Rechten van het kind in (inter)nationaal perspectief

Het Internationaal Verdrag inzake de Rechten van het Kind (IVRK) bestaat ruim vijftien jaar en is dit jaar in Nederland tien jaar geldig; een goed moment om de balans op te maken. Zijn de rechten van het kind in verschillende (rechts)gebieden reeds voldoende gewaarborgd? Voldoet Nederland in voldoende mate aan de verplichtingen die voortvloeien uit het IVRK? Hoe belangrijk zijn de rechten uit het IVRK in de Nederlandse praktijk? Hoe staat het met de rechten van het kind wereldwijd?

Rechten van het kind in (inter)nationaal perspectief geeft vanuit multidisciplinaire invalshoek en vanuit verschillende themas een duidelijke visie ten aanzien van de invloed die het IVRK heeft en in de toekomst zal moeten hebben. Aan de hand van themas als best interests of the child, de nieuwe Wet op de Jeugdzorg, rechten van het kind bij scheiding, gezag en omgang en de aanpak van jeugddelinquentie wordt geschetst welke rol het IVRK kan spelen en hoe de huidige stand van zaken is ten aanzien van deze themas.

Het Amsterdams Centrum voor Kinderstudies (ACK) aan de Vrije Universiteit wil met deze bundel, deel 2 van de IVRK-reeks, bijdragen aan een verdere doorwerking van het IVRK in Nederland en een stimulans bieden tot een verdere verwezenlijking van de rechten van kinderen. De bundel beoogt een wisselwerking en samenspraak tussen wetenschap en praktijk te bevorderen ten aanzien van rechten van kinderen.

A Sense of Belonging

Case studies in positive care options for children

The First Resort series focuses on the needs and rights of children who, for a wide variety of reasons, are lacking adequate parental care. In many cases, they will already have become separated and may be living outside their families, in institutions, with relatives or on the street. These children are of particular concern to governments and to the international community because they are deprived of the protection normally provided by parents. In other cases, the family may be vulnerable to breakdown because of the consequences of HIV and AIDS, armed conflict, forced migration, widespread poverty, child abuse or neglect, or other forms of family disruption. Such circumstances may place children at hightened risk of needing care outside of the family unless successful interventions can be made to support the family and prevent the need for alternative care.

International Human Rights

The definitive work on the subject area providing its reader with a comprehensive analysis of this wide and diverse subject area.

A successor to the widely acclaimed International Human Rights in Context, this book is written by Philip Alston and Ryan Goodman who are both world-leading human rights scholars. They have chosen a wide selection of materials from primary and secondary materials to demonstrate and illuminate key themes and carefully guide the reader through each extract with thoughtful and lucid commentary.

Advancing Children’s Rights

This is the third edition of the publication “Advancing Children’s Rights – A Guide for Civil Society Organisations’ on how to engage with the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child”, published by Save the Children Sweden and Plan International. This Guide aims to be a resource for civil society organisations (CSO) who are interested in finding out more about the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (the Committee). It reflects important developments relating to the Committee’s work, civil society organisations’ engagement with the Committee and the functioning of the CSO Forum on the ACRWC. The Guide has been developed in collaboration with African civil society organisations, academics and members of the Committee.

Inheriting Poverty?

The Link Between Children’s Well-being and Unemployment in South Africa

South African legislation, as well as international conventions like the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child which have been ratified by South Africa, indicate shared and increasing acknowledgement of the importance of protecting and promoting children’s rights. In South Africa these remain confined to principle and policy. In practice, poverty, unemployment, child labour, violence and abuse, inadequate policy support and serviced, ignorance and above all HIV/AIDS pose a real threat to the realisation and enjoyment of these rights.

This study on the interface between unempolyment, poverty and children’s wellbeing in South Africa arose out of seminar, hosted by the Children’s Budget Unit of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa, the Children’s Institute of the University of Cape Town and Save the Children Sweden, to identify research gaps in the connection between child wellbeing and poverty.

The Education of Children Entangled in Khat Trade in Ethiopia

The Case of Two Khat Market Centers

In Ethiopia, khat cultivation is expanding aggressively in recent years. Regions that were formerly known for coffee production have become major khat producing areas. In Equal proportion, the habit of khat chewing is expanding at an alarming rate among different social groups irrespective of gender, age, religion and ethnic background. Khat has also become one of the leading export commodities and foreign currency earners for the country. Correspondingly, the khat marketing system has evolved tremendously all along the value chain and become a means of livelihood for many people. Accordingly, school-age children, as young as 8 years, are involved in khat trading and marketing activities.

Based on empirical data collected from two khat marketing centers, Aweday and Wondo Genet, this monograph explores the impact of children’s involvement in khat trading activities on their schooling. The study also investigates the major causes for such an engagement of young people in khat marketing activities; and probes the nature and magnitude of other possible adverse effects, such as developing the habit of regular khat chewing.

Citizenship Law in Africa

Few African countries provide for an explicit right to a nationality. Laws and practices governing citizenship effectively leave hundreds of thousands of people in Africa without a country. These stateless Africans can neither vote nor stand for office; they cannot enrol their children in school, travel freely, or own property; they cannot work for the government; they are exposed to human rights abuses. Statelessness exacerbates and underlies tensions in many regions of the continent.

Citizenship Law in Africa, a comparative study by two programs of the Open Society Foundations, describes the often arbitrary, discriminatory, and contradictory citizenship laws that exist from state to state and recommends ways that African countries can bring their citizenship laws in line with international rights norms. The report covers topics such as citizenship by descent, citizenship by naturalisation, gender discrimination in citizenship law, dual citizenship, and the right to identity documents and passports. It is essential reading for policymakers, attorneys, and activists.

This third edition is a comprehensive revision of the original text, which is also updated to reflect developments at national and continental levels. The original tables presenting comparative analysis of all the continent’s nationality laws have been improved, and new tables added on additional aspects of the law. Since the second edition was published in 2010, South Sudan has become independent and adopted its own nationality law, while there have been revisions to the laws in Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Namibia, Niger, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia and Zimbabwe. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child have developed important new normative guidance.

Children and Youth in the Labour Process in Africa

It is increasingly clear that children and the youth today play a significant role in the labour process in Africa. But, to what extent is this role benign? And when and why does this role become exploitative rather than beneficial? This book on children and the youth in Africa sets out to address these questions. The book observes that in Africa today, children are under pressure to work, often engaged in the worst forms of child labour and therefore not living out their role as children. It argues that the social and economic environment of the African child is markedly different from what occurs elsewhere, and goes further to challenge all factors that have combined in stripping children of their childhood and turning them into instruments and commodities in the labour process. It also explains the sources, dynamics, magnitude and likely consequences of the exploitation of children and the youth in contemporary Africa.

The book is an invaluable contribution to the discourse on children, while the case studies are aimed at creating more awareness about the development problems of children and the youth in Africa, with a view to evolving more effective national and global responses.

Children and Youth in Africa

This annotated bibliography provides a summary of scholarly work on children and youth in Africa published between 2001 and 2011. It draws from journal articles, monographs, and book chapters. This rich resource for scholars presents publications with a wide range of approaches to child and youth studies. Some scholars question certain views of children especially when it comes to their own agency and full participation in socioeconomic production at the household level. The idea that children are vulnerable social subjects is the predominant view that shaped much of the research reported on in this volume. Western restrictions, on specific age limits, that govern children’s participation in work or labour, whether paid or not, and the subsequent rights that go along with them are often not easily translatable to many African contexts. This creates a kind of separation between African and Western scholars in their study and understanding of children. The overwhelming focus of research published on HIV/AIDS and orphans, violence and child-soldiers, children’s rights, and street children, demonstrates the continued interest regarding children as vulnerable and in need of adult protection. Focusing on the vulnerability of children in Africa appears to be a result of the construction of childhood in terms of modern (mostly) Western perceptions which are based on chronological age mainly. This book is very important for all scholars working on children and the youth in Africa.

Child Exclusion Among Internally Displaced Populations

in Rift Valley and Nyanza Provinces of Kenya

Globally, over 25 million people are displaced within their own countries by conflicts or human rights violations. In Kenya, thousands of families are increasingly being displaced by the effect of inter-ethnic violence, environmental disasters and forced government eviction from forest reserves. The majority of these displaced communities end up squatting in informal settlements in the nearby urban centres or at the fringes of the forest zone where they are exposed to extreme poverty and deprivation. Since almost all the displaced families originate from the rural areas, the act of displacement shatters the family-based rural economy when they seek refuge in towns. Internally displaced children face many risks due to the violence and uncertainty surrounding both their familyís flight and their life in the place of refuge. This report discusses the findings of the Child Exclusion Survey conducted among the internally displaced in Rift Valley and Nyanza provinces between January 2007 and August 2007. The main objective of the study was to examine the extent of child exclusion among IDPs in Kenya in relation to attaining the ideals of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Millennium Development Goals.