Vulnerable & Target Group
Child Rights
The rights of Children which was never in existence up until 1924 when the Convention on rights of Children was formulated and finally adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989, coupled with the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child which was adopted in 1990 and brought into force in 1999 both gave persons below age 18 the legal rights against malicious treatments as experienced in the dark ages.
Human Rights Defenders
Human Rights Defenders or human rights activists as commonly called, are those who promote or protect human rights by their act or activism. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistle blowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campaigners and any other person from all works of life. They can defend rights as part of their jobs or in a voluntary capacity.
Rights of Persons with Disibility
Generally and indeed in West Africa, persons with disabilities (PWDs) are known to be facing several environmental, institutional and attitudinal barriers that can impede on their full participation and contribution to the socioeconomic and political development of their society.In consonance with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it is instructive to note that disability has been included in several targets and as a cross-cutting issue in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development across the world.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons are subjected to “everyday discrimination” and stigmatization including in education, healthcare, housing, employment, and often even within their families. They are susceptible to physical attacks, sexual assault, torture or even killings sometimes. It is a criminal offence in most west African countries to have private, consensual same-sex relations because there are laws biding against such eventuality.
Woman Rights
The bill of rights for women contained in the convention on the elimination of all forms of Discrimination against women (CEDAW) was adopted by UN General assembly in 1976; And by accepting the convention all states under the UN commits themselves to undertake series of measures to end discrimination against women in all forms. Its domestication in Member States can be achieved by either (1) when the national assembly passes it into law and mandate state assemblies to do same or (2) the national assembly will refer the final copy of the bill to at least ⅔rd of the States assembly for ratification be enacted. A lot of countries are faced with challenges of implementing these rights.