1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion is one of the fundamental freedoms that has gained recognition in the International Bill of Rights[1] and this freedom has also been recognized and/or given effect to in the Nigerian domestic laws inclusive of the Nigerian Constitution[2] which is the ground norm of the nation to allow for the domestic application and/or enforcement of this freedom in Nigeria. Thus, the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion entails the liberty of conscience accorded to the individual to have or adopt any religion or belief including the right to change one‘s religion or belief as well as the freedom to manifest one‘s religious belief in teaching, observance, practice and worship.[3]
However, with the development of child rights in international law which culminated into the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child[4] [CRC] in 1989, an additional legal framework on freedom of thought, conscience and religion which is child specific emerged. Under this Convention (the CRC), protection of the rights of the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion was recognized and is akin to that embodied in the UDHR and the ICCPR. The relevant provisions of the CRC include Article 14 (1) which provides to the effect that ―States Parties shall
respect the right of the child to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.‖[5] Article 30 of the CRC further provides that:
In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities or persons of indigenous origin exist, a child belonging to such a minority or who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practice his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language.
[1] The International Bill of Rights consist of three principal international documents, i.e., Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) of 1966; International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) of 1966.
[2] Section 38, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended in 2011), Cap. C 23, L.F.N. 2004
[3] See Article 18, UDHR; Article 18, 4(2) ICCPR; Article 13 (3) & (4) ICESCR; Article 1, UN General Assembly Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Religious Intolerance and Discrimination; Article 8, African Charter on Human and Peoples‘ Rights of 1981; Section 38, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999
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