Promoting child rights in Kenya - Pelastakaa Lapset ry

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The meeting agreed that the Draft Convention was comprehensive in terms of addressing therights of children globally. However, it was felt that it did not adequately address the uniquesituation of majority of the children in Africa. Following are some of the challenges faced bychildren in Africa which the meeting discussed: lack of education opportunities for majority of the children; large numbers of children who are forced to work in order to help their parents with moneyand food; high levels of prevailing poverty as well as poor and unsanitary living conditions whichthreaten survival of the children; lack of access to quality health care facilities; the impact caused by perennial disasters such as famine, floods and conflicts on children; large numbers of displaced and refugee children due to conflict; harmful cultural practices such as early marriage and female genital mutilation; lack of meaningful participation of local communities in planning and managing basicprogrammes for children; discrimination based on religion, ethnicity, race, gender, disability etc; and children whose mothers are in prison; among others.Participants at the meeting also noted that the Draft Convention: lacked clarity on the definition of a child as it made provision for attainment of adulthoodearlier depending on the particular laws applicable to the child; did not address the duties and responsibilities of children towards their parents,communities and the state, a departure from traditional African culture; did not address the role of relatives in adoption and fostering and in general care andprotection of children.In view of these concerns the meeting recommended that a working group comprised of specialistsin different disciplines and based in Africa be formed to work under the guidance of theOrganisation of African Unity (OAU), ANPPCAN, UNICEF and other interested organizations. Themandate of the working group was to prepare a Draft Charter on the Rights and Welfare ofChildren for consideration by African governments. In addition to addressing the issues that hadbeen singled out by the meeting the proposed Charter was to complement the Draft UNConvention as well as facilitate its ratification and implementation among African countries once itwas adopted. It was also agreed that both the Draft Convention and the Draft Charter, onceadopted would be applicable in Africa and none would be treated as being superior to the other.A legal team with expertise in treaty drafting was selected to draft the Charter. It sent the draft tothe Secretary General of the OAU who then presented it to the Council of Ministers and Heads ofState and Government Summit in Addis Ababa in July, 1990. 30 The Charter was adopted and cameinto force on 29 November, 1999 when the required 15 states parties had ratified it. Kenya ratified iton 25 July, 2000 31 and is mandated to report to the African Committee of Experts on the Rightsand Welfare of the Child (ACERWC) on progress made with regard to its implementation two years30Two Kenyan lawyers were members of the legal drafting team.31The first Chairperson of the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child was Kenyan (Lady Justice JoyceAluoch) and she worked with stakeholders in the children sector to lobby the government to ratify the Charter.28
after ratification and thereafter after every three years. 32 The long delay between the time theCharter was adopted and when it entered into force can be attributed to the following:- many African states felt that since they had already ratified the UNCRC there was no hurryto ratify the ACRWC as the two instruments were similar in many aspects;- there was also lack of adequate sensitisation on the Charter among stakeholders asopposed to the UNCRC (This situation prevails to date but agencies in the children sectorhave been urged to address it).3.2.2 State Party Report on the ACRWCKenya was due to submit its Initial Report on the Charter in 2002 but the process was delayed bythe government. CSOs lacked sufficient awareness with regard to the reporting process on theCharter as compared to the UNCRC and were therefore not well placed to lobby the governmenteffectively to address the delay. Finally, when the reporting process for the 2 nd UNCRC State Partycommenced it was agreed that the process of gathering information for the ACRWC be carried outsimultaneously with that of the UNCRC to save on resources. The process was all inclusive andsought the views of children, policy makers and CSOs; focusing on the five main areas ofdifference between the Charter and the UNCRC. These are:- protection of the family (Article 18);- protection against harmful social and cultural practices (Article 21);- protection against apartheid and discrimination (Article 26);- children of imprisoned mothers (Article 30); and- responsibilities of the child (Article 31).The State Party submitted the report on the ACRWC in 2006. 333.2.3 Report by Civil Society OrganisationsIn 2007 ANPPCAN regional office took the responsibility of co-coordinating the preparation of aCSO report on the Charter for Kenya. A meeting was held in 2007 in Nairobi, and was attended by23 CSOs working in the children sector. The main objective of the meeting was to identify gaps inthe State Party report as well as update it. Participants also identified various challenges children inKenya faced in accessing their rights and welfare. They were also sensitized on the reportingguidelines under the Charter. 34 The challenges identified were grouped according to the five areasof difference between the ACRWC and the UNCRC, which then formed the basis of the CSOreport.A Kenya NGO delegation attended the Pre-session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in April, 2009 topresent the CSO report. This was followed by the state party hearing with the Kenya government32Article 43 (1)33http://www.acerwc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/ACERWC-State-report-Kenya-initial-English.pdf34Advancing Children’s Rights. A guide for Civil Society Organisations on how to engage with the African Committee of Experts onthe Rights and Welfare of the Child. 2009. Plan & Save the Children Sweden.29
Page 5: EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThe United Nations
Page 8 and 9: The team held several consultation
Page 10 and 11: KEY DEFINITIONS USED IN THIS DOCUME
Page 12 and 13: emergency responses. This was in li
Page 14 and 15: Working closely with the ministry i
Page 16 and 17: Timely development of a National Pl
Page 19 and 20: The Initial State Party Report on t
Page 21 and 22: At the end of the workshop it was a
Page 23 and 24: presentation to the Department of I
Page 25 and 26: map for the process and a standard
Page 27: Collaboration between State and Non
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Page 33 and 34: stakeholders were sensitized on the
Page 35 and 36: in conformity with the Constitution
Page 37 and 38: campaigns in order to adhere to and
Page 39 and 40: Administrators such as chiefs have
Page 41: Upon finalization the Bill was hand
Page 44 and 45: Since Kenya gained independence in
Page 46 and 47: After engaging with government and
Page 48 and 49: the Rights of the Child has identif
Page 50 and 51: After input from stakeholders the G
Page 52 and 53: In the last decade, issues addresse
Page 54 and 55: 7. Conclusions and Overall Recommen
Page 56 and 57: REFERENCES1. African Charter on the
Page 58 and 59: i) The Street Families Rehabilitati
Page 60 and 61: Annex 2:Key Non State Actors and Pr
Page 62 and 63: Annexe 3:Profile of authorsREV. AMB

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