Promoting child rights in Kenya - Pelastakaa Lapset ry

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the Rights of the Child has identified right to be heard as one of the four general principles of theConvention in addition to non-discrimination, survival and development and the best interests ofthe child. Article 12 of the UNCRC provides that “States Parties shall assure to the child who iscapable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all mattersaffecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age andmaturity of the child. For this purpose the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to beheard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through arepresentative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of nationallaw.”Article 13 states that children have the right to freely express themselves as well as seek andreceive information. The ACRWC in Articles 7 and 8 states that children have freedom ofexpression as well as association. The Children Act Section 4 provides that children have a right tobe involved in matters affecting them.Since the adoption of the Convention in 1989, considerable progress has been achieved at thelocal, national, regional and global levels in the development of legislation, policies andmethodologies to promote the implementation of article 12. A widespread practice has emerged inrecent years, which has been broadly conceptualized as “participation”, although this term itselfdoes not appear in the text of article 12. The term has evolved over the years and is now widelyused to describe ongoing processes, which include information-sharing and dialogue betweenchildren and adults based on mutual respect.6.1 Background to child participation in KenyaActivities related to child participation in Kenya were pioneered by organisations working in thechildren sector in the early 1990s including KAACR, CWSK, Save the Children, World Vision,Childlife Trust and Plan. The activities started as Child Rights Clubs (CRCs) also known as Rightsof the Child (ROC) clubs and then evolved to Child Led Movements. The clubs were established inKisumu, Laikipia, Nakuru, Isiolo and Nairobi mainly in schools using the child-to-child methodology.In their formative stages, the clubs acted as avenues for children to learn about their rights but withtime child-led activities such as tree planting, kitchen gardening and sports competitions wereincluded. Activities on child participation were also introduced in child care institutions.To facilitate better understanding of child rights and child participation the pioneer organisationsdeveloped facilitators’ manuals on how to train teachers as child moderators and how to establishand manage the clubs within institutions. As a measure to popularize the ROC clubs concept andto create awareness issues such as on HIV/AIDS, district wide ROC club festivals were heldannually and attended by policy makers. Today ROC clubs are a common feature in many parts ofthe country, a situation that has contributed to the increased awareness on child participation inKenya. Many children have benefitted from knowledge and skills in child participation and otherissues, and have gone on to join youth movements as child rights defenders. Others are now informal employment where they continue to champion the cause of children. Teachers and schoolmanagers from institutions that have established ROC clubs state that the students observe highlevels of discipline and that there is constant interaction between the management as duty bearersand the students as rights holders. This has helped avert incidences of school strikes and otheractions of indiscipline.48
The following are key child participation initiatives that children in Kenya have engaged in atdifferent levels. Note that child participation in Constitution making has already been discussedunder chapter 5.2.6.2 The National Child Participation Guidelines in KenyaThe idea to develop standards in child participation arose out of the need to ensure that partnerswere at the same level of understanding as to what meaningful child participation is. It had beenobserved that what most organisations perceived as child participation was in effect tokenism. In2004 SCC in collaboration with the Kenya NGO Child Rights Committee organized a workshop todiscuss child participation in Kenya. In attendance were representatives from 42 organisationsamong them Child Life Trust, World Vision Kenya, CWSK, GOAL Kenya, Plan Kenya, KAACR,Save the Children members in Kenya and Somalia, Chambers of Justice, SNV, GoK and faithbased organisations. These key organisations in their own different ways pioneered childparticipation in Kenya. The meeting shared good experiences and practices in child participation.It was agreed that these experiences and ideas be harmonised and developed into standardguidelines by stakeholders in the sector, and this formed the genesis of the child participationguidelines that were subsequently developed and are currently in use in Kenya. A consultant washired by NCCS and UNICEF to develop a draft of the guidelines based on these experiences andin September 2005 the National Workshop for Children and Policy Makers on Child ParticipationGuidelines took place in Nairobi to discuss the draft. The workshop brought together children andadults from all over the country. The main objective was to ensure that stakeholders includingchildren had a chance to input in the draft guidelines before they were finalized.In a separate workshop session children gave their input which highlighted the following keyissues:- Selection of children to participate in events to ensure girls and boys, and variouscategories of children such as adolescents and OVC are given equal chances toparticipate;- Children to be given opportunities to express themselves without discrimination inaccordance with their capacity and at all levels;- Children events to be held in child friendly venues which should provide well balancedmeals, be accessible to children with disabilities and have facilities for visual, hearing andintellectually impaired children, and not have adult entertainment centers;- Transport for children to be through child friendly transport between 6:00 a.m and 6:00p.m, with provision for refreshment depending on the duration of the journey;- Chaperones and any other adult charged with the responsibility of taking care of childrenduring events to meet the established standards with regard to ability to listen and interactfreely with the child as well as observe confidentiality;- The need for children to conduct themselves with respect during events.49
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Promoting child rights in Kenya - Pelastakaa Lapset ry

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