Lagos, Nigeria — Nigeria may contravene the UN convention on the rights of the child if the punishment prescribed for an unmarried pregnant teenager by an Islamic Sharia court in the northern state of Zamfara is carried out.

The accused, Bariya Ibrahim Magazu, 17, was sentenced to 180 strokes of the cane last week for fornication and lying.

The court found her guilty of having sex outside marriage, and wrongly accusing three men of having slept with her.

The punishment, 100 lashes for engaging in pre-marital sex and 80 lashes for making unsubstantiated allegations against the three men, will be carried out in public 40 days after the delivery of her baby.

The judgement, which got a major play in local and international media, has attracted widespread interest from several bodies, including human rights organisations and UNICEF.

Sources close to the UNICEF office in Lagos told PANA that the agency had shown interest in the development, since Nigeria is a signatory to the convention.

Part of the basic principles of the rights of the child, as enunciated in the convention adopted in Geneva in 1989, is that "every child must be protected from indecent and inhuman treatment through sexual exploitation, drug abuse, child labour, torture, maltreatment and neglect".

Bariya is considered a child under the convention, ratified by Nigeria 21 March 1991, under the regime of the former military ruler, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.

The country has a National Child Rights Implementation Committee, with membership drawn from the public and the private sector, as well as UN agencies in the country, "to ensure maximum implementation and monitoring of the convention".

A member of the committee, who sought anonymity, said it was up to the federal government to intervene by calling the state authorities to order because of the obvious implications of contravening the convention.

"It will definitely portray Nigeria in bad light, more so at a time the country is trying to recover from the effect of massive human rights abuses under Sani Abacha (the late Nigerian dictator)," the member said.

At least six states in northern Nigeria have adopted the Koran-based Sharia law, which prescribes stringent punishments including hand amputation for stealing and death by stoning for adultery, among others.

The adoption of the law by the states in Nigeria, which is secular by constitution, has generated much controversy in the country, and led to fatal clashes between Christians and Moslems.

Five hundred people died and substantial property were destroyed in February and May when adherents of the two religions clashed over a plan to introduce the Sharia in Kaduna state.

The deaths sparked reprisal killings in the south-east, home to the largely-Christian Igbo who claimed their people were targeted in the clashes.