The Plateau State Government has finally domesticated the Child Rights Law in what some might describe as a Children’s Day gift.
The Chief Judge of the state, Justice David Mann, signed the Family Court Rules at the State High Court Complex on Saturday.
Justice Mann described the domestication of the law as a milestone and the way forward in ensuring that proceedings relating to the child’s rights, privileges and welfare are well taken care of, according to the law.
Through the establishment of family courts as provided for, the domestication was legitimised 18 years after the Plateau State Child Rights Law was passed.
Section 29 provides that the family courts are to be manned by trained judges/magistrates and personnel with skills to handle a child in civil and criminal cases.
The child rights advocate cluster comprising civil society organisations advocating for the implementation of the Child’s Right Law in the states of Plateau, Nasarawa, Benue, Kogi and Kaduna visited the Plateau chief judge to whom the documents for the family courts rules were presented.
Assenting to the legsilation, Justice Mann expressed optimism that the rules would simplify the processes of addressing issues of child’s rights in accordance with the law.
The coordinating cluster under the aegis of the USAID, which was anchored by the Centre for Women, Youth and Community Action (NACWYCA), has been advocating for the implementation of the law.
Some of the privileges in the Child’s Rights Law include the right to life, the right to dignity of the human person, the right to personal liberty, the right to fair hearing, the right to privacy and family life, as well as the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, among others.