Child Rights East and Southern Africa Regional E-Network Monthly Newsletter
T he L ega l Aid R es e arc h an d Polic y Fou n dation ( LR PF )
March 2007
This first issue of the Child Rights East and Southern Africa Regional E-Network Monthly Newsletter gives an overall description of children rights in the region along with a profile of one of the organizations active in the area of
promoting and protecting children rights. Despite the fact that this region has been riddled with conflict and
disease, the children have shown remarkable resilience and survival, finding hope amidst the suffering. In order
for us to see sustainable changes in the children’s lives, we have to continue to fight for their rights in the local,
regional and international arena. Therefore by taking advantage of their strength we can support and assist them
to overcome the odds and become the leaders they are destined to be.
Volume 1 Issue 1
*Note from the Editor
A Regional Perspective on Violence Against Children
While the saying is that “children are the future”, it is
clear that children are also the present. The future depends on their health development today. They are the
most vulnerable, the most resilient and the most precious
in society. In African society as in many cultures around
the world, children are a gift and means for parents to secure their own futures. In traditional Africa societies, children are to be protected and supported, and assisted to
reach their full potential.
Despite these ideals, however children are often subject
to abuse, exploitation and violence from those who are
meant to protect them; the state, their families, their teachers and their employers.
Instead of being treated like a gift, some children are treated like a burden to be
abused, kicked around and silenced. Violence against children is a matter of great concern to most people around the world. However very little is understood about the phenomenon besides the fact that it occurs in all countries whether rich or poor, stable or
unstable and that it is extremely difficult to eradicate. The recently concluded United
National Global Study on Violence Against Children was undertaken against this backdrop. (http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu2/6/crc/conceptpaper.doc).
(Assessment of Violence Against Children in the Eastern & Southern Africa Region – Results of an initial desk review for the UN
Secretary Generals Study on Violence Against Children by Farhana Zuberi UNICEF ESAR Consultant 2005)
Introduction: The Child Rights East and Southern Africa
Regional EE-Network
A
fter the concluded United Nations Study on
Violence Against Children (UNVAC) Study in
the region in 2006, it was clear that positive
trends in the region were enhanced through development and replication of best practices from
surrounding countries.
Some of the best practices replicated include the review of constitutions; the enactment
of comprehensive children’s laws; and the introduction of affirmative action policies especially as
relates to education. Because many African countries have a similar history (e.g. inherited colonial
laws, common boundaries, common resources, a
common culture and similar challenges), they
have sought joint solutions to similar problems.
With the advent of globalization, many of
the countries have developed a unity of purpose
that has seen them working towards greater inte-
gration and approaches through the development of amongst others, a common
market and common institutions to enable
them deal with the issues in a consolidated, concerted and effective manner.
The purpose of this network therefore, is
to promote greater cross border integration and networking between child care
and protection groups in East and Southern Africa, so as to allow the upholding of
children’s rights especially regarding legal
matters. In particular, the network will
seek to lobby for children laws within the
region; to promote pro-bono legal aid and
training; and to ensure accurate and efficient information sharing and dissemination within child care and protection bodies located within East & Southern Africa.
Page 2
Child Rights East and Southern Africa Regional E-Network
General Findings on Child Rights in the Region
The availability of information on violence against children is varied in the region and ranges from countries
that provide detailed information including official
country specific information on the web, to those that
do not provide such information and have little data to
report. However, even when information is available,
there is generally a dearth of current statistics or coordinated data collection on cases of violence against children. This lack of information and data hampers the
ability to assess the situation and ultimately to make
recommendations that attempt to redress the issue.
Some of the general findings of the country review in
the region are as follows:
•There is underreporting of violence against children;
•Many countries in the region are undertaking a review
of child protection legislation, because they have realized that what is in place is not sufficient to protect
children and is not conformity with the Convention on
the Rights of the Child and ACRWC;
•The full impact of AIDS has not yet been seen in the
region. However in a number of countries, the impact is
already increasing vulnerability of children to exploitation and violence with an increase in child-headed
households, children on the streets and children undertaking exploitative labour in order to make a living. This
situation will only be exacerbated in the future as the
full impact of the AIDS pandemic is felt;
•Most countries have no legislation against the use of
corporal punishment. Even when it is legislated against,
it appears to be widely practiced in the home and at
schools and is based on traditional beliefs and practices.
•Sexual violence and exploitation occurs in and around
schools, especially against young girls, which makes
them susceptible to dropping out.
•Harmful traditional practices such as FGM and unsafe
circumcision for boys are undertaken in many countries. The practice of early marriages and early pregnancy is also rampant in the region. By tradition, boys
tend to be favored over girls;
•Street children are subjected to abuse and contempt
by the community and law enforcement officers;
•Most detained children are not kept in separate prisons or detention centers from adult offenders and are
therefore subject to abuse and violence;
•Several countries are emerging from prolonged civil
wars and the issue of reintegration of child soldiers or
“wives” of soldiers, dealing with unaccompanied and
separated and refugee children, and dealing with the
trauma of war are some of the challenges faced in
these states e.g. Angola, Sudan, Burundi, Ethiopia,
Rwanda, Somalia and Uganda.
•The record of ratification of international and regional
human rights treaties is high. The problem is with the
implementation and domestication of such treaties.
•Trafficking of children is an emerging problem within
the region and with countries outside of the region.
(Assessment of Violence Against Children in the ESAR Region –
Results of an initial desk review for the UN Secretary Generals
Study on VAC by F. Zuberi UNICEF ESAR Consultant 2005)
National Legal and Policy Framework and Enforcement
There appears to be little problem in terms of ratification of international and regional human rights
treaties in this region. However there appears to be
a problem with state reporting. Most countries have
been reporting late or do not report at all to the
regional and international human rights monitoring
bodies.
Further there is the problem of domestication of treaties. Most jurisdictions in the region follow a dualist approach that requires formal domestication of the treaties in order to rely on them in
domestic courts. In other countries such as South
Africa for instance, the Constitution provides that
even if there is no domestication the judiciary is
able to take into account the principles in the international treaties. In Madagascar the Convention
on the Rights of the Child and other international
treaties are specifically mentioned in the preamble
of the Constitution and are part of the law. Finally
in others, a progressive judiciary has taken some
judicial notice of international treaties. For example in Lesotho, there has been an on going debate
about the ability to take notice of international obligations, especially in light of the explicitly nonjusticiable rights in the Constitution. Thus the domestic legal framework is the most important when dealing with issues of rights and many countries, especially
those with new constitutions, have included a proviso
on children’s rights e.g. Comoros, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia.
Most countries in the region are currently undertaking legislative or constitutional reviews to conform with international child rights obligations and
developments e.g. Kenya, Botswana, Eritrea, Lesotho,
Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda etc. In many countries
legal provisions dealing with children are scattered
throughout various pieces of legislation, such as the
criminal and penal codes, family codes and employment laws. Certain countries e.g. Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa and Uganda have at least one dedicated piece of legislation to deal with children protection.
Source: www.crin.org; (ii) F. Zuberi UNICEF ESAR Consultant report
on Assessment of VAC in ESAR (2005)
Page 3
Child Rights East and Southern Africa Regional E-Network
Statistical Tools for Monitoring the Millennium
Agenda for Children
Measuring impact and progress is crucial to ensure
that programmes and policies lead to the desired effects on the ground. By supplementing official national
data, household surveys provide nationally representative information on the
status of individual women
and children allowing for
monitoring, across a range
of social stratifiers. As a
result, international organizations, researchers and
national governments often
use household surveys such
as the Demographic and
Health Surveys – which
gather information through
questionnaires that can take
from half an hour to an hour
to administer. One household survey tool, the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys
MICS was originally developed to measure progress
towards the goals that
emerged from the 1990
World Summit for Children.
The first round of MICS was
conducted around 1995 in
more than 60 countries,
with a second round of surveys five years later.
A third round of MICS was
conducted in more than 50
countries during the year
2005. MICS-3 has collected
information on some 20 of
the 48 MDG indicators, offering the largest single
source of data for MDG
monitoring. In addition the
MICS-3 also provided a monitoring tool for ‘A World Fit
for Children’ compact, as
well as for other major international
commitments
such as the UN General Assembly Special Session on
HIV/AIDS and the Abuja targets for Malaria.
Questionnaires
Household surveys are based
on questionnaires that can
be easily customized to the
needs of a country. For example the MICS consists of a
household questionnaire, a
questionnaire for women
aged 15 – 29, and a questionnaire for children under
the age of five (to be completed by the child’s caregivers). The surveys contain
many questions and indicators directly related to the
causes and implications of
child being excluded or invisible including birth registration, orphaned and vulnerable children, child disability, age of marriage and
questions related to health,
education, shelter, water
and sanitation HIV/AIDS and
early child hood development. Each survey takes
around an hour to complete,
depending on whether optional modules are included
and the response from each
household provide crucial
information for planners,
programmers and policy
makers.
Survey Results
Results from the surveys
including national reports,
standard sets of tabulations
and micro level data sets,
were to be made widely
available after completion
and collation. Survey results
for most countries were expected to have been completed by early 2006 and
made
available
through
DevInfo, a statistical data-
base designed to monitor
progress towards the MDGS.
DevInfo facilitates the presentation of data on tables,
charts and maps to illuminate where disparities exist,
making visible the factors of
exclusion and the existence
of those who might otherwise go unseen. Data can be
accessed at the local level
to improve the capacities of
local authorities and civil
society organizations to assess the situation of children, or databases can be
compiled regionally of globally to allow for cross country comparisons.
Mapping data trends geographically is an immensely
useful tool for visualizing
disparities across geographical regions. For example, a
map can demonstrate the
difference between the
number of children registered in the capital city
compared to the province in
which it sites or the number
of girls in school across several provinces, indicating
clearly where further efforts
are required. Combining
data collection analysis and
mapping technology allows
researchers to create an
evidence base for programmers to use in implementing
the most efficient and effective programmes and ensuring that those most in
need are identified.
Source:
UNICEF the State of the
Worlds Children 2006 – Excluded and Invisible.
Page 4
C h il d R ig h t s E a s t a n d S o u t h e r n A f r ic a Re g i o n a l E - N e t w o r k M o n t h l y N e w s l e t t e r
Organizational Profile: Mkombozi Centre
for Street Children
Areas of work
Mkombozi works at a grassroots level
and is engaged in advocacy, training
and networking to address some of
the root causes that drive children to
the streets. We empower communities, families and children to identify
and support children at risk. We try
to harness local skill, expertise and
imagination and to act as a conduit
for its spread on a wider level
through Tanzanian society. We are
active in networking and strengthen
other NGO’s and CBO’s in Tanzania
by sharing our practice, experience
and skills through training and sharing of resources and mentoring. We
provide services to street children;
that include a safe space with food
and medical care, emotional support,
education, recreation and youth
employment. We also act in a coordinating and supporting role to link
street children and youths to services
that we do not currently provide. We
are pioneering an approach to working with street children in Tanzania
that encourages positive youth development. We hope to document this
as part of the proposed project. We
advocate for children to be prioritised by families, communities and
the Tanzanian Government, and focus on conflict mediation in families,
communities and with street children.
Mkombozi’s vision and mission
Mkombozi envisages a world where
all children, irrespective of gender,
race or age can access the opportunities to enable them to blossom as
well-rounded, inquiring and productive young adults who are working
towards a more just society.
It is our goal at Mkombozi to help
street children to become healthy,
well-adjusted adults. We are working
towards changing ideas that have
been viewed as unimportant for too
long. We believe that helping children to grow in body, mind and
spirit, is the way to build a strong
community. We work towards providing locally appropriate solutions that
respect and foster individual children's characters. Mkombozi is committed to learning from others' experience, working in partnership,
sharing lessons learnt in the field and
advocating for the inclusion of marginalized children in all national and
local planning processes. We believe
that only by working with actors,
whether Government, Civil Society or
private sector, can we work towards
building a stronger, more caring society for all.
Mkombozi’s values
Mkombozi believes that when children
fail to develop their capabilities it is a
loss to them, their community and the
nation. As an organisation Mkombozi
fosters an environment of selfreflection and learning, where lessons
of best practice can be captured from
the local experience and scaled up for
national learning. We believe that our
stakeholders are key to developing
interventions that best suit their
needs. Democracy is at the core of our
values in its truest and most engaging
form. We believe that our role is to
harness local skill, expertise and
imagination and to act as a conduit for
its spread on a wider level. We believe
that professionalism, transparency and
commitment is key to the development
of individuals, organizations and nations and we endeavor to act as an
example of what positive initiatives
can be achieved at a local level.
Mkombozi currently runs the following projects:
(i) Strengthening Communities Producing Street Children in Kilimanjaro
Region, Tanzania: This is 5-year project builds the skills of members in 4
target communities to better support
reunified children and those who are
at risk of coming to the streets. Community mentors are trained and paired
with families of reunified children. An
information guide on service providers
in Kilimanjaro has been produced and
distributed to 15,000 households.
Mechanisms will be established within
the target communities to mediate
conflict and community mentors,
school committees and peer support
groups trained in understanding aggression and coping skills. Peer Sup-
port Groups (PSG's) are established at
Mkombozi and in the target communities and children trained as trainers in
peer support methodologies. The process of change within the target communities and Mkombozi is documented
and disseminated, as is Mkombozi's
philosophy of working with and a document on how Mkombozi has partially
localized its management.
(2)To provide appropriate education
to marginalized children in Tanzania:
This 3-year project brings together
stakeholders from schools, communities, District Education Offices and
Civil Society to develop and test models for the integration of out-of-school
children into the state system, for the
prevention of school dropouts, and for
the provision of appropriate nonformal education for marginalized
children who cannot be integrated into
state schools because of age [4] or
educational [5] constraints.
(3)Arusha Referral Service for Street
Children: The goal of this project is to
contribute to the creation of an enabling environment for creative, innovative and holistic community development in Arusha town. It aims to raise
awareness at decision-making and
advisory levels within the Council
about the economic cost now and the
potential economic benefit of dealing
with the street children problem and
its causation through poverty; to
strengthen networks of statutory, private and community service actors and
to test different approaches to enabling street children and youths to
cope with change within their environment.
(4)Protecting Street Children in Tanzania: This project works towards
equipping street children who have
been living in residential care centers
for independent living so that they can
cope as productive members of the
community and can disengage from
care, as they become young adults.
Mkombozi is working towards building
a strong and caring community for all.
CONTACTS
Postal Address: P.O. Box 9601,
Moshi, Tanzania
Phone: + 255 (0)744 368398 (mobile),
+255 (0)27 2754793 (w) Fax: + 255 27
2754310
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.mkombozi.org
Page 5
Volu me 1 , Issu e 1
COUNTRY NEWS: OMCT Report on Violence
Against Children in Kenya
On the 16th of January 2007,
the UN Committee on the Rights
of the Child considered the second periodic report of Kenya on
the implementation of the UN
Convention on the Rights of the
Child (CRC). A Kenyan government delegation, headed by the
Vice-President and Minister of
Home Affairs, Dr. Moody Awori,
and composed of a broad range
of experts from different fields
(children’s services, labour,
health, etc.), attended the
Committee session and described amendments made
to national laws and the various
efforts undertaken by the Kenyan authorities to implement
and enforce the CRC in the
country.
The World Organisation against
Torture (OMCT) had previously
submitted to the Committee an
alternative report on the implementation on the rights of the
child in Kenya after a mission to
Kenya in May 2006. The OMCT
embarced the Concluding Observations of the Committee
which addressed relevant recommendations to Kenyan authorities on issues of particular
concern to the OMCT like the
occurrence of different types of
violence against children
(corporal punishment and sexual
violence) and the excessive use
of force by law enforcement
officials against children.
Firstly, the violations of children’s rights – including violations which amount to torture
and other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment – are widespread in Kenya.
For example, in its alternative
report, the OMCT informed the
Committee that corporal punishment still occurs in homes,
schools and care institutions
and that many children remain
victims of sexual violence, harassment and exploitation in
these places. Other contexts
which demonstrate a high frequency of violations of children’s rights include for instance the sex tourism industry
and child prostitution in the
coastal region. The OMCT welcomed the Committee’s recommendation that Kenya explicitly
prohibit violence in all settings,
even in the home, and that it
take measures to eradicate the
use of corporal punishment
through awareness raising campaigns and to improve oversight
of persons working with children. OMCT also welcomed the
fact that the Committee discussed the issue of rape by law
enforcement officials under the
section which deals with torture
or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment because it has been
OMCT’s consistent position that
sexual violence in the custodial
setting constitutes torture.
Furthermore, as described in
OMCT’s alternative report, the
Committee identified several
problems with the administration of the juvenile justice system in Kenya, where child offenders are too often treated as
adults and where punishments
are not appropriate for their
young age. For instance, the
minimum age of criminal responsibility is set at 8, which is
quiet low. The OMCT appreciated the fact that the Committee confirmed that the minimum age of criminal responsibility should be raised at least
to the age of 12 (with a further
increase recommended).
In addition, in its alternative
report, the OMCT noted that
most police stations and other
settings where children are deprived of their liberty still do
not separate children who have
been charged with criminal
wrongdoing from those in need
of care and protection. Moreover, children in pre-trial detention are not separated from
adult detainees, thus increasing
the risk of their being subjected
to violence. These concerns
were reiterated by the Committee in its recommendation that
children under the age of 18
only be deprived of liberty as a
last resort and, if detained,
remain separated from adults.
The Committee also emphasized
that children in need of care
should be separated from children detained on criminal
grounds.
In its report, the OMCT also
denounced the excessive use of
force by officials towards children. Specifically, OMCT
pointed to situations where
police officers have shot, harassed and beaten children who
were arrested for minor violations of the law or who were
below the age of criminal responsibility. In that regard, it is
significant that the Committee
suggested measures to end impunity.
While the OMCT appreciated
Kenya’s recent efforts to bring
its legislation in line with international standards, further action by the Government is indispensable if Kenyan children are
to enjoy the full set of rights set
out under the Convention on
the Right of the Child.
Source:www.crin.org (12/7/07)
Published by:
Child Rights East and Southern Africa Regional E-Network, Membership CRES@RN;
Legal Aid Research and Policy Foundation,
Research and Advocacy Programme
P. O Box 56571 – 00200 Nairobi, Kenya;
Mutero Rise, Karen
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 254 020 882129 / 254 728 60123
Layout and Design:
Program Coordinator
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Upcoming Events and Activities in the Child Rights Calendar 2007
24th February
Day of Children with Mental Disabilities
8 March
International Women’s Day.
12 March
World Day Against Child Labour.
16 June
The Day of the African Child.
12 August
International Youth Day.
19 November
World Day of Prevention of Child Abuse.
20 November
Child Rights Day.
25 Nov – 10 Dec
16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence.
1 December
World AIDS Day.
3 December
Day of Persons with Physical Disabilities.