HOSEI WOMEN - HUMAN RIGHTS 2

When we lack knowledge, we fall prey to a lot of destructive circumstances in life. As human beings, especially women, it's necessary to know the stand of the law on women's human rights and how to ensure a good life by living in the consciousness of these rights. It's a great concern to many that women are deprived of their human rights. Majority of our people think that the issue of women's human rights is a propaganda blown out of proportion, and this is because of religious and cultural inclination.

The lives of Nigerian women is yet to attain the level of dignity and respect their human rights accord them. Women rank lower than men in all indices of development in the country. Despite the fact that the rights of women are spelt out in the Nigerian Constitution, these rights are just theoretical postulations without any practical bearing on the realities of the lives and conditions of Nigerian women.

In reality, the Nigerian society is full of anti-humanist ideals. Women are systematically relegated to inferior positions. They suffer violations of their human rights through;

* Violence in the home
* Sexual harassment at school and work
* Rape and defilement
* Harsh and punitive widowhood rites
* Enforcement of gender biased laws
* Discrimination against the girl child
* Disinheritance of wives and daughters
* Harmful traditional practices
* Forced childhood marriages
* Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), etc.

Article 1 of the Declaration of Human Rights states that all human beings are born free and equal. Article 5 of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) adopted by the United Nation's General Assembly in 1979 and ratified by Nigeria in 1984 encourages nations to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women with the view to eliminate inferiority and superiority of either sexes or stereotype roles of men and women.

The solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa reaffirms the principle of gender equality as enshrined in Article 4 (1) of the Constitutive Act of the African Union in Chapter 7, member states declare "to actively promote the implementation of legislation to guarantee women's land, property and inheritance rights, including the right to housing.

The African Charter on the Human and People's Rights (ACHPR) was domesticated in Nigeria in form of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights (Enforcement and Domestication) Act Cap 10, 1990. This Act makes the provision of the charter enforceable in any court of law in Nigeria. Article 18 of the ACHPR states that "the state shall ensure the elimination of violence against women and also ensure the protection of the rights of women".

Article 21 of the Protocol to the Charter on Human and People's Rights on the rights of women in Africa (ratified by Nigeria in 2004) states that "a widow/widower shall have the right to inherit each other's property in the event of death whatever the matrimonial regime, to continue living in the matrimonial home". Sub paragraph (2) of the above states that "women and girls shall have same rights as men and boys to inherit in equal shares their parent's properties".

Some of the causes of the violation of human rights suffered by women and girls are:

* The Patriarchal structure of the Nigerian society

* Religion

* Culture and traditional practices

* Domestic Violence/Abuse

* Double standards placed by the society in relation to men and women.

* Ignorance of their human rights on the part of women.

Some of the solutions to these problems are:

* Integration of women's human rights issues and gender education into the school curriculum.

* Adequate government budgetary allocations to issues that promote women's rights and bridge gender gaps.

* Domesticating all protocols, charters and conventions relevant to women and their rights.

* Everybody in our little way, creating awareness for women's human rights and emphatically standing against all dehumanising elements in the society which women are made to endure right from birth.

Life is to be enjoyed and not to be endured!