CHILD RIGHTS PROTECTION IN ETHIOPIA AND KENYA
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CHILD RIGHTS PROTECTION IN ETHIOPIA AND KENYA
Abstract
Until the passage of the CRC, the concept of protecting children’s rights gained traction around the world. Similarly, Ethiopia and Kenya. As a result, this research paper compares child rights protection in Ethiopia and Kenya using the provisions of the CRC, to which both states are party.
The primary goal of this research is to examine Kenya’s experience and analyse the difficulties and opportunities for successful child rights protection in Ethiopia. For methodology, a qualitative and comparative research approach is used, with both primary and secondary data as data sources,
a purposeful sampling technique for sampling and interviews for data collection, exploratory and analytical techniques for data analysis, and system theory, specifically ecological system theory, as a theoretical framework.
According to the data analysis, Ethiopia and Kenya are adopting legislative, administrative, and other measures to facilitate the implementation of the CRC. However, Kenya is taking significant steps to put itself ahead of Ethiopia in terms of adequately protecting children’s rights.
In light of Kenya’s experience, the prospects for effective child rights protection in Ethiopia are the existence of laws and their continuous revision, as well as institutions and their efforts such as participating in the law-making process by conducting impact assessments and impact evaluations, installing IMS, organising children’s parliaments, and providing training to protect children’s rights.
There are also certain barriers to effective child rights protection in Ethiopia due to the lack of key components that provide a more enabling or protective environment. These are the absence of domestic legislation that entails the mechanism,
procedure, and remedies for implementing the entire provisions of the Convention, self-monitoring mechanisms with adequate backing in terms of authority, budget, and human resources,
CSOs cooperation with independent monitoring mechanisms, let alone to function independently in an effective manner, continuous assessment of the effectiveness of training in practice, and the absence of institutions with Thus, in order to effectively protect children’s rights, like Kenya has done, Ethiopia should implement legal and institutional measures to address the issues.
Introduction:
1. Background of the Study
The child-saving movement began in the nineteenth century, and legislation protecting children’s rights arose in several parts of the Western world (Rai,ND: 3). Furthermore, as a result of the Second World War,
an agreement was reached affirming that the protection of rights is an international concern, and it was argued that all individuals are entitled to basic human dignity by virtue of their humanity, and that certain human rights are universal and fundamental.
Cultural and religious traditions, therefore, should not and cannot violate them. This resulted in the UDHR. However, because children’s rights were implicitly addressed, many argued that children’s specific requirements merited an additional distinct agreement.
As a result, upon its foundation following World War II, the United Nations recognised the “Declaration of Geneva,” which was drafted by the International Save the Children Union in 1923 and reformed in 1959 (Webb, 2014:1).
The belief that children rely solely on adults to protect their rights was reflected in the 1924 DRC, 1959 DRC, and various international law conventions enacted in the 1900s and early 1970s (Kibuka etal., ND: 167).
However, the ratification of the landmark international Convention on Children’s Rights (CRC) in 1989 demonstrates the government’s commitment to implementing the Convention’s rights for children (Gran and Bryant, 2011:4).
The Convention is a comprehensive document that consists of 54 articles, 42 of which deal with children’s civil, political, social, economic, and cultural rights. These provisions improve children’s protection, participation in society, and the provision of services and care.
The others (articles 43-54) outline what nations and the UN are expected to do to ensure that children have these rights (Gran and Bryant, 2011: 4; Webb, 2014:1-2). Thus, the Convention not only defines children’s rights, but also those who are responsible for protecting these rights or enforcing the Convention.
States, on the other hand, bear main responsibility for child protection. As a result, they are expected to establish and execute child protection systems that ensure nondiscriminatory access to all children within their jurisdiction in accordance with international commitments (UNHCR, 2012: 12).
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