effect of this is
to make women victims of their own physiology and show that the function of all
women might be intrinsically impaired.
In the nineteenth century,
menstruation was a prominent explanation in cataloguing women’s crime,
especially if the offences were atypical or if the woman was not of low-class.
Most women who stole could not afford a lawyer who would have them diagnosed as
kleptomaniac. For any woman with enough funds for a doctor as well as a lawyer,
her aberrant behavior will be attributed to nymphomania, pyromania and all
manner of manias which may be invented to explain it. Hysteria was the Latin
word for the womb. Because of the dysfunction they were tagged with, men were
regarded to be more stable and important. Men have devised certain excuses for
giving more value to their kind. Example, women will marry and live home and
cannot continuethe father’s name. Boys are rated very important that even from
birth the celebration of the father would say it all. Need to abort foetus when
child is found to be female is abound in certain cultures.
RELIGION
When a man commits a crime, a woman
is used as a smokes screen. They were either deceived or manipulated into it.
The story of creation is quite illuminating. All things were created male and
female. These include all creatures on earth. However, women were not created
out of a desire for their existence like other things but to provide Adam a
help mate.[21] The
drama of her creation from Adam’s rib shows her nonexistence but for Adam. This
creation as an appendage to Adam does not give a woman a sense of independence.
Secondly, Adam having been created first was older and already had control over
the garden including the apple tree before the creation of Eve. If he ate the
apple, he was a victim of his own appetite. As a lawyer, I have wondered so
much not only about why she should be made to answer so heavily for Adam’s
transgressions but also why her responsibility for original sin and eternal damnation
should be based on the uncorroborated testimony of a co-accused. Eve was not
asked any question at all. I wonder if her right of fair hearing was exercised.
Adam sited her as his excuse for disobeying God when he had a good sense of
reasoning and could appreciate good and bad. Hardgrave[22]
put the prosecution’s case in the following words; “that is to say women are
the cause of directly or indirectly a large amount of crime in men for which
they receive no statistical credit… obeying that instinct for working mischief
to the opposite sex which women would seem to have inherited from mother Eve. Poor
old Eve. What a burden to take without being heard. I cannot agree any less
with Helena Kennedy that Eve was framed.[23] I
wonder if she would have done better with a good defence lawyer. Transportation
from Paradise is one thing, but a sentence of eternal damnation on the basis of
the un-corroborative testimony of a co-accused must surely constitute a breach
of International standards of human rights.
Another story that exhibits sexual
prejudice in favour of men is that of the adulterous woman in the Bible.[24] There
a woman was caught in the act of adultery and the society wished to stone her
to death until Jesus came to her rescue. Why was her accomplice not mentioned?
Did he not also commit adultery? Why will the society and religion open their
eyes to the sin of the adulteress and wear a blindfold for the man she
committed it with.
Society often makes excuses for male
transgressions, why don’t they also make excuses for women. The reasons are not
farfetched. The laws are made by men.
In rape cases, the disposition of
the victim can sometimes be made an issue to the woman’s embarrassment. For example,
questions relating to when she last had sex could be badly interpreted
whichever way it is answered. If she has not had it for a long time then she must
have encouraged it. If she had been having it consistently then she may have
been promiscuous and if her dressing was sexy or she was walking alone at
night, then she may have asked for it. Once a person has carnal knowledge of
another without the persons consent, it is rape under section 282 of the Penal
code and should not be condoned under any guise.
10. VIOLENCE IN CUSTODY
APPLICATIONS
A woman could suffer a lot of
violence in applications for custody of her children following a breakdown in
marriage. When a woman who has been badly battered leaves her matrimonial home
to escape abuse, the husband is likely to cite that as abandonment of the
children. Her case would even be made worse if there is evidence that she had found
a new boyfriend. The society is quick to adjudge a woman as being irresponsible
or bad when she leaves her matrimonial home without her children no matter the
circumstances of her inability to pick them. The violence against her will not
be taken into consideration when the society deals with her case. Worse will be
her case where she has suffered frequent deaths of children. The presumption
would be that she was a bad mother and had killed them notwithstanding that it
may have been as a result of cot deaths.
11. VIOLENCE IN POLITICS
In Nigeria, there is an affirmation for
35% representation for women into political positions. Although women in
politics see this as a wonderful development, I look forward to a period when
there will be equal representation. The political arena is also not convenient
for women since most meetings are held overnight and women still have to take
charge of the home front.
CONCLUSION
Very often women are taunted when
they raise the issue of equality. Men never fail to rub it in when adopting
that equation to cause untold hardship on women. For example, when imposing
custodial sentence on women, the fact that they have young children or had been
abused will not be a consideration for soft soaping of women.
Sometimes men are quick to adopt
women when they are seen to be doing well. For example in the legal profession,
or in the military, women are not recognized. They are seen as men in whatever
they do in court or at war. Therefore, they are either gentlemen at the bar,
learned brothers, my Lords etc. Although this might sound patronizing, women
will prefer to be seen the way they truly are, that is, as women. The justice
can only be obtained by giving a fair and unbiased approval of each person and
situation, without relying on preconceived notions as to whether a person is
black, white, male, female, straight, or gay. Although there are always
attempts to waive off issues of gender bias as being things of the past under
the pretext that it has been addressed, it is important to note that the
changes are only minimal. The problems of women are not only from culture but
also from religion and the law. Since lawmakers are predominantly men, it is
imperative that the laws they will make will not only favour men but will help
them to re-enforce their chauvinistic positions. Over 50% of law school
graduates are females and they come out with great degrees. Apart from a handful
of them, the majority are scared away from active legal practice and confine
themselves to public service jobs while their male counterparts go for career
options which are more related to money and prestige. The female feminine
vulnerability has often been used to explain why they should be kept in the
domestic arena and be excluded from public life. Each time the issue of
fairness is raised, equalization is invariably considered towards a male norm
and women are merely expected to shape up whether as lawyers, accused or in
their public life. It is high time we began to take proper account of the ways
that women’s experiences differ from those of men and yet treat them as equals.
Cultural forces, which are also at
work, reflect public attitudes which are prejudicial to women. A strong weapon
for the maintenance of male power is to deny women their experiences. How else
can one explain the fact that a female lawyer is referred to as a gentleman of
the bar or my Lord, if a judge? Would she perform any less if she is a Lady of
the bar or my lady? The law needs to be sensitive to the realities of the lives
of women and accord them the respect that they deserve.
A female professor once said during
her house warming ceremony that, “My father has never seen me as a woman. He
calls me his son.” By implication she cannot achieve as a daughter. How sad.
Justice must recognize the tension between the ideal of equality and the
reality of people’s lives. Women therefore need that justice that will see them
as women and respect them as such. It is only then that the issue of equality
would make meaning.
Conclusively, girls and women
generally, should know that they have rights just like men, and be alert and
wise enough to recognize violation of their rights and report same so that the
long arm of the law can catch up with the offenders. Nothing stops a girl from
walking into a law office to lay a complaint, she will be listened to. All
hands must be on deck to ensure that our Girls and women are protected against
all forms of violence. The law enforcement agencies, parents, Religious
institutions, and the mass media must all play a role in our efforts to help
our Girls.
[1]
Daily Sun Tuesday, January 31st , 2012 p.16. The story of An Afgan who kill his wife for giving birth to
the third girl child was narrated.
[2]
Cook J. Rebecca; Women’s International Human Right’s Law: the Way Forward.
Thatched patio 5(4) (1992) 29-63 and Human Rights Quarterly 5(1993) 230-261.
Also See Human Right of Women; National and International perspective,
University of Pennsylvania Press p.8.
[3]
Genesis 3; 11-13
[4]
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (special price, New 7th edition)
p.552
[5]
Ibid p.1692
[6]
Black’s law dictionary, 8th edition by Bryan Garner. p.1601
[7]1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria.
[8]
Organization of African Unity O.A.U. Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the
Child
[9]
Cook J. Rebecca; Women’s International Human Right’s Law: the Way Forward.
Thatched patio 5(4) (1992) 29-63 and Human Rights Quarterly 5(1993) 230-261
[10]Radhika Coomaraswamy, To Bellow Like a Cow: Women,
Ethnicity and Discourse of Rights in Cook J Rebecca, Human Rights of Women; National
and International Perspective 1994 University of Pennsylvania Press p. 50.
[11]
Article 16 of Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination
against women
[12]Ishaklawal:
Vesico-Vaginal Fistula: Beyond Leakage of Urine , Global Network Against V.V.F.
p 4
[13]
CEDAW (SUPRA)
[14]
Hyde v. Hyde (1861 – 1873) All E.R. 175
[15]
William Shakespeare, twelfth Night, Act 5, scene 1, lines 70-73
[16]
WHO Elimination of female Genital circumcision, 1995 released by family Health
Department, federal ministry of health, federal secretariat Abuja in December
2007, p.1
[17]Agbonika,
J.A.A.; An Appraisal of Legal and Human Rights Implications of Female
Circumcision in Nigeria; Ebonyi State University Law Journal; Vol. 3, No. 1;
2009. p. 252
[18]
In his Article the implications of child labour for the observance of the
convention on the rights of the child posthumously published in: The Vision of
a Genius.
[19]IMEH
EKANEM (ibid)
[20]
Kennedy Helena: Eve Was Framed (2005) Vintage Publishers, Random House 20
Vauxhall Bridge Road London. Op. Cit. p.16.
[21]
Genesis 2: 18 – 24
[22]
Hardgrave L. Adams women and crime 1910 quoted in Eve Was Framed by Helena
Kennedy. P.16
[23]
Kennedy Helena; Op. Cit. p.16
[24]
John 8:1-11